sixjollydogs

:P UH....did I miss something here???

:( I second your thoughts! As horrible as the shooting of the dog was..the most frightening aspect is that police feel they can act like the Gestapo! They threatened the husband even after they knew the stop was bogus!!! :evil:

:( I really hate the word hate! Cats are often the victims of sadistic behavior from cat haters. These people usually don't like much of anything else either. Disliking cats because they don't act like dogs is like saying you don't like an apple because it does not taste like an orange. Dogs are pack animals...cats are not...and that is the main reason for the difference in their interaction. I love both dogs and cats for the unique creatures they are. They are no more likely to bite, hiss etc than a dog.

Maggie has been seen several times but is so scared she runs away...even from her foster mom!! The rancher where she was seen is an animal lover and has allowed humane traps and food to be put out!! Keep your paws crossed!!

Please Cross Post!!!!!! I just got an email that Maggie the WGSD coming from DelRio TX. has escaped from Glenda Collins at a rest area on I-35 just Northeast of San Antonio TX. Annmarie is there now looking. Glenda had to leave. No one has seen Maggie in the last 3 hrs. Anyone in that area or if you know anyone in that area, we need help!

Help...a white one year old GSD that was being transported from Del Rio to Indiana escaped at a rest stop on I-35 just north of San Antonio. If anyone can help, please let me know!!! :( Please cross-post!!!

:( Who is a commercial breeder aka puppy mill breeder??

Here is what the ASPCA has to say about the Iditarod: Thank you for inquiring about the ASPCA's position on dog sledding. Please know that the ASPCA acknowledges that certain breeds of dogs and other animals are bred specifically for certain performance activities and with proper care, nutrition and veterinary support, are often able to enjoy many of the activities for which they have been bred and trained. The ASPCA is not against dog sledding per se, as many Nordic breeds that have been bred, raised and trained for this purpose actually enjoy the activity. However, as in any sport involving animals, the comfort and well being of the animal must always be top priority, and the ASPCA does not believe in pushing any animal athlete beyond reasonable endurance capacity. [color=red]Dog races that push any animal beyond reasonable comfort levels (i.e. extremely long races in very harsh weather conditions, pulling excess weight, etc.) are inhumane. Therefore, the ASPCA cannot consider the Iditarod to be an acceptable or humane completion.[/color]

I consider myself an animal rights person...and most of my friends are also...and I have no problem with any of the activities you mentioned. (and in fact I have showed my dogs for fun) You are right that at times we can hurt the validity of our issue with unwise statements. To me, animal rights means the following: 1. the right not to be born if there is no home 2. the right to be defended against intentional cruelty such as torture, dog fighting etc. 3. the right to be givben decent shelter,food and medical care 4. the right to be treated as God's creation that is fully able to feel pain as we are :P and don't tell anyone...but I am a vegetarian on top of it all...but I have not stolen anyone's hamburger...yet! :wink:

Thanks for your intervention, Pumkin. Once again Kiger...PETA does and says things that I do not always agree with and wish they had not done so.I share your thoughts on their current campaign. (invovling the Holcaust) I think what is being done is cruel....but the comparison is simply appalling I do not;however, think this means that their basic postions on many things are not correct. It is sickening the cruelty and basic lack of compassion for our fellow creatures on this earth that the human heart is capable of. I don't know about intentionally starving cows...but I DO know this for a fact. Chicken companys intentionally starve chickens in a process called "forced polting". This is done to force one more cycle of eggs. I do cruelty investigations and have had those who work for the companys call me and ask me to do something because they could not stand it. They are given no food and no water....and at times turn off the fans. Here in Arkansas it is often over 100 degrees. If I were to rank what most of the cruelty complaints I get are for..they would be: 1. chained dogs...no shelter...no food...no water 2. starving farm animal In one case we have picture of a literal mound of dead cows with a field full of skelatal cows.

:) Nice dogs! Are all the dogs in the picture dogs that you race? What breeds can be used?

:( I think we miss the point when we condem an argument because we do not like PETA. The articles I posted were NOT written,paid for or influenced by PETA...look again at who they are from. Here is some more information from the Humane Society of the United States. (and note the facts this time from an Alaska paper) Do the actions noted below sound like those of a caring owner? Facts About the Iditarod What is the Iditarod? Every March in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, dozens of dog-and-musher teams race approximately 1,150 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nome, Alaska, in pursuit of hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money. The race route is roughly equal to the distance between Los Angeles and Denver, or from New York City to Memphis, a distance that the teams typically run in nine to 14 days. The current speed record, set in 2002, is eight days, 22 hours, and 46 minutes, less than half the time it took to run the first Iditarod race in 1973. Produced by the not-for-profit Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC) and sponsored by a host of mostly Alaska-based businesses, the event is promoted as a commemoration of Alaskan culture and heritage. The race is also considered a salute to an approximately 600-mile, non-competitive mushing run that brought life-saving diphtheria serum to Nome in 1925. This historic run comprised relay teams, most of which traveled less than 100 miles. Today's Iditarod, however, is an international media event featuring mushers from several countries, many of whom compete in races and breed sled dogs for their livelihood. With the annual cost of putting together a competitive Iditarod team estimated at up to $60,000, very few native Alaskans are able to participate. Using high-tech equipment and backed by corporate donations, Iditarod mushers tout themselves as sports heroes while forcing their dogs to participate in a race that has witnessed dog deaths and injuries nearly every year since its inception. Is the event inhumane for the dogs involved? The race forces the dogs to run too far and too fast in frequently grueling trail and weather conditions, and it exacts a severe, and sometimes fatal, toll on dogs' physical and psychological systems. While the ITC has made some reforms in recent years—such as reducing the maximum size of dog teams from 20 to 16 for better musher control—race organizers continue to mass-market the race and hype the competition among mushers who are continually attempting to break speed records. The HSUS opposes the Iditarod in its current form—or any other mushing event in which heavy emphasis is placed on competition and entertainment and in which dog deaths and injuries are regular consequences. The HSUS is not opposed to non-competitive mushing or competitive mushing events in which the welfare of dogs is not sacrificed for the sake of entertainment. How many dogs have died in the Iditarod? In most of the 29 Iditarod races, at least one dog death has occurred. The first race is reported to have resulted in the deaths of 15 to 19 dogs. In 1997, the Anchorage Daily News reported that "at least 107 [dogs] have died" over the history of the event. Since then more deaths have occurred—five dog deaths in 1997, one in 1998-2000, two in 2001, and one in 2002—bringing the grand total of dogs who have died in the Iditarod to around 118. There is no official count of dog deaths available for the race's early years, making any dog death tally only an estimate. In 1999, musher Jeremy Gebauer's five-year-old dog, Rodman, died after running 650 miles in the race. In 1998, Trim, a five-year-old sled dog in the team of musher Linda Joy, collapsed and died after more than 1,000 miles on the trail, while two other dogs, ages seven and one-and-a-half, collapsed during the race and died after its conclusion. Race rules allow mushers to continue "unless it's determined the death could have been avoided," according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Causes of death during the last decade have included strangulation in towlines, internal hemorrhaging after being gouged by a sled, liver injury from collision, heart failure, and pneumonia. "Sudden death" and "exertional myopathy," a condition in which a dog's muscles and organs deteriorate during extreme or prolonged exercise, have also been blamed. Noted by the Anchorage Daily News as the musher who "led the transformation of the Iditarod from a leisurely 16-day race to a 10-day hotly contested event," five-time Iditarod winner Rick Swenson was disqualified from the 1996 race after a dog died while he mushed his team through waist-deep overflow, a combination of water and frozen slush pooled on the surface of a frozen river. In 1985, a musher was disqualified after he kicked his dog and the animal died. The 1975 winner, Jerry Riley, was banned for life in 1990 after being accused of striking a dog with a snow hook.

:( The picture may or may not be bogus. Lets say it is...and lets say that there are those who will use unfair tactics to win their way. Now...with all that said...that does not make all the negatives about the Iditarod false. You do not have to be from Alaska to write a story if you do your home work and are fair. For example...are the stories about the Columbia all written by astronauts....if a story is done about murder...is the reporter a murderer? As for PETA, yes they are smash-mouth and in-your-face...but I have also found them truthful. Most movements had the same label when they began...civil rights, anti-war etc. Sadly....it is the 30 second sound bite that gets attention. I have found them very helpful in helping gain prosecution on some of the more horrific animal torture cases...and one from personal experience. Pumkin...as I said before...I am sure mushing is a sound and responsible sport....but based on my research..the Iditarod is not. Attacks on the Iditarod are not attacks on mushers as a group. The best way to change minds is not through stating that the "other" side are misrepresenting or lying. If the Iditarod is truly a safe and humane race...then you should be able to support your arguments with facts from articles countering what I have posted.

Pumkin Ok...lets throw out for the moment whatever Newbie has said...and assume the photo is doctored...which we have no proof of one way or the other. What about what a large number of writers have said? What about the medical findings?

The moral midgets in charge of "Crookeville" can not even make a genuine apology. They paid a PR firm to write their response for them! Disgusting!