A few nice facts about animals images I found:
I have to tell myself he's a dog, not just a "pit bull".
Image by This Year's Love
Yesterday Israel got outside when my sister opened the door. There were two neighbor dogs at the edge of our (large) front yard. These are older and very cantankerous dogs. One of them got away months ago when I was outside with Judah off leash and even as the owner ran up to get her she was circling Judah with narrowed eyes and a tail raised up high. Judah didn't let it bother her and made no move toward the dog, even letting the dog sniff her--and then the dog snarled and wanted to attack. Judah moved away.
Just the other day while walking Judah we passed them on opposite sides of the street. While they strained at their leashes, snarling and barking at Judah, she kept her eyes forward and didn't bother them. The owner called across the street to me, "She is SUCH a good dog!" (She also recognizes that her dogs are, well, mean.)
"Thank you!" I called back.
So anyway. Israel hasn't encountered them yet, but he was about to. I dropped my purse (I was leaving) and went outside to get Israel (who had no collar on) as he stopped halfway between me and the dogs. They were geared for a fight and Israel stood with his tail down (good) and his ears back (hmm). He growled a little, barked once or twice in warning to the other dogs, but didn't just race over and start attacking them. It ended with me telling him firmly to get back in the house. When he heard and saw me he immediately put his head down, tail between his legs, and went up to the house and inside when my sister opened the door again.
Here I was thinking "pit bull! attack! blood! gore!" and only afterward realized...he's a dog. He's an intact male. And he's wary. It had little to do with the fact that he's an APBT and more to do with him being a testosterone-fueled dog wanting to guard his territory--and he was quick to let me step in and do it instead.
I used to think that anyone who wasn't a (responsible) breeder with intact dogs were just plain stupid. I wonder if people think the same of me when I go out with Israel, who is clearly not neutered. Do they think I'm keeping him intact so he'll actually be aggressive? That I have something to prove?
But now that I'm relearning everything that I know about dogs regarding what to feed, how to vaccinate, how to handle different behaviors I realize that pretty much everything I was taught was just dead wrong. Literally.
Pet food has rat poison in it, pet food has dead cats and dogs in it, most vaccinations are unnecessary and harmful, and only rabies is legally required--AND you don't have to get it every year in some states!
Even flea & tick prevention as well as heartworm preventatives are just more toxins and poisons we dump on and in our animals. I have to wear gloves when applying Frontline because if I don't and it gets on my (sensitive) skin, then it's days of numbness with itching and a weird feeling. And I put that on my dogs? No thanks.
The reason I'm not neutering Israel until he's a year old is because I don't want him to overgrow. If he's short, he's short. But if I don't let the growth plates close when they should--earlier than they would if you spay/neuter--then he'll be too tall and his bones will be too thin to support his weight. At least that's what I think and it's certainly a very good theory as far as what's wrong with Judah. By no means fat, she is leggy and I think her joints just didn't get the chance to develop and strengthen enough to support her body type because of her early spay.
I won't let that happen to Israel. By allowing the hormones to take their own natural course, closing the growth plates at the right time, as well as feeding a natural diet that keeps him from getting too big too fast (which happened to Judah) then there's a much lesser risk for joint problems when he's proportionate. He's steadily gained weight but it was never in huge spurts. The last five pounds took nearly a month to put on--and he's fed probably 5% of his current body weight, whereas Judah is fed a bit under 2% since she's on restricted activity and doesn't need all of that food. Those five pounds in a month is what should have happened to Judah. Instead, she gained something like eleven pounds in three weeks.
My point is that people who don't alter their pets out of laziness are stupid. People who don't alter their pets for a valid, well-thought out reason are looking out for their animal's well being. It might not look like I'm being responsible having an intact male pit bull, but I'm doing what's best for him and I don't need to justify that.
I am really rethinking the concept of altering to begin with. I think in reality it's necessary because people are just damned careless. But it also has side effects for the animal, physically and mentally. I would feel more comfortable if we were able to let animals come to full maturity--at least 2 years of age--before having to alter them. I'm still thinking about it with Israel. We'll see.
Peter Marshal from Firefighters Union addressing picket
Image by Takver
Climate activists held a picket outside the ministerial offices of Peter Batchelor, Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, at 1 Spring Street, Melbourne highlighting his attendance at a 00 a head Victorian Coal and Energy Conference meeting at Taralgon in the La Trobe Valley and the Brumby Government's continued in-action on climate change and support for the coal and fossil fuel industry at the expense of developing the renewable energy industry.
Peter Marshal attended representing the United Firefighters Union, the members of which are facing increasing risks from more intense and more frequent natural disasters as a result of climate change and global warming.
Transcript of speech
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I am here representing our 2000 members across Victoria today, in the MFB and CFA, who once again as Jasmine mentioned, dealt with more than 12 months ago now, one of the worst natural disasters this State has ever seen: Black Saturday.
You hear in the mainstream media the fact that the climate change fringe groups are just that - they are fringe groups - they are a minority of extremists. Well I'm here to say that is not true! We know that is not true! And the real extremists in this country are the politicians and corporate interests who would do nothing in the face of potential apocalypse, or at least one of th worst ecological and economic disasters our species has ever seen.
It's an issue that doesn't just affect trees and bugs and animals, it affects working people, like the police here today and members of the police association, like the members of my union the United Firefighters Union and all workers in Victoria. It is an issue that is widely important and that crosses the normal political boundaries. It has universal appeal.
In fact our union was so concerned about the effects of climate change on our members that we put members money into commissioning a University of Sydney research paper on the effects climate change would have on bushfires and other natural disasters. It actually found that there was severe or significant impacts on the kind of fires our members fight everyday.
In places like Mildura the report found that extreme fire days could increase up to one third of the year, up to 90 days a year. Which of course is hugely concerning for the 2000 firefighters that have to deal with natural disasters. The question for Mr Batchelor, for Mr Brumby and Mr Rudd, and I say this as a staffer of a union that has been affiliated to the Labor party for over 100 years almost, is are you prepared to increase the risk on working people in this state, particularly firefighters, but also threaten the future of future generations.
I'd like to on behalf of our members support you and express solidarity from the union movement and also encourage other unionists to support the climate movement and the movement for climate action.
Watch a video of this speech
