Mason and I swam with sea turtles three years ago. It was (by far) the closest I’d ever been to the reptiles, so I was unprepared for both their grace and their friendliness. The turtles glided through the clear blue Caribbean with an elegance that hinted at their longevity. Their family tree branches back to prehistoric times. It was an amazing experience, the rare kind where I entered a foreign land yet felt completely welcome.
Read MoreAs y’all know I like to pay tribute to people who help animals. Last month Mason and I visited the Puget Sound Goat Rescue. For September, I interviewed an environmentalist who is passionate about saving the reefs off the Florida coast. Meet Gus Sims.
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Mason and I visited the Puget Sound Goat Rescue the first week in August. It was my third visit in three years. Unlike my previous visits, the temperature last week in Maple Valley, WA was ideal, 73, cloudy with sprinkles of sunshine. Normally, it’s hot, 90-degrees type hot.
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ICHBA had a fantastic day at Taste of Country yesterday in Springfield, TN. The only bad part was the heat. It was wicked hot. I literally sweated out five pounds and Donna almost had a heat stroke, but as far as marketing we couldn’t have spent our time in a better place.
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It’s a big day for ICHBA. We’re setting up a booth at Springfield’s Taste of Country. Dawn, Lucy, and B.Lou Lou will be there strutting their stuff, and Meadow will be giving out high-5’s for a small (or large) donation. If you’re in the area, come visit us!
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This post is specifically written for poison ivy sufferers.
If you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you’ll know one of my favorite things about dogs is sleeping with them. There is nothing like being surrounded by three or four dogs tucked all around me, feeling about as warm and safe as it’s possible to feel.
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Last week I promised to post an interview I did with Todd Langston, a dog behaviorist. I finally got it transcribed over the weekend, and I’m so excited to share it with y’all. We talked about everything from how to greet a new dog to how to use an e-collar a.k.a. shock collar. Please absorb every word. It’s valuable, free, and important for the well being of your freaks.
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I’ve had several people write and ask what it means to be a foster failure. I found this hilarious but very accurate definition on the website Black Dog, Second Chance:
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Last week I interviewed Todd Langston. He lives in Orlando, FL and earns his living training dogs (and humans) using the same philosophical and scientific approach of Cesar Millan. My intention was to spotlight Todd as a friend of the Farnival but his interview was too fantastic for a simple Q&A. This week I’ll be transcribing our forty-five minute conversation and sharing Todd’s most valuable insights. He’s a total badass. By the way, in the urban dictionary a badass is defined as an “ultra cool motherf-ker,” which pretty much sums up Todd.
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Adoptions have been extraordinarily slow for the past couple months. It’s not only Rosie that’s been at the Farnival too long, but Dawn has been here close to six months now. I’ve been told that every rescue agency goes through a slump. But it’s hard to be patient.
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I get asked all the time about training dogs. I even get offered money once in a while for doing it (!!) The problem is that training a dog, at least the way Mason and I do it, isn’t a one-time deal. As soon as I start working with any dog, I tell their humans that if they don’t maintain their leadership role at home than all our work is useless.
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About ten years ago, I met a local politician on the Springfield Greenway. His name is James Hubbard, a big, jovial man that over the years has seen me walk anywhere from one to five dogs. When I’m with three or more people, he’s seen us walking a total of ten dogs at one time, all well-mannered, controlled, leashed dogs, thirty percent of which are Robertson County homeless animals. Every time Hubbard greets Mason and I, he makes a big deal about our pack, pointing us out to passing strangers and friends, telling them and us what a great job we are doing for animals in our community.
Read MoreHi there. I had a fantastic time with my mom. Thanks for your patience last week. As far as schoolwork? Well…I tried. Lets leave it at that.
Read MoreLast week the remains of four people – including two little girls ages six and three – were found in Kenai, Alaska, in what appears to be a murder suicide. Click here for the horrific details. Ironically, the deceased children’s grandmother lives in Smyrna, TN, and a few months ago Lisa adopted a ten-pound lame mutt from ICHBA named Diablo.
Read MoreThis week I stopped at the Commerce Union Bank in Springfield, TN. Commerce is a small, local business – the kind where sociable tellers greet customers by name. The bank, decorated for Christmas, was busy but cheerful.
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Hey y’all: did you hear the uproar over what the pope said?
“Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us.” – Pope Francis
Read MoreSeldom a day goes by that I Could Have Been Adopted (ICHBA) does not receive an email from other rescues pleading to save dogs scheduled to die because their animal control facilities are high-kill shelters that have either run out of space or have a time limit on the number of days they keep an animal.
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I’ve had a few people that live in apartments or condos inquire about our foster dog Mellie, a fifty-pound Border collie mutt. When I ask about their living circumstances, they almost always talk about their digs like it’s something to be ashamed about.
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The problem for animals born in Perry County is that they live in one of the poorest, meanest places in Tennessee. In the words of one woman residing in the county seat of Linden, “there’s an underlying meanness thick enough to chew on.”
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