Adding Our Voices to Those Asking for Help in the Blainville Wire Case

Here's the story, with thanks to Axel and others who have put all this together.

Marc-Andre Laporte, 59, was found guilty of two counts of animal cruelty at the St. Jerome courthouse in Montreal this week, following the seizure of 97 fox terriers in November 2005 from his Blainville puppy mill. Judge Jean Sirois rejected Laporte's argument that he loved his dogs too much. When police raided the property, they found dogs matted in feces feeding on dogs' carcasses and stronger dogs preying on weaker ones.

Click here -- if you have a strong stomach -- to see the photos:
http://www.spcamontreal.com/english/pages/whats_new/news.html

Almost 40 animals had to be destroyed. Laporte's home was later condemned and demolished in March 2006. The surviving dogs were cared for by the SPCA and later, with the help of devoted fox terrier lovers, found wonderful foster homes where they have been living for the past 2 years. Despite his horrendous treatment of these innocent creatures, Laporte, who wil be sentenced on February 22, 2008, is facing only six months of jail time and up to $4,000 in fines. At the same hearing, the judge is to decide if Laporte is to get any of his fox terriers back!

WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. The surviving mill fox terriers took months to recover physically, medically and emotionally from their ordeal. To even consider removing ONE wire from the safety and care of their loving foster families back to Laporte is OUTRAGEOUS!

Today we are launching a two-fold campaign to prevent Laporte from getting his dog/s back. We know we can count on you to take action and spread the word:

1: Please go to http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/no-dogs-for-laporte to sign the online petition that has been set up. Once all the signatures are entered, it will be printed out and given to Elizabeth Pierce who has been instrumental in saving and caring for the Blainville wires, for distribution to the media (unfortunately it is illegal in Canada to hand petitions to the court).

2: Please take a few minutes to write a letter to Judge Jean Sirois imploring him to prevent Laporte from ever taking possession of his former fox terriers or of owning any dog again. If you can, include a photo of yourself and your foxie/dog. All the letters received will be put in a file and also handed to the media.

Letters should be mailed to: Elizabeth Pierce, 119 16th Street, Roxboro, Québec, Canada H8Y 1P1. The sentencing hearing is February 22, 2008 – so write those letters soon. Please disseminate this information on your blogs, to your fellow dog owners etc. Thank you for your support in this important matter.

Remember, this could have happened to any of us or our friends. It's not just about wire fox terriers. It's about treating all animals with the love and respect they deserve.

Jake (born in a puppy mill) and Just Harry (rescued from a nasty shelter)

Green Beans and Punkin Pie, Oh My!!

Just Harry and I have been training Mom, and we think it's working.

Our goal? Thirds for breakfast and dinner.

Our strategy?

Step 1. I, Jake, approach Mom (or Dogdad, as the situation demands), whack her arm with my paw, sit, and give her my most absolutely adorable wire pup stare. She stops what she's doing (either reading the paper in the morning or working at her computer in the afternoon) and asks if I'm hungry. As the spokesdog for me and my brother, I lick my chops to say yes, and run towards my bowl in the dining room. JH says "I'll have what he''s having." and runs towards his crate to wait for his food. We both get our ration of kibble and fresh water. This works every time.

Step 2. Mom resumes what she was doing. I scarf down the food and wait a minute until she is totally absorbed in her activity. Then I come over, sit down again, give her a low growl to get her attention and repeat that absolutely irresistible wirey stare. Mom says, "No, Jakey, you've already eaten. Don't you remember? Do you want to turn into a roly poly porky dog?" I repeat my growl. She repeats her "No!" I growl a little louder and more urgently. Sometimes I even add a bark, just to get the point across. She starts to say no again, but then -- I think -- concerned that she may have not given me enough to fill my tummy and that I might still be really hungry -- relents and gets up to give me a second helping. JH, not to be outdone, runs to his crate to wait for his share. Admittedly, it is much smaller, Mom's devious use of psychology to make us think we are getting our way. And this is why we are escalating our approach.

Step 3. (As yet untried.) Looking even cuter than before, we come back a third time and Mom, having caught that legendary 1.6-second canine memory, forgets that we have eaten and fills our bowls again. What are the odds of this happening? Stay tuned. I have gotten her to feed us at 4 pm instead of 5. But thirds? Our goal may be unattainable.

This is not to say that we have forgotten all the lusciousness of Thanksgiving. None of that great-smelling turkey for us -- but lots of green beans as treats, and little tastes of that yummy pumpkin pie. Oh my!! Maybe thirds would be a bit much after all.

Jake the Dog

Happy Thanksgiving Everydog!!! (And Their Humans Too)

Mom's been busy again, so we haven't had a chance to blog. But she's in the kitchen making pumpkin pie for tomorrow -- so here's our chance to wish every one a Happy Thanksgiving. We know not everyone celebrates the day when we do; but the thought of being grateful for our blessings is universal, regardless of a specific day!

So many many woofs to you all and -- oops, something smells wonderful in the kitchen -- gotta' scoot!!!

Jake

Pee Ess: We didn't meant to leave out cats, hamsters, and all other creatures!!

The Apology

Jake here. I just wanted to document what I said in my previous post about Dogdad setting things straight with me! See, I told ya! He's a very cool guy. I'm a lucky dog!!

Jake

Two More Nieces

Well, hi, it's me, Jake. I guess I'm over my sulk. I was looking out the window, staring into space yesterday afternoon, and wondering where my life went wrong, when all of a sudden Dogdad came home, picked me up, looked me in the eye and said, "Jake, old pal, you are truly a great dog and I love you. I'm sorry if I left the door cracked open so that your young and irrepressible brother could sneak out and cause you both to be grounded. Please accept my apology. And here, have a few of the treats that I made especially for you!!"


Woof, who could resist that? So, yes, the strike is over. I wonder if that approach would work on all those writers picketing in LA? I guess they need a little more than kind words and doggie treats, though.


Anyway, while I was staring into space, I heard a sweet mewing from about 30 miles away. It was two more of my feline nieces, those who live up the highway to the north: Winston and Zoey.


Winston wanted everyone to know that cats can fetch too.And Zoey, known as "the brains of the organization," felt a kinship with my own role as the Brain, of Pinky and the Brain.They heard I had featured some of their cousins on our blog and wondered if they could make an appearance too. So here they are. We've never met, but I know they are the delight of my human uncle (Mom's brother) and aunt.

Also, yesterday, while staring into space in the opposite direction -- to the south, where my pals the Key West Collies live -- I learned that they had given us an "I Like This Blog" award. As this is the very first award we've gotten, we were very excited. So I guess yesterday was a good day in Barkalot land. Thank you collies.

And grateful woofs to all our friends who offered me and Just Harry advice as to how to get ungrounded.

Jake the No-Longer-On-Strike Dog

Grounded - Again

Drat. I've done it again. The front door was open a crack Saturday afternoon and I'm a terrier. I didn't go very far (not like the other time). I just wanted to see what was going on at the end of our driveway. So what's the big deal? They were so busy purging magazines and files and taking boxes of discarded stuff outside, they didn't even know I was outside instead of inside. It was only when a neighbor knocked on their door, me in tow by the collar, and said "Is this yours?" that they realized what had happened.

And now -- you guessed it. We're grounded. We couldn't go to Suki's Disney World Barkday Pawty. And Jake is in a snit and on strike -- he won't even blog -- 'cause both of us are grounded and he thinks that's unfair.





I guess it's hopeless, We may never go anywhere again. What have I done?
Just Harry

Strike Up the Egret!

When I'm at camp, I practice jumping as high as I can -- without bonking my head on the ceiling of my quarters -- to see what I can see. This time, when Just Harry and I were at Dr. Dan's for the weekend, while Mom and Dogdad drove to Tampa to attend a college football game, I tried something different. I found that, if I employed a special "egret-cam," I could see what they were up to all the way across the state without my usual jumping. (Full disclosure: the idea of an egret-cam was not my own; my pals Ms. Gimlet Rose and Sammy suggested it. Or perhaps it was Celestial Nigel.)

My human brother is an assistant director of the University of South Florida's marching band and the folks had promised to attend one of the games to see him and the band in action. For a few weeks, USF was near the top of the college teams, so the game promised to be exciting. But sadly, they lost this game to the University of Cincinnati, as well as their two previous ones, and they dropped off the charts (although they still have three more games to play).

Despite the loss, it was a beautiful day in Tampa -- and the folks actually RELAXED, something they're not very good at. And despite the loss, the game was indeed exciting, especially the last quarter. During that quarter, Mom and Dogdad sat behind the band, right next to two rows of tuba players and really got into the TEAM SPIRIT. It was TUBALICIOUS!!! If those tuba players could have affected the outcome of the game by the way they blew into their instruments, the score would have been very different! Our egret-cam vibrated with the noise and we could hear it all the way across the state!!!

For those of you who haven't been to a college football game, there's a tradition called "tailgating." That's not when the car behind you gets really close to your rear bumper; rather it's when you and a bunch of friends bring lots of food several hours before the game, open the trunk of your vehicle, set out a spread of food, and drink lots of beer...

According to Mom, who went to an all-girls college, attending a college football game is an out-of-body experience. Everyone is dressed in various versions of the team colors -- in this case dark green and gold. Some fans paint their bodies in those colors and, because this school's mascot is a bull, some even wear horns.

No bull, is this a great idea for our next costume party, or what???

So, thanks to our innovative egret-cam, it's as if we were there!!! And now, fellow dogs, you too can see how humans amuse themselves!

Jake the Dog

Answering a Few Cat Questions

Dear Friends

We have been astonished at how kindly our posts about our feline nieces have been received. We do, however, need to clarify a few points:

1. Like most dogs, we are not too crazy about cats. We have just been trying to keep family peace and recognize that love comes in many shapes, sizes, and species.

2. We have never actually been in physical proximity to the cats in question. Ninja lives in Orlando; Mistletoe and Holly live in Tampa. Jakey was in Orlando once at his human sister's house, but the cats weren't in the same room. JH has never been there. When we met him in Orlando, it was in the presence of wires only. And neither of us has ever been to Tampa. As for the cats in our family who live just to the north of us -- we could actually drive there for a short visit; but the cat parents haven't expressed much interest in our visiting them.

3. Mom's birthday was a few days ago and we sent her this card. Mom couldn't stop laughing when she read the inscription on the bottom. It says, "Love, Just Harry and Jake the Dog. Harry picked out this card... I told him they were KATZ. JAKE. "

We hope that sets the record straight. The only cats we have physically shared space with are those that Dr. Dan has at camp and they stay in their own turf. Then there are those that we sniff out from under the cars. And you know how we feel about them.

Jake and Just Harry (I thought it was a cute card and Mom liked it, so there Mr. Smarty Pants!!!)

More Nieces

What are two wire fox terriers born into an extended family of cats to do when they feature one of their feline nieces (Ninja, the runaway come back home to our sister in Orlando) and all the rest -- two more in Orlando, two in Tampa, and two just up the highway a bit) -- start miauling for equal time? To keep peace in the family, we decided to give them all their fifteen minutes of fame as soon as we can. So, while Mom and Dogdad were in Tampa this weekend to visit our human brother and sister-in-law and attend a University of South Florida college football game, they snapped this photo of two more of our nieces, Mistletoe and Holly.

These two lovely young ladies are as different from each other as we Barkalots are. Holly is very friendly and acts almost like one of us; Mistletoe is more reserved. We say this only on second paw information, however, since we, as usual, were not present at the game or the house visit. Had we been there, who knows what this story would have been like!!

In any case two down; four more to go.

Jake and Just Harry

No November Noel

Wildfires, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, volcanos, ice storms, drought -- depending on where you live, Mother Nature has lots of tricks up her sleeve. The ones she likes to share with us here in South Florida are hurricanes and the occasional tornado.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30 every year -- but about the end of October, we start to breathe a sigh of relief. That's why news about a Tropical Storm named Noel out in the Caribbean last weekend didn't seem too serious. Wrong!!! Noel turned out to be a deadly storm that did a lot of damage in the Caribbean, and killed about 100 people.

Here in Florida, the winds caused beaches to be gobbled up by the rising surf, knocked down sea walls, and created other damage and concerns -- but, thank dog, no fatalities, no evacuations, no animals in harm's way.

Mom was in Tallahassee, the state capitol on Monday and Tuesday. She flew up early Monday morning on a commuter jet and had a very bumpy ride thanks to swirling winds. When it came time to fly back home on Tuesday afternoon, she and one of her friends looked at each other and decided to drive instead. It took 7 hours, but they were blissfully bump-free. And we were tail waggingly happy she was back.

Dogdad worked from home the two days Mom was away so that we could stay here instead of another trip to camp. We had lots of fun -- long runs on the golf course, treats at lunch, good guy talk!!! He's a little harsher than Mom about our barking, though, so we had to choose our moments.

And now Noel is out to sea. It's expected to weaken into a nort'easter affecting Cape Cod and then Nova Scotia. So we hope our friends up there stay safe. And the only Noel we'll be looking for is the one planned for December 25.

Jake and Just Harry