Pleasant Hope is anything but pleasant

We just read about another dreadful scene where more than 360 starving animals were found living in squalor and disease. According to the report, "the 363 animals include more than 70 dogs and more than three dozen cats, plus donkeys, rabbits, ducks, chickens, and exotic fish. The Humane Society of Missouri and Polk County also found 12 to 15 dead rabbits, dogs, cats, and poultry." Other photos besides the one above are pretty gruesome.

The ironic name of the place? Pleasant Hope, Missouri.

Now I, Jake, came from a puppy mill in Joplin, Missouri, not too far from Pleasant Hope. And we think Just Harry may have had similar origins. So my heart immediately went out to all those creatures who are experiencing what I might have experienced, and what some of my relatives certainly must have experienced.

Contrast this inhumanity with the love and caring we just poured out on behalf of our wirey pal, Jackson.

Jake and Just Harry

Jackson on our minds and in our hearts

Update: Power to the Paw!!!

Our wirey buddy, Jackson, has made it through the surgery this afternoon and is now recovering in intensive care. He still needs all our thoughts and positive vibes though, not to mention loud barks, until he is himself again.

It's raining pretty heavily here, so it will be hard to see the dogstar in the heavens tonight, but if we close our eyes, we can see it bright and clear so that's what we'll do!!!.

Like all of our wirey and other pals, we can't stop thinking about Jackson, who's undergoing surgery as we bark, and we keep checking the clock to see what time it is in the UK.

We're with the J's and you, Jackson. We know you're a fighter!!

Jake and Just Harry

We're not chickens. Why do we get plucked?

Well, the rumors turned out to be true. Those sweet cajoling voices we've been hearing had just one result in mind: the dreaded plucking. You'd think we'd get used to it -- the removal of at least a pound of fur from each of us when our coats get too wooly.


A pound from Jake.

And a pound from Just Harry.

To be fair, since I, Jake, almost had a seizure the last time I went to a professional groomer a few years ago --before JH -- Dogdad has taken it on himself to do the job. And the process -- plucking as much as we can stand on our uppersides then clipping our undersides and finishing off with a final trim -- is accompanied with lots of treats and sweet talking -- but yikes!!! Just Harry and I are almost nekkid now.

First me, Jake, none too happy, but pretty stoic...

Then Just Harry, wondering if this really is necessary. His fur is very different from mine. Mine is extra thick; his is thin, so two minutes after he is combed, he looks unkempt again. But his jacket is more wiry than mine, so maybe he's a more typical wire.

I rationalized the procedure this time as a means of looking swell for my forthcoming date with Asta Marie. (Yep, you heard me right -- I, Mr. Poster Child of Bachelorhood, have a date with the very selective Ms. Asta Marie!! )



But poor Just Harry here is looking very sharp just to carry on with the same old same old daily routine. Perhaps that gray cat we saw the other day will look at him with new respect. Who knows. Or one of you ladies out there???






All I can say is, unlike grass, which grows so fast here in South Florida in the summer that you can actually see it grow, our jackets better slow down so we don't have to endure this for another few months.


Sigh!!!

DON'T FORGET TO KEEP ON BARKING FOR JACKSON AS HE UNDERGOES HIS SURGERY TOMORROW. POWER TO THE PAW. WE LOVE YOU PAL!!!

Jake

What was that? It was a cat!!

This may not be a very pawlitically correct post, especially since the blogworld celebrated international NOMS Day earlier this week. And everyone is watching the international Olympic Games -- those in China and the Paw Limpics right here on the DWB.

Nevertheless, since it's really really hard for a dog to tell anything but the truth, we have a serious problem with shhh cats.

First, of late, Dogdad has been finding cat poop on our front driveway and on our back patio. Our whole development has lots of bins for the disposal of whatever our dog populaion produces on their walks. But apparently, these particular NOMS are free to leave their stuff whereever they please.

Second, while we are committed to barking as loudly and as continuously as possible to help Jackson before, during, and after his surgery, the frequent presence of an uninvited neighborhood cat on our patio has caused us to bark frenetically and non-stop right in Mom's ear as her computer is next to the patio door. Despite her desire to have us continue barking for Jackson, she has threatened to sell us to the first bidder if we don't take our barking elsewhere in the house. But all of our genetic material has conditioned us to bark at these particular intruders and we can't seem to help ourselves. She's even resorted to drawing the blinds so we can't see out -- but then, neither can she. And we can still smell the cat.

And third, this morning as JH was peering through a hedge on his walk, as he always does, suddenly he backed away, startled by something. What? A very hostile grey cat who had hissed at him and was looking quite angry that he had the nerve to poke his nose under the hedge. What chutzpah!!

So, we're willing to do our part -- and as you all know -- we have seven NOMS cousins living elsewhere in Florida. But how do we communicate the message to these neighborhood NOMS that they need to do their part too? We don't think they blog. We don't think they speak dog. And they don't seem inclined to read our declaration of inter-species peace and harmony.

Any suggestions?

Jake

Stopping by Paducah on the Way Home from Mayemphis

Last night , we received an invitation from the whippets to stop by on our way home from Mayemphis -- so that's exactly what we did. Teka wanted to come with us -- but we promised her we'd tell Swede William how much she has been missing him.

When we got to Paducah, we saw three of the waggle out for a walk -- imagine how surprised they were to see two hairy dogs with bones in their mouths!!! But once they got over their shock, they invited us in to meet the rest of the waggle and their Servant.


We could only stay a short while with the whippets and their Servant because -- guess what? -- if we're away too long we're afraid Mom will find an airedale -- or two -- to take our place since she's been looking wistfully at all our airedale pals.


But while we're on our way home, we'll be thinking about Jackson and hoping his test today has positive results.


Two foot loose and fancy free foxies! What fun!!

Hi Mom!! Hi Dogdad!! We'll be home before you can say Jake Elijah and Just Harry!!

Update: A few of our pals, having seen us in Mayemphis and Paducah with bone in mouth, subtly suggested that we may have forgotten to paw off the bones during the relay. For sure, giving up a bone is not something that a dog does lightly, so it is to all our credit -- under Lenny's fabulous guidance of course -- that the relay around the world went so smoothly. Let me reassure you though that what you are seeing in our visits to Gussie and Teka in Mayemphis and to the whippets in Paducah are Commemorative Bones not the real ones from the bone relay. Just for the record, though, I, Jake, had no trouble passing the bone off to my little brother, Just Harry. That's the kind of mature guy I am.

He, on the other paw, after running all the way from South Florida to Kansas, kind of thought it was HIS bone and teased poor little Deetzy with it for awhile. But then he pawed it over so the relay could continue. (JH still has a lot of puppy in him, as you may have figured out.)

Jake

--

National Night Out

Well, Gussie and Teka invited everyone to stop by for National Night Out, since they are the block captains for their new place in Mayemphis.

Since Just Harry had such a good time running all the way from South Florida to Kansas for the Bone Relay, he persuaded me to run with him to Mayemphis -- a much shorter distance (?) to keep Gussie and Teka company while the neighbors cavorted in the streets with salsa and guacamole. We brought our bones along so all four of us could have a good chew.

So here we are, pant, pant, pant... We may have to stay a while since it's a fair piece back home.

Hi Mom!! Hi Dogdad!!! Look who's not at home!!!

Jake

Let the Games Begin

Pals,

If you haven't already, stop whatever you're doing and run like the wind to visit Lenny's latest post with the pawtastic bone relay. It's at http://wirewise.blogspot.com/2008/08/2008-paw-limpics-international-bone.html

Never in the history of the modern dog -- or ever in history for that matter -- has there been such cool pawticipation by us canines in the time-honored international Olympics!!!. We were proud to be two of the dogs representing Florida, braving heat and humidity and the threat of heavy rains, to carry the bone through cheering crowds. I, Jake, took the bone from Bussie, who lives to the north of us, and passed it off to Just Harry who, being much younger, carried it all the way to our pal Deetz, in Kansas.

You should have seen folks stop in their tracks, their jaws dropped, when they saw two wire-haired fox terriers running off leash and carrying big white bones. Once JH had passed the bone off to our pal, Deetz, and caught his breath, we explained that we dogs were united in the quest for international peace and harmony and that the Paw-limpics was our way of saying "Get with it People!!!"

Lenny, you are the best, and we appreciate what all your folks have done to make this such a fun and inspiring occasion. Now wait till you see us in the synchronized sniffing and individual snoozing events.

Jake and Just Harry