God love the lonely dogs

Disclaimer: This is a rant. It includes exaggerations and random thoughts. It is not meant to be a serious discussion. This blog is Ruthieland and as such what I think and what I say is all that matters.
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What is it about pure-bred dogs? Why are so many otherwise intelligent, earth/health/humanity/generally PC-conscious-type people so determined that they have to have a pure-bred dog? I can't even stand the word "breeder" much less think about approaching one for a new pet.

I wish someone would put a 20-year (or forever) ban on selling pure-bred dogs. I understand preservation of the breed and all, but in my perfect world only a select few people would be allowed to own and reproduce purebred dogs (and not for resale) for these 20 years (or forever). If you want a dog, you would go to a shelter or a rescue home, pass an interview, pay a couple hundred dollars, sign in blood that you will have your dog fixed and take it to its forever home. Ideally, eventually all dogs will become a hot commodity instead of how it is now; people will pay thousands of dollars and drive/fly for hours for a purebred as they drive past hundreds of beautiful dogs wasting away in their local animal shelters. Everyone wants a purebred, so puppy mills pump them out, selling them in shitty pet shops that don't care about anything but making money off a cute face.

How is breeding new dogs for people to buy, instead of getting a homeless dog, any different than breeding perfect children instead of adopting an existing child or even birthing our own possibly-imperfect child? Should only perfect people be allowed to breed? There's a debate. There are no guarantees with a mixed breed dog, but there are no guarantees with your own child, either. Who are you that you have to have a perfect specimen of whatever kind of dog it is that you find desirable?

Because you want to know what the dog will look like when it grows up? Do you know what your infant will look like when it grows up?

Because you want to make sure it doesn't grow too big for your lifestyle? Do your research; find a rescue that has small dogs or put your name on a waiting list at the shelter for a small dog. My daughter got a teeny dog at the shelter that no one wanted because she isn't perfect. But, in the end, it turns out that with a lot of love and patience, she is perfect after all.

Is it because the dog may have been mistreated and you don't know how it will behave when you take it home? Well, there are no guarantees that purebred dogs will automatically be angels, and with love and patience your pound puppy will be perfect, too. We have a border collie cross dog that was a trainwreck when we brought her home from the shelter at about 9 months old. She was terrified of everybody. The shelter people couldn't get a collar or a leash on her because she was so afraid, but you could pick her up and carry her because she was so terrified of contact that she would freeze. 3 years later, she's the sweetest dog ever. Actually it took about a year and a half for her to achieve sweetest dog ever status. She's comfortable, confident and loves to walk on a leash, though she doesn't really need one because she stays close to us and wouldn't hurt a fly if it landed on her.

Is it because poodles don't shed and you think they will adapt better to your house of allergies? If you've exhausted all possibilities of poodle rescue associations and your name has been on a list at your local shelter for ages with no response, maybe you are out of luck. Maybe a dog isn't in your future because of your allergies.

We sit back and criticize other pet owners whom we don't think are giving their pets the attention we think they need but we drive past shelters filled with hurting, lonely dogs on our way to the breeders where we happily give money to people to create more dogs. Good lord.

Something wrong with this picture. It pisses me off.

Blame it on Facebook

I think that's the reason I rarely post on here anymore. Facebook is too much fun and I only have so much computer-time in the evenings.

Also, I think I feel a little too exposed to say much on here. Too bad. I was really hoping to keep this kind of a secret place where I could vent and only a few chosen people could access my thoughts. The internet is just not a secret place. Kind of sucks.

Oh well.

Summer is over already. I feel like I missed it again this year by working too much. We bought a fantabulous trailer and we hardly used it. I wish I had the balls to find another job but I feel so damned responsible to stay where I am for awhile longer. I don't hate the job or the people, not at all, but I do feel like it's time to learn something new, hang out in different digs for awhile. 7 years at the same place is a long time for a wanderer like me.

Mr X is up north fishing right now with his brother at a good friend's fishing lodge. I'm celebrating by making cabbage rolls (well, lazy cabbage rolls to be honest) because I love them and he can't stand them. I'll eat them all weekend long and then hopefully be sick of them for awhile. I hope he has a wonderful time. He's been so stressed lately and I'm not sure if the chasm I feel between us some days is because of his stress or because....well I don't know what else. I don't want to think about it because it hurts my head. I just hope he's okay.

I'm also hoping to read lots this weekend. I'm reading The Plain Truth by Jodi Piccoult right now. It's about an Amish family and it reminds me of my early years and the uber-conservative Mennonite churches I attended. My uncle John was even mentioned in the acknowlegments at the beginning of the book. Kind of cool.

Poor Nyckee is off work until after the baby is born because her hip bones are out of place or something weird like that. Poor thing. How they manage to keep it together financially is beyond me but she's amazing. I wish I was a millionaire sometimes so I could make things easier for my kidlets, but they will get through this and they will be stronger for having done it on their own. I'm so proud of her and of Miles.

It's so hard to imagine that in 2 months there will be another person in our lives to love. Can't imagine loving the new little one half as much as we do Chaeli, but of course we will.

Chaeli has been SO much fun lately. I'd forgotten how clever 2 year olds can be. And so damned cute I can almost not believe it. Everything she says and does is beyond brilliant to us. We went to Edmonton last weekend, Nyk, Chaeli and I, because my mum was there for our old church's 50th anniversary. On the way to my brother's house, we told Chaeli that we were going to see Grandma (I am Ima, so she had no idea who Grandma might be). For some reason she thought my brother, Doug, was Grandma. When he went out to pick up dinner, she kept asking, "where's Grandma?" and I'd point her to my mum. Finally, Doug came back in and she put her hands up and said, "THERE's Grandma!" It was just hilarious. Fortunately, he was a good sport about the whole thing. The next day, my sister-in-law came into the room and Chaeli brightened up and said, "Hi Grandma!", so she was must have thought everyone at the house was Grandma. It was so funny. She was so good in the car and is so friendly to everyone. What a great kiddo.

Mitchie is off to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks to go to a seminar for work, lucky duckie. I love being able to see her every day since she moved back. I have no idea how I managed when she was so far away in Alberta. We talked every day, but it just isn't the same. This is SO much better! I hope we all stay here forever. Saskatch really is the best place to live, but don't tell -- we don't want everyone moving here. heh