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Misty's Days

A frustrated entry by Misty's mom

I was watching Miami Animal Police yesterday. It was an episode centered on pit bulls. They are banned in Miami Dade, but allowed in Broward County.

These Miami cops got wind of a loose pitty running around, it had bitten the mail man and tried to bite quite a few other people. They got to the neighborhood and chased this thing around for a while. It snarled, it lunged, it was pretty mean. Then it led them to a house where an elderly Hispanic woman was outdoors.

The cops yelled "GO BACK INSIDE!!!" as the dog ran towards her.

The lady looked at the giant brown pit bull and called to it. It stopped, and went indoors. It was her dog.

The officers explained to her that she'd incurred $1,100 worth of fines, for having the dog unleashed, for owning a pit bull, and for having it bite somebody. In Spanish, she said "But, I'm poor."

The cops said that either way, they were going to take this dog away since it was an illegal breed, but that if she surrendered it to the SPCA on site, they wouldn't charge her anything. Her voice trembled as she asked "are they doing to kill him?" The officer said yes. She put her dog on a leash one last time, and collapsed in hysterics as the cops took him away.

Later in the episode, 4 trained-to-fight pitbulls in Broward County were temperment trained and tested. They were all adopted into loving homes.

It hurts me so much seeing this difference, how one loved and owned pet and sole companion to an elderly woman would be euthanized... while trained fighting dogs successfully prove that they can change. All because of a few miles difference between them.

I love my dog like she's my daughter. They say when you become a parent, suddenly every child could be your child. I think it's the same way with having a pet. All cruelty to animals just hurts, shatters, and mortifies me. I want to jump up and do something, right away. Unfortunately, my allergies don't permit me to work within an animal shelter, so I have to come up with something else that will allow me to feel as though I'm really helping.

When I read about this mass slaughter of 50,000 or so household pets in China, which was not the first time they'd done this... I felt so much anger. It was compounded by helpless frustration.

And don't even get me started on the ridiculous amounts of stupidity that come out of people's mouths.

I could slap every friend of mine that has ever said:

I won't spay/neuter my dog(s) because...

- They deserve to be a mother/father
- I want to have puppies around. Puppies are soooo cute.
- It's too expensive.
- It'll hurt them!

It's infuriating. Unless I knew I was going to be able to keep 3 or 4 extra dogs in my house, and afford veterinary care for all of them at any given time, I'd never have let Misty have puppies. Not to take them away from her when they got older, and give them away to an uncertain future.

Alright, I promise I won't go into this any further. I'm only making myself more upset, when the whole point of this entry was to vent. I need to find a way to help.

I walked without a leash today!

Since mommy moved me into my new house, she has been trying to teach me to stop at the door when she comes in and out. She wants to be able to bring the groceries in without worrying about me leaving.

Then the other day, Mommy found a Yorkie that belonged to my next door neighbor, he had been missing 4 hours (he ran out while his owner was leaving to go to work, and his owner didn't see him because he's sneaky!). Well Mommy found him right next to his house!

So Mommy started to think that maybe I didn't want to run away, but that I just wanted to run outside for a while. Since our new home is in a pretty quiet community, she let me try it.

She opened the door, and I stood politely by the stairs to watch her leave. She told me I was a good girl, and then she opened the door even wider and told me "come here!".

I looked at her like she was crazy! What was she thinking? I'm not allowed to do that!

Finally I stepped outside and sat down... right on her feet. I wanted to show her I wasn't running away.

Then she said something even crazier... the W-word!!! We were going for a walk, without a leash or anything!

Mommy ran around with me and I chased her. We played together outside and I didn't run away. She was so proud of me. I even went inside when it was time to, even though I didn't want to. She still doesn't want to go too far, because if a car comes she won't be able to pull me away, and that scares her. She also doesn't want to go around where the Lady With a Million Cats lives, because I could get hurt. I just want to play with the kitties, but they want to scratch me. They're mean.

Ooooh and yesterday I went with Mommy to an adoption fair at Petco! Mommy walked me and a half-Yorkie around, but neither of us wanted anything to do with each other. I told her that I didn't want that doggie. She was disappointed, but she said that she didn't really love that dog at first site like she did with me, so she thinks I was probably right. I did love two little Labrador puppies, I wouldn't have minded them coming home with us, but Mommy said they were going to grow up to be too big for the 'partment.

While I was playing with the Labs, something terrible happened. A really big mean Schnauzer up for adoption leaped at me and grabbed me in his mouth!!! Mommy yanked the Schnauzer off of me and grabbed me. She was very upset with the lady who was running the adoption, bringing such a meanie aggressive dog and leaving them free to run around. After that, I was afraid of every dog there, even the baby ones. I am very friendly, why would that mean old dog bite me?

Guess where I sleep now?

IN MOMMY'S BED!!! With mommy in it!

Mommy turns out the lights and first I sneak around the room very quietly, collecting all of my toys. One by one, I stand on my back legs and put them on the bed where mommy is. Then I leap up with my mommy, and start piling them on top of her. I make a whole pile of things that I love, and then I sit on mommy's chest and start chewing on my toys until I'm reaaaaaaaally tired. Then I get off of mommy, give her a big wet kiss, turn three times, and go to sleep. That's when Mommy throws the toys off of the bed. I usually start lying next to Mommy's feet, but then I slowly creep up throughout the night, until my head is right on her shoulder. This way I can keep an eye on her, and make sure she doesn't eat anything without offering it to me. You never know when these humans will eat! You have to keep an eye out.

Then in the mornings, when her BEEP BEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP thing goes off, I jump up and onto her, smothering her with kisses. YAY MOMMY! TIME TO PLAY!!! TIME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP AND TAKE ME OUT AND FEED ME AND PLAY WITH ME AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH OMIGOSH I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I get so excited!!!

Sometimes she hides from me under the covers. OH NO MOMMY WHERE DID YOU GO?!?! I have to dig for her when this happens, doesn't she know she's supposed to take me for a walk?!?! When I find her I crouch down and stick my butt in the air and wag my nub slowly. I am the bestest Mommy finder ever!

Mommy says when we move into our new home, it's going to be Misty-proof, and I'm never going to be in the c-word ever again. Now I have to stay there 3 days a week, when nobody is home, and Mommy doesn't like that.

But no more! I am a happy Misty right now. My mommy loves me more than annnnnything!