My Cute Mutt

Dogs Are People Too!

This blog is dedicated to our four-legged friends-everyone's favorite pet-the beloved dog. Here we can discuss anything and everything related to dogs. We can share stories, photos, health and training tips, grooming tips; anything and everything related to the canines in our lives. Welcome and please do not hesitate to comment! I love to read other's stories and this blog was created to share. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back often!
ABOUT MAGGIE-We decided to get a puppy and began scouring the local online market places in the beginning of July in 2005. We answered an ad that was advertising small, mixed breed pups, made an appointment and drove an hour north to Nordingrå to visit the puppies. The breeder had the puppies out in her yard in a small enclosure. The pups were 8 weeks old. She told us that the mother was a Papillon and that the father was a Yorkshire Terrier. Both parents were there. One of the puppies looked very much like a Chihuahua, as he was short-haired and black and tan colored. I questioned the owner, because the father of the puppies did not look like a pure bred Yorkie to me, but she insisted that he was.There were four puppies in the litter. One had been sold already. Beside the one that looked like a Chihuahua, there was Maggie and then another female that had the same features as Maggie, only she was all brown with a black stripe running down the middle of her back. We decided that we liked the coloring of little Maggie and her sweet disposition, so we happily bought her and took her home that day.I have heard of so many names of this mixed breed. They can be called Yorkipaps, Papiyorks or Yorkillons! Maggie has the Yorkie face with the Pap ears and coloring. So many people that meet her have said what a perfect combination of breeds she seems to be!One of the neat things about Maggie is that we will never forget her birthday. She was born on May 5, 2005, so it's 5/5/05! So I suppose you could say that her lucky number is 5!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Greyhound Dog Racing-The Dirty Truth

The national greyhound protection group called GREY2K USA ran a successful ballot campaign against greyhound racing in the state of Massachusetts in 2008 and this year they took the battle to the state of Florida where they are out to close down the thirteen dog tracks in that state.
Christine Dorchak, president of the group, says that dog racing is cruel and inhumane and that the dogs live miserable lives in confinement. The state of Florida does not require race tracks and kennels to maintain published records of injuries or deaths.
GREY2K USA shot video footage showing two greyhounds who died as a result of injuries they received while racing. One of the dogs was a two year old greyhound who suffered two broken legs while racing at the Palm Beach Kennel Club.
Dogs live in small cages that are barely big enough for them to stand up or turn around in and most greyhound race tracks house one thousand dogs in warehouse-like structures. The general public is unaware of the fact that thousands of greyhounds are seriously injured every year while racing. These injuries include broken bones, heart attacks, broken necks and paralysis due to spinal cord injuries. Greyhounds are forced to race in the most extreme weather conditions, both on the hottest summer days and in sub-zero temperatures during the winter months.
When greyhounds are no long pulling in a profit, they are killed. It is estimated that at least 5,000 greyhounds are unnecessarily killed every year across the United States. In Wisconsin in 2002, a greyhound trainer was videotaped injecting several greyhounds with an anabolic steroid and in Florida, over 100 dogs tested positive for cocaine between the years 2001 and 2003. The state of Florida did nothing to find out how the dogs had ingested the cocaine. To add insult to injury, greyhound racing dogs are fed low quality and cheap meat-often diseased and dead livestock.
The greyhounds need to be protected and greyhound racing needs to be shut down. Until dog racing is outlawed, these dogs will continue to be sentenced to inhumane treatment and living their lives in small cages. It is time people stood up and told their state legislators that greyhound racing should be illegal--in every single one of the sixteen states that allow greyhound racing today.