On my way back from the gym this morning, I saw this sign taped to a pole. PUGS FOR SALE. It depressed the hell out of me. The mother's face says it all. She knows her kids are not only going to be taken away from her, but separated from each other as well. She knows she'll never see them again. And here's where I'm going to stop because if I go any further, I'm going to start thinking about how my own dog, every time he sees a German Shepherd on TV, looks over his shoulder at me and plaintively says, "I miss my Mom!" and then I'm going to be forced to get maudlin and all "girly". And we certainly don't want that. I mean, the next thing you know I'll have a MIDI file embedded on this page of a sappy song that blows enough in its original form but suffers even more in the new incarnation.
Signs advertising puppies, or any other animal, for sale do little to elevate my mood. Indeed, if I'm in a good one (and no, it's not as rare as you may think) (remember, you don't know me in real life), the sight of a sign like this instantly reverses that mood for at least an hour. Signs advertising FREE animals plunge me into despair for as long as it takes for me to get the mini-lobotomy necessary to remove that part of my brain responsible for the storage of memories that would otherwise keep me even more awake at night. And signs advertising LOST animals ... well, let's just take a tip from the modern lingo so popular with the kids these days and say, "Don't even go there."
My cat, who spends a fair amount of time by my side when I'm in this room, is a "lost" cat. Someone else's. When she was a kitten, she was found by someone I'll just call S at a suburban Philadelphia train station, where S saw her every day for quite some time, just sort of hanging out and mewing like mad. There was no sign around pleading with anyone to return a lost kitten. No one knew her. S, who admitted that she wasn't really a "cat person", scooped the poor thing up anyway and, to make a not so long story short, the kitten wound up with me. And a trip to the vet confirmed that the shaved belly she presented, although perhaps all the rage among the renegade punk cats in England, was only an indication of a recent spaying here in this country.
It's been two years and four months since S rescued the kitten from the train station, and almost that long that my cat has been thanking me every day for caring enough about her to take her in. Of course, she shows her thanks in ways that I misinterpret. I mean, who knew that peeing on the bed was an indication of gratitude? But then again, the cat's lack an opposable thumb is probably why she didn't just leave a nice thank-you card instead.
P.S. Yes, I did blur the phone number on the little slips of paper at the bottom of the "Pugs for Sale" sign. I'm sure that whoever is selling the puppies wouldn't appreciate being bombarded with hilarious calls reminiscent of the Beastie Boys and/or this Crank Yank Prank Skank (or whatever the hell it's called) crap that everyone seems to think is funny (but which I think blows ... and which could be the subject of another post, but which I assure you won't).
P.S.S. Even if you squint really hard, you still won't see the phone number. But if you gently stare at the blurs long enough, then just like with those Magic Eye (sp.?) drawings, something might pop out in secret code!
fresh-baked at 08:50 AMSomebody forward all this to Liam. I'm certain he would be compelled to compose a suitable doggerel.
Offered by: The Real Don on July 17, 2002 2:04 AMJo - anything but a midi. I would have to ban myself then.
Offered by: zel on July 16, 2002 8:32 PMLA -- you're a good soul.
Offered by: Scott on July 16, 2002 5:26 PMAgreeing with every comment here. Won't even bother to try to add to them. It's all been said.
Offered by: Joan on July 16, 2002 3:58 PMAre you trying to kill me? Are you *really* trying to just f*cking kill me???? It would be so much easier than posting things like this, I mean, why not force me to watch back-to-back Springer episodes for 24 hours or something? Geez...
Offered by: Tess on July 16, 2002 3:12 PMIt's that overwhelming sense of guilt I have when I see things like this that cause me to live in a petting zoo, which I currently do. If I had it my way, I'd have 96 dogs... instead I have 3 cats and 1 dog. Want a real heartbreaker.. spend more than 5 minutes in the long term parking lot at JFK airport. That's how I ended up with my little AJ. She was living under our car while we were vacationing in the Caribbean. It was January, sub-zero with windchill, and she was 5 weeks old and starving to death. She came home with me without an argument from the wife. I was tempted to go back for more, but the wife put her foot down. The "crazy cat lady" gene tends to run on my mother's side of the family ...
Offered by: LA on July 16, 2002 2:49 PMIt's really depressing. I have the same reaction as Kim. To me, puppies for sale from backyard breeders are far worse. My own two cents is that you either buy a dog from a responsible breeder -- i.e. you're signing a contract, going through a screening process, etc. -- or you get a rescue/shelter dog. Buying a dog from a backyard breeder is almost always a mistake. First, you're most likely going to get a dog with health problems (pure bred dogs with poor bloodlines are destined for health problems) and second, you're contributing to a system designed not for the benefit of a breed but rather for the financial gain of "breeders."
I'm getting hacked just thinking about it!
Offered by: Kelly on July 16, 2002 11:43 AMI would not trade my shelter mutt aka the dog of all doggerness as affectionately referred to by all admiring friends, for any pure breed of any kind. She is the best thing on 4 feet and has been my constant companion for the last 8 1/2 years, she chose me over the ex and received a lifelong supply of an assortment of biscuit bones and undying love from me!
Offered by: lori on July 16, 2002 10:53 AMYour spayed cat may have legitimately been abandoned. The organization "Friends of the Animals" takes in stray cats and dogs, neuters/spays them, then places them in temporary homes until owners can be found. It's a good idea, but the temporary homes can be worse than the breeding "mills" that some animals come from.
I found a kitten when I was 18 and named her Valkyrie. She mewed in a "mew-mew-mew-MEW-mew" pattern similar to Wagner's "Flight of the Valkyrie" (forever remembered by several generations as Elmer Fudd's "Kill da' Wabbit".) As we already had two cats, my parents (whom I was sponging off of at the time) advised me to contact "Friends of the Animals". They found a "foster home" that was only 3 miles away I could take her to. I'd describe the place, but suffice it to say that instead of depressed, you'd just be pissed. I still feel bad that I left her there. The good news is that Valkyrie (her name stuck) was adopted within 24 hours by a nice family that lived 4 houses down from my parents.
Offered by: Thomas on July 16, 2002 10:24 AMMy dog and I give you a hearty "thumbs up". Or at least I do. He just pants in agreement.
Offered by: Jodi on July 16, 2002 9:21 AMThe ones for sale depress me more than the free ones. With the free ones, I think someone was stupid and didn't get their pet spayed or neutered, and there was an "accident." With the ones for sale, someone purposely bred the animal with the intent of making money on her offspring. That disturbs me.
My family used to breed Yorkies when I was a little girl, but now I'm very much against the "pure-bred" thing. Give me a shelter mutt any day.
Offered by: Kim on July 16, 2002 9:16 AM
