Quoth the Raven

Forensic Science moves into the dog arena.

You must remember the old catch phrase from Hawaii Five-O, "Book him, Danno". Well, maybe for this particular article it should be "Swab him, Danno".

Council officials in Melbourne, Australia are tired of dealing with the constant stream of dog attacks that take place daily, so they have created a 'dog attack kit' that comes complete "with swabs, gloves, sterile containers, a tamper-proof evidence bag and, most importantly, the paperwork that records the chain of evidence custody". The availability of such a kit will enable police officers and animal control officers to take swabs when called to the scene of a crime (aka dog attack). Now this doesn't sound like a bad idea, and maybe having this type of kit available will ensure that all those dogs labeled as 'dangerous' and usually the first to be condemned of attacking other dogs or people would be proven innocent.

Now I imagine that the processing of such a kit comes with a high price and I have to wonder who will be paying for this processing? I know that if my dog was ever falsely accused of attacking a person or dog, I would do anything that needs to be done to ensure that shes was not wrongly convicted. But what about those dog owners who have dogs that are often targeted based on the breed, but may not have the finances to provide such evidence. Or, is the Australian government going to eat the costs? I doubt it. So is this just another means to target the poor classes of Australia? Or, is this really an unbiased means of finding the real culprit behind dog attacks. I really don't know the answers to these questions, however, if you do I would love to hear from you.

On a more positive note, I do believe that this kit could prove the innocence of so many dogs that would normally have been confiscated without any question of innocence. Actually, I have a friend who told me about a situation he found himself in when in moved into a new neighborhood and one of his neighbor took an immediate disliking to his rottweiler - even though the dog never did anything to warrant such negative attention. An incident took place where the neighbor and her dog were attacked by a dog and woman called Animal Control and reported that the Rottweiler had attacked them. This poor guy had been inside the whole time with his dog, but felt that he couldn't fight the accusations and his dog was taken away and euthanised. In hindsight, I could say that if the same thing happened to me I would fight this with everything I had to prove my dogs innocence AND to prove a point, but maybe this person didn't have the drive that I have, or the finances, or even just the time required to fight something like this that could drag on and on and on.

There was another comment in the article that concerned me. Cr Cribbes said that "when dogs were involved in aggressive acts in which no harm was done (the majority of cases), a DNA sample could be taken and stored as a precaution". A few years ago I would have thought this was a good idea, but after spending the past 7 yrs in America I have seen that the criminal justice system is often anything but just.

My final question is targeted against all those arrogant, uneducated City officials and politicians who fought to invoke the dreaded BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) against such wonderful dogs like my own American Pit bull terrier, Zoe. Now with the current BSL that continues to sweep the great southland (Australia) and has forced many pet owners to re-home or euthanise their beloved pets, out of the mass hysteria that politicians have fed the public about bully breeds. Why would there even be a need for dog attack kits when all the supposed 'dangerous breeds' have been banned? Something tells me that the authorities need to do something about the current dog attacks because BSL has been initiated and yet there are still dog attacks. Hmmm, something tells me that the Breed Specific Legislation that was promoted, and initiated as a means to save every person and animal from savage attacks by dogs that were stigmatized as being vicious has failed. Politicians have gotten it wrong yet again, imagine that. 

Read the full article here at The Sydney Morning Herald.

Michael Vick Indicted!

So, what does the Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and dog fighting have in common? Nothing according to Michael Vick, but I would beg to differ.

We, the public, are led to believe that Michael Vick was just an innocent pawn in this situation, and that the only connection he had to the alleged dog fights that occurred on his property were the blood ties he had to his extended family, who were renting the property from him. It was this same property that after being raided was shown to conceal a dark secret; a secret that would involve the breeding, fighting and killing of numerous pit bulls for nothing more than to earn a quick buck from this lucrative, yet illegal, sport. A sport that raised dogs to tear one another apart; a sport that uses neighborhood pets as tools to increase the bloodlust in their dogs, in order for them to excel in the ring and seriously maime or kill the opponent. Dog fighting is a cruel sport and one that no ones wants to even believe still exists, but it does and though so often associated with the ghetto this sport has climbed out of the ghetto long ago and attracts high profile participants from all walks of life.

So am I to believe that poor Michael Vick is being persecuted because of his skin colour? Yes, this argument did come up early on. Don't get me wrong I do believe there is an element of racism in this country that must still be conquered, but I don't believe this was the case here. I believe that this was intended to be a convenient distraction for the public, but it failed.

Michael Vick would also like us to believe that although he funded a Pit bull breeding company (that is no longer available online), that he was in no way connected to dog fighting. Strange, isn't it. It is strange that the man could be involved with breeding the pit bulls that were likely found both dead and alive on HIS property, but he had nothing to do with dog fighting that was held on the same location! Hmmm... I would also assume that a reputable breeder would not go to such trouble to hide their breeding kennels in an area hidden from view, and located on a different property located far behind the main house. Oh, and did I mention that the surrounding fences and enclosures on the property were all painted black, making them even less conspicous. Such an odd colour scheme to choose being that the house on the main property was white with a perfect little white picket fence surrounding it. How picturesque! Maybe some people would argue that he was only trying to prevent thugs from stealing his dogs, maybe, and who could blame him when game fighting dogs can fetch as much as six figures!! Yes, I admit that I would want to protect my investment too, but how many innocent animals have to suffer at the hands of sick individuals like him, all for the love of money & status!

All I can say to you Michael Vick, is that it won't be long before that smile is wiped from your face, and it will hopefully be done when an upstanding Judge hits you with a felony conviction and sentences you to an extended stay in one of our cosy jails!

You can read more information about the indictment here

Gothic Gardening

I love gardens, though I can't really say that I was loving mine these past few months. To be perfectly honest, the borders surrounding my lawn were so neglected that I was waiting for the garden police to knock on my door and issue me a fine or two. Ok, I may be exaggerating ever so slightly, but the garden was definitely needing some lovin, and for the past two weeks this is what it has finally been getting. Without the excuse of college hanging over my head there was nothing stopping me from reaching out and taking hold of those weeds that were greatly resembling shrubs, and left another month could be defined as trees, and finally doing something proactive - like pulling them out!

Oh, and another motivator may be the upcoming 'surprise' party I am in the process of planning for Joel. It may not be a surprise since I have spoken of it on this blog, but there is really no way I could hold a surprise party when I know very few of his work colleagues or the gym junkies that he hangs with, so there is really no way for me to find out without asking the man, is there? Yes, it is all so burdensome, but he will be turning 40 this year and I want him to have a blast!

So... back to the garden dilemma. I decided to just get cracking and began weeding somewhat obsessively. Well, nearly as obsessively as those little suckers sprout. When the garden was back to basics, Joel and I took a trip to my favorite nursery, Swansons and after planting $300 worth of plants the garden is finally beginning to take shape. Of course, I have now caught the gardening bug and returned to the nursery a few more times just because I needed one more plant to make my garden complete.

By now you may be wondering why on earth I named this post 'Gothic Gardening?' Well, on my last jaunt to Swansons Nursery, I managed to wander through an enclosure that I have never visited that houses the cafe and meeting room, as well as an assortment of gardening merchandise, only to find out that the upcoming lecture was going to be on Gothic Gardening. Your imagination may be going wild right now thinking of all the dark and gloomy plants/flowers to put in your garden, but has nothing to do with the topic of the lecture, which in fact was all about welcoming bats into your garden, and encouraging them to do so by planting the right plants. Now I don't know about you, but I adore bats and would love to welcome them into my garden, as long as they were safe from our four legged baby who loves to terrorize the squirrels and cats that try to scale our fence. However, she is kept indoors and the bats will be doing all their roaming at night, so I think it should work out just fabulous! 

So there are a number of things a bat loving person can do to encourage these furry little creatures into your home garden. There are a number of plants you can plant that will attract certain bugs to your garden, that will attract bats. You can also place a Bat House for the cute little fellas to reside in. If you happen to be handy with a hammer you can make it yourself and Bats Northwest will even provide you with the correct specifications to do so, or you can just buy a basic box from Bats Northwest, or better yet just order a luxury bat box from the group, Bat Conservation International - you know the Bats deserve the best!   

Beware of the Black Volvo

You may remember that somewhat tacky horror movie, Christine that hit the cinemas quite a few years ago. You know the one, the red car with the serious window tint that stalks, better yet terrorizes, unsuspecting drivers as they cross the highway late at night (or, maybe that was a different evil car from a different cheesy horror movie?) Surprise, surprise, but doesn't everything always happen late at night in these cheesy horror movies. Well, I have to say that Christine - the car - must have believed in reincarnation, because she is back, and back with a vengeance and has taken the form of a black Volvo station wagon.

I know what you are thinking, 'this is my usual pet peeve and I am going to rant about Volvo drivers', and yes, you may be right about the rant and also about the topic being Volvo drivers, but after you read this post you will see that this rant is absolutely warranted.

I woke up at my usual time of 6am just like every other day and followed the usual routine, only this time I left for work earlier than usual and had plenty of time to cruise along merrily. The ride was going along in this manner until I found myself on the University Bridge. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the road so I knew I would get to work extra early, until I looked ahead and was confronted by the eery sight of the Black Volvo in front of me. Yes, alarm bells did go, off followed by a little anxiety, then followed by dread as I knew that this morning drive would be anything but usual. I had to take a minute to compose myself and speak calming words to the effect that 'not all Volvo drivers are bad, and that this one could be the one that makes all the difference to the bias I hold towards them'. Well, I was wrong or was I right? I was wrong in thinking that this Volvo driver was any different than the rest, and I was right in thinking that this Volvo driver was not only like all the others I have encountered - but that this one was by far worse.

I was in no real hurry to get to work (for a change) and I really didn't want to sit to close to the dreaded Volvo driver due to the erratic nature of their driving based on my past experiences, so I was considerate and left 2-3 car spaces between us. I finally told myself I was acting like a post traumatized Vietnam vet after returning from the war, so I told myself I am overreacting and should just chill out. As I was speaking to myself, I noticed that the Volvo driver (let's call her VD so I don't have to keep writing the words Volvo Driver) was acting strangely up ahead. She was waving her hands around and looking in the rear vision mirror, yes, I  thought this was strange behavior, but anything is possible as we ARE referring to a VD. I noticed that there was a yellow lab hanging over the woman and trying to move from the back seat into the drivers seat (really, the dog could have done a better job at driving the car), so I assumed she was trying to get the dog to back off. Well, the dog was eventually sitting down in the back seat, but the stupid woman was still making hand signals!! No way! Then I figured she was probably deaf and using American Sign Language as she was humming a tune from the radio? No, that doesn't make sense and when I noticed her face in the rear vision mirror, again, I realized she was giving ME hand signals. WTF!! Even now I could give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she had just been hired as a traffic cop and was practicing the stop signal, but hey, who is the stupid one here. In the end it must have been me as it appears that she was signaling me to STOP as I was obviously too close with my 2 car space difference between us, for her liking! 2 CAR SPACES - can you believe this? But it doesn't stop there. No, as we were approaching the traffic lights, I noticed that she was still giving me hand signals and NOW she was shaking her head while giving me a frenzied look. You know the one that victims in cheesy horror movies usually imitate just before they are butchered. Well, by this time I just figured I would get past her and I didn't want to antagonize her in any way, as I thought she was a crazy person, and probably capable of pure evil. I decided to indicate and get ready to turn left, but not without VD turning in the same direction, and now I know there is no way in hell that I am getting to work early at this rate. VD finally made the turn, and continued to give me head shakes and hand signals while doing so. I was ready to get out and yell at her by now for being such a freak, instead her own paranoia caused her to pull over and let me and the other six cars pass her so we could all drive to work in peace.

Good riddance VD. For my own sanity and the other normal drivers hitting the highways and byways, I hope I never encounter you on the roads around Seattle again!

* By the way, the picture shown here is not the actual photo of the crazy Volvo that I encountered, but happens to be another freaky Volvo driver who has no idea how to properly park a car AND does not have that prized little blue tag that gives them the right to park in this particular space. Again, surprise, surprise.

It's truly a dog's life...and I wish I had it!

This is our baby Zoe (aka the Zo-sta) and we have now been the proud owners of this 70lb bundle of joy for nearly 2 yrs AND we are absolutely loving it...most of the time.

We have numerous friends back home (the land of Oz) who now share their lives with two legged creatures and I constantly receive emails from them telling me how much their lives have been changed - for the better. Yes, this last tidbit of information surprised me as I am well aware that these little people (let's call them miniatures) will definitely change the lives of the people they reside with, but I wasn't sure that this necessarily meant positive change (just my opinion, of course).

So our baby - the four legged kind - came into our lives on November 11, 2005 and our lives have also significantly changed, both positive and negative. In the beginning, dealing with a 6 month old puppy certainly forced me to encounter more of the negative changes that I really hadn't anticipated; changes such as the constant source of energy in a 45 lb body tearing up the house and wanting to go, go, go, only stopping long enough to chew up a brush, the odd clothes hanger, a pair of sunglasses OR the $100 Ann Klein stiletto's that I must admit to having a love /hate relationship with anyway - mostly hate!  The fact that Zoe chewed up the shoe causing it to appear almost unrecognizable felt almost like a God send, as they may have looked really sexy, but in reality were the most uncomfortable pair of shoes I have ever owned! Truly!

But in spite of those insignificant monetary losses, which I must take some of the blame for as the fact is that puppies will be puppies, and chewing is a major part of being a puppy, life as a dog owner has been an adventure. It also involves a great deal of learning; learning about the stages of animal development, health care, obedience training, and a whole lot of patience. Growing up around numerous animals I really thought I knew it all, but I would quickly learn that all the obedience training I learned as a teenager is now classified as  fear based training, or using methods associated with negative reinforcement. By participating in the positive training methods practiced at Ahimsa Dog Training and reading numerous training books, I have learned that you don't need to use fear or force to train a dog, and that they will more willingly respond to reward based training methods that will enable you to have a well-mannered dog - while creating a harmonious relationship with your dog.

The Wonderful World of Ceramics

In the past I had a pretty narrow view of pottery and all that it represented, often assuming that anything made with clay would ultimately resemble a canister set with a typically standard - often boring - glaze design, but all that has changed. Well, actually the field of ceramics probably hasn't changed as much as my perception of it has, especially when viewing ancient pottery from China and Japan whose styles still influence potters today and are very much desired by art collectors throughout the world, including myself.

After completing my second quarter of ceramics, I have thus found that in this new era potters are getting creative and exploring many new diverse ways to design, glaze and fire pottery and one such Washington Potter who is leading the way is Bryan McGriff who works with Crystalline Glazes. I participated in a three part workshop last month and his work is extraordinary!

On the first day Bryan took us through the basics; showing us - the group - how he takes a few lumps of clay and turns them into bowls, vases, mugs and plates. I was impressed with just how clean his work area remained during and after the throwing phase, unlike myself who refuses to work without a full length apron that prevents me from leaving the studio covered from head to toe in clay!

He also discussed in great detail the particular clay he uses, preferring the porcelains which allow the effects of the crystalline glaze to have a greater impact on the finished piece. This glaze also has a tendency to run so he will construct tray-like forms that support the piece and collect any glaze drips, which prevent the glaze from damaging the shelves in his kiln - I told you he was devoted to cleanliness! The most aspect of using crystalline glazes is the firing technique which requires the heat level of the kiln to be accurately controlled and cooled down slowly which he achieves by using a computerised control on his kiln.

The second part of the workshop was held at Bryan's studio with Bryan focusing on trimming the pieces he made during the first workshop and we were able to glaze our own pieces with the crystalline glaze and then Bryan fired them. The third and final workshop was all about collecting our finished pieces. It was a thoroughly interesting workshop and truly inspiring!

* Just for clarification, this is one of Bryan's finished pieces, not mine.

The Potters Wheel

After only 2 quarters in the potters studio, I am hooked! I still remember my first night in class and how much I detested the fact that I would have to get my hands dirty trying to manipulate all that clay AND now I am eager for it. Apart from being a rewarding experience turning a lump of clay into a wonderful piece of pottery, I am also finding that it is a great stress reliever.

Now I have to admit that I made a lot of bowls that ended up as useless little pieces that now clutter my basement, but as the old adage goes, 'Practice makes perfect' and I have to say that I am finally feeling like a potter!

The vase here was originally intended to resemble a cylinder - ok, so I am not a potter yet - but as an accident it turned out quite nice, don't you think? This piece has been raku fired which takes about 40 minutes rather than the usual couple of days. Surprisingly enough, I was really impressed with the finished product and it now resides on my mantle.