Doggie Updates
Yara is neither hypo- nor hyperthyroid. Other test results are still pending. Photos are still on my camera, but I will say thanks to all the rain (and now snow!) she now bears the not so pleasant wet dog odor.
Dolly lost two pounds and has had her meds reduced. My father says her energy has mellowed a bit with the adjustment to her meds; she’s gone from being a holy terror to just annoyingly stubborn. Specifically he points out that she now listens to no one, including him . . . and she’s still eating poop.
Oh, and two of my puppy raiser friends have gotten their new puppies. Hopefully I’ll get to meet both little girls sometime soon!
Still Waiting. . .
No word yet on Yara’s test results. She has another follow-up at the vet’s Tuesday, so hopefully something will come of that. I do have some rather cute photos to share, but I’m too lazy to find the camera and upload them.
Having lunch at my mother’s tomorrow. Sounds like she’s cooking a literal feast, which would be less alarming to me if she hadn’t said only four of us will be eating all this food. Last time she did something like this she’d turned “dinner” into a cookout slash party of some twenty or so people I didn’t know. I very nearly turned tail and ran away. Honest.
Supposedly my new laptop shipped. Hooray!
And in other news, I upgraded to WP 2.6.3; no database changes, so hopefully nothing should be broken.
October 21, 2008
I’m left rather much speechless, but it’s worth noting that this occurred about two blocks from my own apartment.
I’ve no further comment.
Things Up to Which We Are
I have a bunch of things to post, but not really the time nor energy to do so. Instead, I give you the all encompassing bullet-style catch up post:
- From the small bit of information I’ve managed to gather here and there, we believe Yara is suffering from pancreatitis. Test results to confirm this are still pending, but I’m thinking of switching Yara to the reduced fat EVO and see if that helps any.
- School continues to keep me busy. Midterms are next week and I’m doing my best to not stress myself out completely.
- Seems there’s an issue with my new laptop and HP has delayed its shipment indefinitely. From what I’ve been reading on different forums, said issue may be more complex than the “lack of availability” line HP gave me. I’m on the fence if I’ll just give up and find something else.
- Speaking of computers, my PC at work went all BSOD¹, leaving me with absolutely nothing to do most of Friday. IT never came to fix it so I’m expecting an equally dull Monday.
- I think I’ve come down with a cold or something. I feel pretty much fine (aside from a massive headache that may be unrelated), but I’m very stuffed up and everything tastes kind of off. . . .
- Got my absentee ballot in the mail yesterday. I’m happy to say that Albany County will not be voting for Osama.
- Oh, and it dawned on me that Tuesday marked eight months at VESID. My, does the time fly. :-)
1. Blue screen of death.
Fosters Fighting EDF
Thanks to Marion for sharing this article on the NAGDU email list. [Original article here.]
A custody battle is brewing over 25 “service dogs in training” in the Phoenix area.
The future service animals are owned by the Eye Dog Foundation for the Blind, a California-based non-profit group that operates a training center in Phoenix.
But a large group of volunteers, foster families that agreed to help raise the dogs, are refusing to return them.
“I couldn’t feel comfortable handing this dog back to a foundation that is not functioning and feel good about it,” Diana Anderson said.
Anderson and 24 other volunteers entered into agreements with the foundation to provide the dogs a home and bring them to training sessions at the foundation’s facility in South Phoenix.
The goal of the foundation is to train the dogs and then place them with the blind.
But volunteers like Eldon Ploetz say the foundation is in shambles, that dogs are not receiving the necessary training, and they claim not a single dog has been placed with a blind person in more than a year.
Ploetz and his wife have helped raise and foster Kiesha, a German shepherd.
In late September, Ploetz received a letter from the Eye Dog Foundation’s attorney stating, “DEMAND IS HEREBY MADE that you immediately return Kiesha to the Foundation.”
The letter continues, “I understand that you have breached at least two parts of this Agreement. You have not followed the instructions of the staff, and you have not attended all the Training Classes.”
Other volunteers received similar letters.
But the volunteers claim the trainers are not properly certified, and the ones that have been hired have not stayed on with the foundation.
Additionally, they say the Foundation had been shut down for weeks and they have neglected the dogs.
“We understand they cut off the food for the dogs that were in the kennel,” Ploetz said.
Ploetz’s wife said she would rather go to jail than give the Kiesha back to the foundation.
“They are valid concerns,” said Dacoda Whittemore, a former operations manager who worked at the foundation’s training facility for only a week.
Whittemore said the dogs are “absolutely” receiving better care with the foster families, “not just because the management isn’t functioning properly, but there?s no staff qualified on the foundation at this point to be able to take and care for these dogs properly.”
Dexter Morin, a former trainer at the facility agreed with Whittemore, submitting his resignation earlier this month.
Before leaving, Morin turned over several dogs to the foster families rather than leaving them at the training facility alone.
In his resignation letter, Morin wrote, “I contacted the puppy raisers to inform them of my concerns of leaving the dogs on the premises without the guarantee that they would be attended to.”
Morin goes on to state, “I in good conscience turned them over to the puppy raisers for the safe keeping of the dogs.”
The Eye Dog Foundation and its attorney have declined our repeated requests for an on-camera interview.
In a statement to ABC15, the Foundation’s attorney, John D. Clark, wrote, “The contract clearly states that each of the dogs belong to the Foundation, and gives no ownership rights whatsoever to any of the puppy raisers.”
The letter goes on to state that “the Foundation directed each of the puppy raisers in writing to return the Foundation’s puppies to the Foundation within five days. It now appears that the puppy raises are refusing to comply with the Foundation’s directive.”