Nevada's Cooney's law

Last week in Nevada a law went into effect making animal cruelty a criminal felony. It took lots of people in Nevada getting upset and demanding change after Cooney, a shelter dog, was tortured with a box cutter and killed by his "owner". It makes me so sad to think that there are dogs out there who are intentionally hurt by the people they trust. I can't even imagine it since I am a dog that is treated with love and respect, given lots of attention and everything that I need.

Laws like this are not only important to given justice for the abused animal, it is also important for society. There is a well documented link between people who abuse animals and people who are violent and abuse other people. Investigators discovered that serial killers like Ted Bundy and Jeffery Dahmer were known to have tortured animals when they were children. There are even organizations, such as the National Link Coalition, fighting for animal rights that document the link between violent criminals and earlier animal abuse.

If your state does not have a law criminalizing animal abuse, please call your legislators. Please don't let abusers get away with abusing and killing animals.

Abandoned dogs

Last night on the evening news there was a report of two dogs that were abandoned by their family. The family moved out several weeks before and left the dogs in the third-floor apartment without food or adequate water. They showed how the dog's ribs were sticking out. I wanted to cry seeing how desperately hungry the dogs had become. One of the dogs was so hungry that he jumped out of an open window in an attempt to find some food. The poor dog broke his hip in the fall. Both dogs were emaciated and needed to be taken taken to an emergency veterinary clinic because of starvation in addition to the one that needed emergency surgery on his hip. The police are trying to track down the owners. Criminal charges are expected to be filed. Please click on the link below to see the news report.

Abandoned dogs

I hear my family talk about how these are tough economic times and how people don't have jobs and can't find work. Most likely these people could no longer afford to take care of their pets. Instead of being cruel to them, they should have contacted the local animal shelter or ASPCA to find someone who would be able to care for the dogs. They were probably also afraid of trying to find someone to adopt their dogs because they are pit bulls. Pit bulls are known as a "bully breed" and some towns have laws outlawing pit bull ownership. Most of the bad reputation is related to how the dogs were trained or treated. I have a pit bull friend named Gladys that is the sweetest dog and would never hurt anyone. She has been treated well and has been trained how to behave. She is a certified Pet Assisted Therapy dog and has given her unconditional love to the people she visits. She only wants to help people, just like I want to help people!