CyberKitten
November 17th, 2007, 12:05 AM
Last evening on,m y way home from work, I had to stop into our "Superstore" om Quinpool Ave (if anyone from the Maritimes knows where that is) to restock the pantry as they say. It was cold, kind of rainy and well, just not warm weather. I would NEVER walk my dog in it , unless of course s/he had to do her biz and then it would be short - tho prob with a few "hurry up honey" thrown in on my part, lol
However, this fellow arrived with his wife and maybe one chiild- there were so many people in that store that night, it was tough to tell if the child was ith them but it did appear that way. (I would NOT make a good witness in ocurt on this,m I know, lol). I ws admittedly shocked when he pulled out the dog's leash (Suilly me, I said to my bf, "Oh look, he must have a guide dog" - the dog was a lab). BUT- no, he tied him up and did not lick it either. (Even when I bike to the Superstore which is not very often -I lock it or some time bring it across the street to a local bike shp or ask the folks at customer service, one of whom I know - a former patients who is all grown up, going to school and working there. I ask if I can leave it there and they;ll watch it. It's not a "bad" area but there are a few panhandlers - it is about 10 min from the university I am affiliated with, the largest in the city but not far from St. Mary's either. I have seen dogs tied there in the day time too and have been appalled. And this man seemed about my age but had the sense of a well, toad and that is being unkind to the poor toad.We have a saying here that so and so "does not have the sense God gave geese:" - and that might explain it. Geese at least go south for the summer and they can fly in V formation and do all sorts of neat stuff, lol And toads have some tricks too. maybe someone will have a show where geese, =toads and cats and dogs and bunnies can f=show off their smart human or stupid human tricks,lol (But I digress- sorry!!!)
Anyway - not exceptionally good at keeping my mouth closed tho neither is my bf - in his case, he was born in Mabou, cape Breton which explains it all and in my defense, I take after my grandmother from Galway , Ireland and my Jewish grandma who had something to say about every topic on earth I think - and then some and then I spent all those yrs in Boston where I learned to be almost as assertive as the Yanks who taught me- and they were Yanks, well most of em.One of my fav nurses at Children's Hospital hailed from Brooklyn - in NYCity - not the small village in Nova Scotia near Liverpool tho there are 3 Brooklyns in NS, lol - so now I tend to say things I sometimes should not. I a,m always unfailingly polite but I do speak up. I asked him if he worried about the dog's safety "That mutt", he stated in what to my pet lover's ears sounded a little disparaging , no , a LOT disparaging , "who'll want him?" I tried o explain about bouchers, unkind people who could harm him, etc, etc but I lost the battle. I finally resorted to "don't you know it's against the law to abandon your pet?" He claimed not be abandoning him- where was he going to put him? You could ask someone to watch him, ask if you bring him in . (It is cold , you never know). Finally, he was bout to tell me where to go and myt bf grabbed me out of there while the aforementioned "dog owner" was yelling about how he had a huge fur coat - the dog he meant.
Did I go too far? Why do people do these things? I got his name, heard his wife call him by his first name and then in an aisle, someone said Hello Mr,. so and so" (Nancy Drew I'm not but...lol) - now I have to check the lawe in NS to see if that does constitute bad behviour! Cruelty. It wad endangering a pet in my view. He also bought generic grocery store food - that in itself should be basis for cruelty but I know it's not, sigh!! Oh, and I looked at the dog closely - prob about 2-5 yrs of age and not neutered!!! Looks like a lab but may have some other breed - perhaps a little Irish setter or even German Shepherd, ard to say exactly but 75% is lab. (Tho one would need DNA to know that - darn, I should have got that too right, lol).
I know it was wring but I looked up the dog's so called "owner" in a database I created for someone. Lives in a run down part of the city but that's no excuse. I now many people not well off who take excellent care of their pets Socioeconomic status in no excuse for NOT caring for your pets!! I see a panhandler on Spring Garden Rd- near my office - who brings his dog and when he gets food (many peple give him Tim's or McD certificates, I know I do - Tim's McD is not of nutritional value enough even if I do like the occasional McNugget, lol) - either from the cets or the Salvation Army who set up a food station near where many phandlers stand - he feeds the dog first, always and without exception when I have seen him, (We sometime eat lunch at a restaurant ner there) so he is a rime example of that. I even once had a teenage patient who had a cat- and her mother told her she cold have a cat only if she cared for it because they would not afford it and she got an extra job after school at a local retail outlet and much of the money went to her kitty. She did not trust her folks to care for her "baby" as she called him so for the duration he was in the hospital, (she would not go in otherwise to have chemo!), I cat sat "Baby" in my home. What was one more cat with my brood, lol I also had him neutered while I had him - she was still saving up for that and did not realize vets would take payments. You would have thought I;'d given her a million bucks!!!! And she survived her chemo so much better knowing her beloved cat was doing fine. Admittedly, some of my fellow colleagues thought I was a little crazy but my aunt - a psychiatrist - thought I was just fine - and I told them so, :laughing:(Plus at the time, she headed the America Psychiatric Asnn they had to listen to her, heheh) Well, not had to but you know what I mean. :D She had more credibility in that area that I did or do, lol (Tho she did admit to me she has never cared for a patient's pets to get them in the hospital tho I did point out to her she has "that 72 hour" hold thing" she can rise. Pediatricians are not so enamored, lol) Prob a GOOD ting come to think of it!!
However, this fellow arrived with his wife and maybe one chiild- there were so many people in that store that night, it was tough to tell if the child was ith them but it did appear that way. (I would NOT make a good witness in ocurt on this,m I know, lol). I ws admittedly shocked when he pulled out the dog's leash (Suilly me, I said to my bf, "Oh look, he must have a guide dog" - the dog was a lab). BUT- no, he tied him up and did not lick it either. (Even when I bike to the Superstore which is not very often -I lock it or some time bring it across the street to a local bike shp or ask the folks at customer service, one of whom I know - a former patients who is all grown up, going to school and working there. I ask if I can leave it there and they;ll watch it. It's not a "bad" area but there are a few panhandlers - it is about 10 min from the university I am affiliated with, the largest in the city but not far from St. Mary's either. I have seen dogs tied there in the day time too and have been appalled. And this man seemed about my age but had the sense of a well, toad and that is being unkind to the poor toad.We have a saying here that so and so "does not have the sense God gave geese:" - and that might explain it. Geese at least go south for the summer and they can fly in V formation and do all sorts of neat stuff, lol And toads have some tricks too. maybe someone will have a show where geese, =toads and cats and dogs and bunnies can f=show off their smart human or stupid human tricks,lol (But I digress- sorry!!!)
Anyway - not exceptionally good at keeping my mouth closed tho neither is my bf - in his case, he was born in Mabou, cape Breton which explains it all and in my defense, I take after my grandmother from Galway , Ireland and my Jewish grandma who had something to say about every topic on earth I think - and then some and then I spent all those yrs in Boston where I learned to be almost as assertive as the Yanks who taught me- and they were Yanks, well most of em.One of my fav nurses at Children's Hospital hailed from Brooklyn - in NYCity - not the small village in Nova Scotia near Liverpool tho there are 3 Brooklyns in NS, lol - so now I tend to say things I sometimes should not. I a,m always unfailingly polite but I do speak up. I asked him if he worried about the dog's safety "That mutt", he stated in what to my pet lover's ears sounded a little disparaging , no , a LOT disparaging , "who'll want him?" I tried o explain about bouchers, unkind people who could harm him, etc, etc but I lost the battle. I finally resorted to "don't you know it's against the law to abandon your pet?" He claimed not be abandoning him- where was he going to put him? You could ask someone to watch him, ask if you bring him in . (It is cold , you never know). Finally, he was bout to tell me where to go and myt bf grabbed me out of there while the aforementioned "dog owner" was yelling about how he had a huge fur coat - the dog he meant.
Did I go too far? Why do people do these things? I got his name, heard his wife call him by his first name and then in an aisle, someone said Hello Mr,. so and so" (Nancy Drew I'm not but...lol) - now I have to check the lawe in NS to see if that does constitute bad behviour! Cruelty. It wad endangering a pet in my view. He also bought generic grocery store food - that in itself should be basis for cruelty but I know it's not, sigh!! Oh, and I looked at the dog closely - prob about 2-5 yrs of age and not neutered!!! Looks like a lab but may have some other breed - perhaps a little Irish setter or even German Shepherd, ard to say exactly but 75% is lab. (Tho one would need DNA to know that - darn, I should have got that too right, lol).
I know it was wring but I looked up the dog's so called "owner" in a database I created for someone. Lives in a run down part of the city but that's no excuse. I now many people not well off who take excellent care of their pets Socioeconomic status in no excuse for NOT caring for your pets!! I see a panhandler on Spring Garden Rd- near my office - who brings his dog and when he gets food (many peple give him Tim's or McD certificates, I know I do - Tim's McD is not of nutritional value enough even if I do like the occasional McNugget, lol) - either from the cets or the Salvation Army who set up a food station near where many phandlers stand - he feeds the dog first, always and without exception when I have seen him, (We sometime eat lunch at a restaurant ner there) so he is a rime example of that. I even once had a teenage patient who had a cat- and her mother told her she cold have a cat only if she cared for it because they would not afford it and she got an extra job after school at a local retail outlet and much of the money went to her kitty. She did not trust her folks to care for her "baby" as she called him so for the duration he was in the hospital, (she would not go in otherwise to have chemo!), I cat sat "Baby" in my home. What was one more cat with my brood, lol I also had him neutered while I had him - she was still saving up for that and did not realize vets would take payments. You would have thought I;'d given her a million bucks!!!! And she survived her chemo so much better knowing her beloved cat was doing fine. Admittedly, some of my fellow colleagues thought I was a little crazy but my aunt - a psychiatrist - thought I was just fine - and I told them so, :laughing:(Plus at the time, she headed the America Psychiatric Asnn they had to listen to her, heheh) Well, not had to but you know what I mean. :D She had more credibility in that area that I did or do, lol (Tho she did admit to me she has never cared for a patient's pets to get them in the hospital tho I did point out to her she has "that 72 hour" hold thing" she can rise. Pediatricians are not so enamored, lol) Prob a GOOD ting come to think of it!!