The
Squamidian Report – Feb. 2 / 13
Issue #558
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
We were dog sitting this week, well, for one day this week. The neighbours have a black lab and they wanted someone to take care of it for a day. They usually take him to work with them but on this particular day they both had important meetings that would run on late. They commute to the city every day where they both have ‘professional’ level jobs. She is an architect and he is a chemical engineer. The dog normally goes with him and spends the day under his desk. They are a young couple and spend their weekends going on long back country over-night hikes and other adventures that dogs tend to like doing. The dog, his name is Hector, won the lottery when they ‘found’ him. He was on death row, condemned to be put down as a ‘problem dog’. They couldn’t bare to see him put down and adopted him, under very strict conditions set out by the municipality. He can only be off his property if he is wearing a muzzle, he must be kept on a leash and he can only be free of his muzzle and leash if he is inside their house, or outside the municipal boundary. He can only be loose in a fenced yard if the fence meets specific standards. Our fence comes close, and we have had him over before. However, when he is off leash and un-muzzled in our yard, he is constantly supervised by us or his owners.
Willow doesn’t like black labs. In fact, she normally hates black labs. Her first encounter with any of them just after we adopted her didn’t go very well. A young black lab attacked her and ‘The Wife’. Willow was on her leash, the lab was loose. The lab had ‘The Wife’ and Willow backed into the bushes on the side of the trail. The young lab came away needing stitches, Willow came away unscratched. That dogs owner has had it in for Willow ever since and even spread untrue information about her, claiming Willow and dogs like her have no place on ‘their’ trails. We’ve had to put up with morons like him ever since. Since then, Willow simply assumes any black lab she meets is a threat and reacts aggressively toward them, a good offence is the best defense I guess. Anyway, when the neighbours brought Hector home last summer, Willow wanted to meet him. For whatever reason, she didn’t react with mistrust or aggression, she just wanted to interact with him and sniff his private parts. He on the other hand didn’t really want anything to do with her and growled and bared his muzzled teeth. She ignored him and ran right up and checked him out. He slowly got used to her and they have become good friends. I mentioned him being in our back yard, his owners often bring him over so he can run free and play for a few minutes with Willow.
Anyway, they needed someone to take Hector for a day and we were the obvious choice. He wasn’t too happy being left behind but settled in. As much as Willow likes him, she didn’t really want to share her toys but we let him have one of her balls and she was good with that. He can be a bit hard to read and pushy, and when those times come the easiest thing to do is distract him and send him to his doggie bed. We normally go out for a walk first thing in the morning. Willow didn’t mind him coming along but insisted on being out in front on ‘her’ walk. We normally go out for a coffee after our walk and both dogs sat quite happily in the back seat. The only touchy times were when food was involved. During feeding we kept them separated as I’m pretty sure Hector would have tried to take Willow’s dinner away and that kind of situation had to be avoided. I don’t think Hector could be around children, it would not be worth the risk. He is fine around adults as long as the adults are and stay in control and dominant. Hector’s problems are the result of being from a home where he was not trained, not treated properly and left to make his own rules. That just does not work and ends up with a ‘danger’ dog that gets put down.
Hector was quite happy when his people picked him up because while he likes us and was just fine here, we are not HIS people. He’s a very lucky dog to have them, they have brought him a long way. His behavior still needs work and will probably always need some work and close observation. Willow wasn’t to thrilled having him over for the whole day, she likes her boyfriends in small doses, a few minutes at a time, but she will be super happy next time she sees him. That’s the way dogs are.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I just want to point out that the Waterloo Regional Police haven’t forgotten everything that Russ taught them while he was on the force! After all, they managed to catch and arrest a murderer only 6 days after a horrific discovery was made at a building on Frederick St in Kitchener. With nothing more than a torso and a tee shirt to go on they were able to identify the victim and also track down the killer! Way to go uncle Russ! You teached ‘em good! It’s just too bad Canada doesn’t have capital punishment any more! This guy deserves it!
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This area sure has had it’s share of problems and disastrous happenings over the past week and I must say that our emergency services have done an amazing job of handling them in an efficient and effective manner! With no loss of life as a result of two major fires, one being an incredible explosion, both the Waterloo and Kitchener Fire Departments have done an amazing job of preventing loss of life and the spread of property damage. I must also mention the incredibly brave and heroic work done by the neighbours at both emergency scenes. If not for the quick actions and thinking of neighbours of the victims of both fire incidents there would most certainly have been more tragic consequences! It is indeed heartwarming to see that people are not afraid to get involved when an emergency situation arises! Having been there thousands of times over a 30-year period I can attest to the bravery of most people when the chips are down and rest assured, the Fire Fighters and Police Officers do appreciate the help and support of members of the public. Although neither emergency service encourages citizens to take personal risk in most instances, the earlier someone acts to stop a crime in progress or the spread of a life-threatening situation such as a fire the more chance there is for a positive outcome!
If you see something happening that you can personally affect in a positive manner please don’t be afraid to step up and do what you can to prevent a disastrous outcome.
In most cases, all it takes is a simple dialing of your cell phone to report whatever it is you see going wrong, you don’t have to physically solve the crime, put out the fire, stop the bleeding or restart that heart, just do your best to remember whatever details you see and report them to the proper authority! Make that 911 call!
That’s all for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … GREG
PS: Something To Think About>
“All that truly matters in the end is that you loved!”
One of 45 lessons life taught me:
Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.
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Have a good one..
the doug
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