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Sheila and I want a dog, but can’t afford one - and this place would probably get torn apart even with me being around to train. Our current cat is about 14 years old and is scared of everything except other cats, Sheila and sometimes me. It never goes outside (infact it shows signs of terror whenever the door gets opened) and sometimes seems to show signs it might be lonely. So, as cats cost next to nothing, we decided to go the cat route - as this doesn’t stop us getting a dog when the time/place is right and we have the money.

Probably our new cat, Alaska (the white one).

Our older Cat, Jewel.

It’s days like this I realise how absolutely ‘anal’ I am when it comes to signing paperwork. I will not sign anything I haven’t thoroughly read and understood.

It’s really awful seeing anyone cry. Deep down I find it hard to say anything but “Give it back!” until I regain my senses, then I have to wonder just how some people live in this day and age…

“I guess I signed a piece of paper…”

So, you didn’t read the contact then? Why not? Too busy? Ah…

I saw a news item this lunchtime on FOX about mortgage rates increasing and they interviewed a man who said that he had told the agent he wanted a fixed-rate mortgage. The agent printed his contract - he signed it - then now, years later, he is complaining because his mortgage rates have increased and he is going to lose his home.

So, you didn’t read the contract either then? Why not? Too busy? Ah. FOX News may be blaming the ‘nasty agent’ for not giving the customer what he asked for, but I’m not. I’m blaming the idiot who didn’t read his contract… If you were letting someone else take money directly out of your hands, would you be so much of a pushover as you were signing that piece of paper that allowed them to take money from your bank account? If the agent knew exactly what he was doing - so did you - you knew you were meant to read it. Make the agent sit there and wait, twiddling his thumbs, you are the customer, not him, he’s being paid (by you) for his time!

It happens all-too-often and people have to learn that their lack of action also has consequences. You DO NOT sign what you have not read - never, ever, never, ever. We live in time of digital communication and fast-paced living. You cannot walk through the city of Chicago for more than five minutes without hearing a hoard of impatient car horns and everything in life is about getting it done quicker. Chase Bank has advertisements up in Bus Shelters about how you can personalise your ATM menu, because - I assume - pressing more than one button is a real issue for their customers.

Anyway, back to Ellen… Not everyone has a TV show. I am sure this type of thing happens every day and if it makes you feel bad, Ellen, then I’m sorry. You were oh-so willing to lay out the cash to try to do everything you could for that dog, you are willing to cry on your TV show for the sake of the children, why weren’t you willing to read the ‘piece of paper’ for the sake of all of them in the first place?

OK so, I’ve had enough now.

The police raided Earl Simmons’ house in Arizona, they seized a number of guns, freed twelve Pit Bulls (who were not being fed or given water) and on a further search they discovered three dogs buried in the yard, one of which had been burnt. Hmm…

…and his seemingly innocent lawyer expects people to believe that this guy isn’t a gang banger with no respect for anyone or anything, that he didn’t mistreat any animals and that it was all the “caretaker’s” fault… You, lawyer, will get what’s coming to you. Life always seems to work out payment for people like you…

I mean, come on, who are you kidding? You Scum… I hope you and Vick share the same cage and have someone to watch over you… Someone who will be making sure you’re safe, making sure you get food, making sure you get water, making sure you aren’t forced to do anything illegal, painful, cruel… Making sure you aren’t forced to fight, to kill, to survive, someone who will make sure that even if someone starts a fight with you, you won’t be murdered in a torturous way for not fighting back. I hope you’ll be treated with compassion, I hope you’ll be treated just like you deserve…

May the soap be constantly slippery and may your Prison Guards show as much care for you as you have shown for your animals… You Scum.

Even before Vick pleaded guilty angry Atlanta Falcons fans were busy packing and sending his Jersey’s to the Atlanta Humane Society…

Source: Click here.

So what are volunteers doing with the jerseys?

“We discovered like any donation we get, any shirt or towel, we put it to good use here at Atlanta Humane Society. We’re always using things to clean kennels, use for bedding and stuff like that,” said Smith.

Did she say cleaning kennels?

“We’re not showing any favoritism to these jerseys, they go into our general rotation of towels,” Smith said.

First, we have all heard of situations where someone thinks pleading Guilty gets a lesser sentence and pleads guilty even when they did nothing wrong. We’ll never know if that is the case here, but I suspect not. I suspect that Vick lied to the NFL Commissioner, lied to his fans and lied to the world when he told us all he hadn’t done these evil things he is about to raise a Guilty Plea towards.

Vick grew up in disadvantaged circumstances and I believe that’s where he will have lost his sense of morality. Though, making no excuses for him here; he knew what he’d done was wrong, because if not, he wouldn’t have initially said he didn’t do it…

In some neighborhoods where lots of poor families are crammed together, joining a gang is often seen as the only way to put yourself above those around you. I can fully understand why kids, even adults in some places, might feel the need to join a gang (however stupid that is of them).

Wth Vick’s actions, I can’t help but think this is typical gang banger behaviour and that’s absolutely deplorable. Michael Vick is (or was) an NFL Quarterback, he is an idol to both children and adults and he had a tremendous opportunity to show kids growing up in disadvantaged circumstances a way out. He had a chance to show them that they don’t have to do wrong, they don’t have to have the gang mentality and they can contribute.

So, while my sense of anger says that perhaps Vick should be tied up in a bag and drowned like the dogs he allegedly killed in the same manner, I have to say that whatever should happen to Michael Vick, should make a difference. He needs to really have the things that matter to him fall apart, he needs to be reduced to tears, he needs to be so hard hit by every punishment handed to him that nobody will ever do it again.

Michael Vick should get a jail sentence similar to less well-known offenders of this type, he should then have to do some sort of community based work to reverse the negative lessons he has placed in children’s minds. He should also be banned from the NFL, for life.

Why are people so absolutely unaware of what they do to people around them? I am starting to get really annoyed at the way that many people in Chicago have those tiny little dogs on leads that are 6ft long, with the dogs walking waaay out at the side of the owner.

The worst ones are where you are walking along on a fairly thin path, the owner walks next to the buildings and the dog walks right out by the kerbing, because what happens is that you walk along and wind up with a lead over your feet.

In the past I have kicked shopping out of people’s hands because they would not even allow me space to walk past and give room to another human being over their precious shopping bag, should I start kicking their dogs too?

A properly trained dog will walk by the side of your leg, because the dog accepts that is the only place you ever let it walk. Owning a dog is actually really easy and is very much like raising a child, you set their limits and you hold them to it, you will reap the rewards of good behaviour.

Aren’t Animal Activists fantastic?

Well no. Infact, Animal Activists are amongst the most stupid people in the world.

They recently “freed” some Wild Boar from captivity in the UK… Now there have been two attacks on humans. In the latest one, a grandmother had to fight them to stop them killing her dog.

Stupid, stupid, stupid people. Wake-up!

This is a poem I wrote when I was 12 years old. It is about my dog, Shep, who had died shortly before writing.

Shep.

Shep,
Your fur like a golden beach,
the sand kicked up by the waves.
Your eyes like a young, warm, loving child…

Shep,
Your nose like a black shadow moving through a dark, damp street.
You moved like a swift dove in the warm summer breeze.
When your tail hit my legs like a whip on a block of wood…

Shep,
Now…
The picture lays on my desk, a symbol of your life.
The sound of your sharp, whining back past-midnight echoes in my head.
We shouted at you to shut up…

But now…
We want it back.
We miss it.
You’re dead.

I just read about a dog in Wisconsin who saved it’s owner from a fire. The owner, who normally wore a prosthetic leg, hadn’t noticed the fire and couldn’t move - the dog first barked - alerting her, then after pulling the owner into another room along the floor, the dog went and got the phone for it’s owner to call the fire brigade.

After the call was finished, the dog then continued to pull it’s owner by her clothing out of the front door. The dog then ran back inside the building and was found dead by firemen overcome by smoke - next to the owner’s cat, who also died in the fire, it is believed the dog had been trying to get the cat to go outside and escape the blaze.