Pollux the dog somehow traveled from Montreal, Quebec to Kamloops, BC – a journey of almost 4,245 kilometres or 2,637 miles
I never cease to be amazed at some of the journeys our pets can make, all on their own. I also never cease to be amazed at how effective microchips can be at bringing back our lost or stolen pets.
This story definitely falls into the ‘amazing’ category.
A common marketing ploy of the people who broker puppies has been to claim that they import puppies because “European bred dogs are healthier”. They’ll usually then toss out some blather about dog wardens and breed inspections and dogs which are somehow magically healthy simply by virtue of the country they were born in.
None of this is true, of course. Dogs become healthier through a combination of things – a breeding program which puts health above everything else, use of up to date screening and DNA tests, an insistence on breeding from or to health tested dogs who don’t have any apparent health issues. None of this is predicated on the country your puppy is born in.
Another thing that helps to ensure your puppy turns out healthy, happy and well adjusted is to be sure he has been raised in a stimulating, safe, clean environment, where he, his siblings and his mother were fed quality food and given top knotch veterinary care.
Now, let me add my standard caveat – there are lots of breeders in Europe who exemplify everything I’ve just mentioned, and they are producing some spectacular dogs. What these stellar breeders are NOT doing is handing their four week old puppies over to any broker willing to pay them $200 per puppy.
For that, you need scumbags like these guys.
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Hard to believe, but my little girl is 27 today – and that also means that this photo was taken 21 years ago, which explains the blurriness. The bad lighting is all on me.
Happy Birthday, Nicole – thanks for putting up with me as your mom, and with my dog craziness, for almost your entire life! Love you!
It’s a little known fact, but by law, all Canadians must choose a favorite Tragically Hip song at age fourteen, or their citizenship is revoked.
This one happens to be mine.
We won’t be spending Canada Day in Bobcaygeon – we’ll be in Collingwood, instead, but this song evokes a true sense of Canadian summer for me.
If you ever come to visit us here, at the lower end of the Bruce Peninsula, in an area I sometimes (only half jokingly) refer to as “Two Miles east of the middle of nowhere”, you truly will get a chance to see the constellations reveal themselves, one star at a time.
Video after the cut.
Our friends at SNORT (Short Noses Only Rescue Team) in Buffalo, New York, have a really special girl they’d like to introduce you to.
From their website:
We aren’t sure exactly how old Veda is, but she is guessed to only be about 1 year old. Poor Veda has one very upset tummy, and after being advertised in the classifieds twice, she couldn’t be happier or luckier to have landed in her loving foster mom’s hands! Veda suffered rectal prolapse and received surgery to attempt to repair it. Unfortunately, the surgery was not completely successful and Veda now has fecal incontinence. To top it all off, she has a very upset tummy that could possibly be IBD. Veda is very thin and understandably so–she has been sick for quite a long time.