Welcome Home Tye - and some other Canadian tidbits!

Hey all. I'm posting this little note which I wrote on my facebook page on May 22. It's my dog's first Canada Day with me, so I'm not quite sure how she's going to react to fireworks going off all around us - I'm sure she'll be fine though. I'll just pump her full of treats. Since I'm involved in politics not just on the provincial level but the federal level as well, I'm sure that in future blog posts you'll hear me refer to certain people, certain positions. Just for the record, here are a few of the following things I'll most likely say quite often.


M.P. - Member of Parliament. (This is the Federal Government elected representative title)

M.P.P. - Member of Provincial Parliament. (This is the Provincial Government elected representative title.)

House of Commons - pretty darn close in equality to the House of Representatives.

Mark Holland - a good guy, the MP for Ajax Pickering (that's the constituency that I grew up in) and a friend's friend. I'm doing some work for him this year for an event, so I know I'll post progress reports for this for sure. (I mention him here because I mention him in the note and the picture of Princess Tye you see was from when she went for a visit - there was a coup d'etat in his office!)

Anyway - on to the blog that I wrote on the Victoria Day weekend on facebook. I've added some comments at the end that pertain to today's blog, but whatever. You'll figure it all out. Happy Sunday!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today was a fantastic day, despite the slight undertones of sadness and frustration - to which I will fully account.

I woke up this morning at around 8:00 am - partly due to the insomnia that I've had for going on 7 years now, and partly because of what was happening today.

I got a phone call from Caitlin at around 10:00 asking what time would work for me to come and pick up Missy. I said around 1:00 'cause I had some yard work to do. Cool - so I got to Caitlin's place, and we went to Bowmanville (to pick up Princess Tye) and as soon as we got to Amber's place, Tye came out of the house and jumped on my lap. Love at first sight. She's gorgeous, and I think she knows she is in her forever home now. WELCOME HOME, TYE!!!

This leads me to my undertones of frustration for the day. Yes, Tye is home and I'm so glad that she's adjusting well to this insanity that is my home and life. When I heard her story, I wanted to cry. This poor little Miniature Pinscher/Chihuahua who is no more than 7 pounds, was left by the people that were "surrendering" her at the Humane Society with duct tape wrapped around her mouth to keep her from barking. Yeah, because barking when the doorbell rings or when they're playing is such a variation from what you would expect a dog to bark at. Yeah. And there's 7 pounds of dog snoring on my lap as I write this... a real hardship this dog is.

So she was adopted, and then the people that adopted her ended up with two dogs - and they said to Amber (her rescue mom) that they were going to euthanize her if Amber couldn't take her. The big dog that they adopted didn't get along with Tye, so they needed to get rid of her.

So she's been in rescue since. Now she's home, and I am so thankful and grateful that this little 6 year old girl has a home where she will be loved, spoiled rotten, and spend the remainder of her doggy years in relative peace (with the exception of a few swats from the cats).

Everyone knows how I feel about animals and animal rights, and how important it is to me to have animals treated humanely. Bill C-373 was written by Mark Holland - the MP for Ajax-Pickering - and he is someone who I am proud to be able to call a friend. He, like so many of us, believe that animals should be protected, that they have rights, and that the people who abuse animals should have stiffer penalties enforced on them.

I'm aware that most of the people that will read this post will be living in the US, and that's cool. Hey y'all! Read up on this bill when you can - and if you agree with the principles, talk to people about having stiffer legislation for animal cruelty in your town, county, state, whatever. Animal rights are universal, not just in Canada. They don't ask for much - just a little love, clean water, some food. In return you have a friend for life. That's a pretty unbalanced trade - and I have it made 8 times over!