Had Dreams of…

“Had dreams of breaking Mike Vick out of jail / Took the underground rail to the end that failed/ I rebel, NYSL / Here to leave a trail like Nelson Mandela.”
- Common, Gladiator

What he did was cruel and unconscionable. He essentially, literally, tortured dogs. He’s in prison now – for about two years.

I’ve heard people calling for his head, wanting to make an example out of him. Wanting to make sure we throw the book, a few catalogs, and even a couple of pamphlets at him. People who were rightly upset by his animal cruelty. And to be sure – I agree, he does deserve to be in prison, absolutely. He does need to pay some type of restitution, absolutely.

But enough is enough.

Some people have good too damned far. There are people who want the NFL to ban him. They somehow think that by depriving him of his celebrity status that will prevent others from torturing dogs. Quite the opposite.

Giving him the opportunity to make it right will keep people from torturing dogs. The power that Michael Vick held and hopefully one day will hold is that of a role model for young boys and people who are like him.

Let me give you some background – I grew up with pit bulls. I’ve seen them fight…In person. And I love pit bulls. I remember when I finally realized that it was wrong to fight pit bulls. I remember when some of the people who used to fight pits around me realized the same thing. Furthermore, I think the breed bans that some people have advocated are absolutely senseless. Any dog in the hands of an insensible or incapacitated owner can kill. Hell, a few months ago I remember reading about some puppies eating a poor man alive.

Trying to eviscerate and neuter Michael Vick, throwing him in jail, and trying to flush the key down the toilet is a knee-jerk response to a horrific crime. The only way anyone is going to ever prevent others from fighting dogs is by setting up and acting on some type of dialog with the people who are doing it.

People who don’t have anything aren’t looking at what happened to Michael Vick and saying that they are going to stop fighting dogs because they might lose their 100 million dollar football contracts. They are looking at someone, who they’d like to think is just like them, and they see racism in the decision. Afterall, I’ve never seen someone who fought dogs get thrown in federal prison. At the most its’ a fine and confiscation of the animal.

So punishing Michael Vick more isn’t going to help dogs. Allowing his re-entry into the NFL on the stipulation that he becomes THE spokesperson against animal cruelty is.

That’s my controversial opinion…

Urban Agriculture: Health and Security – Part I

I’m reading the book Omnivore’s Dilemma right now.  It’s absolutely an amazing book, and his chapter about Polyface Farms, a 550 acre sustainably run farm, committed to local food sourcing has me absolutely transfixed by its’ efficiency and output.  I’ve found myself wondering how one could produce as much food as he does in an urban area.  It’s honestly helping shape my opinion of commercial farming – making me think that in a sense it is wrong.  I feel that biodiverse subsistence farming is a much better option unless you place constraints on the ecological impact of large-scale monoculture.  I read a statistic that says agriculture is responsible for 1/3 of our fossil fuel use in America and transportation is responsible for another 1/3.  We use massive quantities of energy to raise, harvest, and transport food.  But there are many alternatives for raising and harvesting food, and there are many alternatives for the transportation of food as well.  Our country has without a doubt suffered a huge loss of biodiversity, something which will undoubtedly make our food sources less robust and more vulnerable to disease, pestilence, or natural disaster.  Food security is the same thing as national security.  In addition, our current agribusiness principles do not properly account for differences in food quality (nutrition or microbial safety).  Unfortunately the market is differentiated solely on price.  And there are producers out there that do not want to include information as to the manner that their animals have been raised including a) where they were housed, b) the way they have been slaughtered and butchered, c) the way they were fed and kept healthy, d) the lifestyle they led including amounts of exercise and what pathogens they were exposed to, and e) how fast they were grown up.  I’d like to think of a way that I can manage to incorporate concerns of locality, microbial/parasitic safety, nutritional value, and environmental and economic sustainability into a system of agriculture for urban people.

With 50% of our people in America in cities (don’t quote me on that…) we need to figure out a way to include them in our food decisions and give them accurate information that will help them make long term decisions.  People would like to vote with their dollars and I am a proponent of that.  The first thing I propose is a marketing panel for livestock – they should be required to submit information about their feedstock sources, pharmaceuticals they have received, slaughterhouse ratings, and macro/micro-nutrient profiles.  I would also like to know the distance the meat traveled…This promises to be a long series of posts as I research this topic…hold on to your seats!!!

When The Dogs Want to Talk

We live in a society where we see our animals as if they are auxillary socially.  But the reality is, our pets, especially our dogs are social animals.  They depend on us for food, shelter, protection, and comfort.  We depend on them for protection, comfort, and companionship.  In all reality, our animals have become a family member, one who terminally speaks a different language.  One whom, due to their inability (or maybe unwillingness) to speak our language, is unable to redefine themselves lingually.  So we grow up thinking of our animals, our cats, dogs, fish, turtles, horses, guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, chickens, mice, spiders, snakes, frogs, and lizards as pets, property.  Even though their behavior transcends property.

We have confused our social responsibility for our animals for their status as property due to their language inability.  But I would ask you – can a sentient being be property?  Can property walk away?  Can property act of its’ own free-will?  Do you pet and feed your property?  Are your infants who cannot speak, but can understand property?  How about your children who can indicate at an unsophisticated level what they need and want, but cannot take care of themselves nearly as adequately as a dog can?  It’s an interesting question to ask, mostly because it drives us to question some of our fundamental roots.

The episode that prompted this line of thought was the other day when I saw two 120 lb women walking their 120 lb. dogs.  Both women had coffee in one hand, and a leash and newspaper in the other.  The women were both paying little attention to their dogs, when the dogs spotted each other from about 40 feet away…the women both tried to control their dogs at first, screeching commands such as “no…down…stop…heel…wait…no”. Both dogs wanted to play and sniff though, burning through their “owners” illusory facade of control and ownership with their insistence on socializing.  Finally the women fell back to more measured terms, “okay, go say hello”.  Tails wagging, both dogs sized each other up, and just sorta sniffed each other, while they trotted with their front paws excitedly…It reminded me of an episode years earlier when my mom’s partner appeared small to her former business partner’s dog.  Zodiac, was a thin, tall dog, who mounted my mom’s partner – which was absolutely one of the funniest things I had seen.  But I look at it differently now – does your property mount your visitors and colleagues unexpectedly, thrusting wildly with its’ pelvis?  I think not.

Trained Dogs and Family – Do I want that?

I read in a blog that well trained dogs are paying attention to your every command at all times while on a walk.  I went for a walk today – I saw several dogs being walked today – I wanted to run up and pet every one of them…One in particular prompted this post.  He was hard at work – diligently sniffing a flower bed for whatever it is that dogs attempt to detect – he did so for at least 2 minutes – I actually stopped to watch – it was enthralling.  But what was also interesting was his owner – she leisurely read her newspaper – standing close to him – the leash had a good amount of slack – it wasn’t taut in anyway.
And this is exactly what caught my attention.  The blog I read (I will try to find it) said that when you are walking a dog you must train it to do what you want – to go at your pace, it must understand that you are walking it – it isn’t walking you.  The leash should be slack, never taut, with the dog paying attention to and matching your pace. The dog must be paying attention to what you are doing. Now to an extent I can appreciate that viewpoint; however, at the same time, I wonder why we chose to live with pets.  Aren’t they companions?  Don’t we actually socialize in a sense with our animals?  They are family – not robots to be trained.
And that is exactly what caught my eye – and the exact reason why I watched this dog and his or her unsuspecting owner for at least two minutes in the West Village today – the leash was the perfect inverted arch that was illustrated in this blog…but the dog was also relaxed, not really paying attention to his owner so much as he was coexisting with her – sniffing madly, hard at work determining something – obviously thinking furiously “what bitch pissed on my tree?” And his owner – wasn’t really paying attention to her dog so much as she was coexisting with him.  She was engrossed with the latest scandal, reading about the ex-governor’s sordid affairs with prostitutes and political dealings, the latest scandal involving Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears, or both of them.  She was enraptured by the pulp and that’s when I realized that they were a family.
The dog however, seemed the exact opposite of trained, which made me wonder – would training the dog to be perfectly obedient dissolve the familial relationship that we have with our pets?  Would it diminish it?  I’ve known firefighters with search and rescue dogs who are just amazingly obedient and well trained.  They work hard, but they also get to play hard too.  I guess it makes me wonder about who wrote that website.
I’ve always wanted a dog – one day I will be able to get one (or maybe even two!!).  I’ve wanted them for the fine sense of companionship, the hilarious personality quirks that they have, the unflinching and unconditional love – I sometimes wonder if a life as a dog that is owned by someone is an afterlife for people – it could be heaven or hell depending on the owner…Dogs speak to us in a way that even people cannot – they connect to us without words, just a side – they obviously love to be rubbed, scratched, they are excited to see us, can’t wait to go for  a walk or a run.  Love food, and love kisses – even though when they lick that is disgusting.  They listen to us, they roll their eyes, there are obvious emotions, they are honest, patient, tolerant, and funny enough – excellent role models.  I guess it’s okay to train a dog to a certain extent so long as you have that respect and admiration for your dog…