Thanks for Stealing The Wootie Toy

Whoever stole the Wootie toy (purple disc) from my pile of stuff on the beach at Spanish Banks on Friday while I was taking a photo - thanks ever so much, you jerk! Seriously - who steals someone's frisbee? That's pathetic.
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I know many of you blog readers are local, as I run into you from time to time and you greet my dogs by name, or offer your condolences on Briggs' passing. It's always a little weird, btw, but pretty gratifying as well.

Anyway, those of you who walk your dogs at Bridgeman can maybe tell me what this is?

It looks to be an altar, and we found it down one of the paths leading to the river. It's very touching, but we can't figure out what it's for. The monetary offerings in the statue's pool suggest it's an offering, the little dog statues suggest it's a tribute to a beloved dog. If you know what it is we were looking at, post a comment and let me know.

I'm insatiably curious.

Jenn says "Who gives a shit about some nickels in the moss? THROW SOMETHING THROW SOMETHING THROW SOMETHING THROW SOMETHING!"

Tweed is intrigued by what might be thrown for Jenn. Piper is intrigued by the possibility of biting Tweed. It's a funny picture because Tweed has *no* idea Piper is stalking him.

Meanwhile, Dusty contemplates Life With The Food Lady and muses on why no one has adopted him yet. Yes, the mystery is still unsolved. Poor Dusty :(

And Wootie is just enjoying some down time. As Dusty matures, he sometimes leaves Woo alone for minutes at a time. It's very relaxing in the house now, for 360 to 480 second increments.

But outside, the 5 step Wootie Elimination process resumes:

Step One: Stalk Target At Sea

Step Two: Target eludes capture by narrow margins

Step Three: Target makes a break for land. Pursue!

Step Four: Attempt to take target down

Step Five: Target fights for his life

This is usually about the point where I yell at Dusty to leave Woo alone, because if I don't step in and stop them, a) the bark screaming is deafening and b) Wootie usually ends up like this.

(At times like that, I bet Woo wishes he was as BIG as the Giant UnWootie who shows up at the beach from time to time.)

Then Dusty pouts.

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So if you glance over to your right, you'll see along the side of the page links to sites and blogs that I like to peruse in my spare time and hope that you might like as well. I try to add new links often. I do hope, however, you are reading the tales of my BFF Finn who has moved to Nicaragua to work full time at an underfunded, understaffed and overwhelmed clinic for street dogs and strays there.

The clinic is called Casa Lupita - it is run by a single woman with help from two peace corp folks and Finn. There is no staff veterinarian, so they do what they can with luck, skill, patience and some scotch tape. The dogs there are undervalued and in a bad way.
Finn writes me and says: "There's a street in Managua called Puppy Street - I've never seen it but people keep telling me about it. Just rows and rows of cages where you pick out your puppy. Street vending puppies. Not for food, just for pets but it's supposed to be horrific. I told Donna I wanted to go take pics but all I could take would be snapshots.

"Another woman got her dog from a puppy pen on the road between Masaya and Granada. Never seen it but apparently it's just this big pen with all these puppies in it by the side of the road and you pull over, pick one out, pay for it and go. And these are the owned, loved dogs."

Eep. Dusty should be feeling pretty lucky right about now. It could be a lot worse than being fostered with the Food Lady for two months.

I thought about ways I could help Casa Lupita, and I asked if it would help if I visited them for a week, helped them out, maybe took some photos they could use - for calendars, or PR or what have you. The answer was a resounding "yes." And that would be great ... if I could actually afford to go to Nicaragua.

So here's how you can help me help Casa Lupita; if you are in the Greater Vancouver area, contact me to book a photo shoot for your dog. Five shoots pays for my plane ticket to Granada. Double that number and I'll be able to afford the time off work - I work for an NPO on contract, so when I don't work, I don't get paid.

If you don't live in the Greater Vancouver area but would like to help, send money via paypal

Anything I received beyond my costs to get there I will give directly to Casa Lupita so they can buy supplies for their clinic. I know they can use the money.