Merry Christmas to my Non-Jewish Friends

Enjoy your holiday, hope you find yummy treats in your stocking and many gaily wrapped gifts under the tree. Hopefully your parents won't follow's Doug's lead and hide your gifts IN the tree:



Special holiday cheer to our wiry friends in Montreal. The signatures continue to rise on our petition...don't forget to sign!! We're at 8,374!

Cheers!
AGC

"FERMEZ LAPORTE" Update and Don't I look dashing?

Mom and her friends continue the crusade against Marc-Andre Laporte - the convicted wire fox terrier abuser in Montreal, Canada who has the gaul to ask the court to return the very dogs he abused back to him on February 22, 2008. To all sane humans and dogs, this is clearly an INSANE proposal, so the petition, aptly called "No Dogs for Laporte" or "Fermez Laporte" continues. Signatures now stand at close to 1500! If you haven't signed yet or told all your friends to sign, please do now at:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/no-dogs-for-laporte

We also ask you to write a letter of protest and mail it to:
Elizabeth Pierce
119 16th Street
Roxboro, Québec
Canada
H8Y 1P1

We are hoping that both the petition and the letters will be presented to the Judge Sirois, and that as a result, Sirois will say, "No dogs for you Laporte, get your pathetic ass to jail!"

And now in other, more cheery news - I got a haircut Friday just in time for the holiday bash at Asta's place in NYC. As you recall, I had a horrible haircut courtesy of Pet Stupid a few months ago - they destroyed my coat by shaving it. Color and texture went out the window. But thanks to new groomers, Pooches Choice, I have been restored in two sessions over 3 months, to my former glory. This is what I looked like before my session on Friday:

I do look cute as can be in my scruffy mode and you can see that the colors were starting to return on my shoulders and back. But look how dashing I looked after my appointment:

Mom and Dad did a jig when they saw me, they keep oohing and ahing about how handsome I am, and who am I to protest their praises?

Hanukkah continues, sans latkes - my mother is very lazy indeed. Today is the family party at our cousins and I am NOT invited because they have a new Yorkie pup and I guess they're nervous I might mistake it for a hairy, yappy latke? Harumpf! So I get to stay home - at least Mom gave me a juicy marrow bone to enjoy to assuage her guilt.

Thank you to Bigfoot Fletch and Maxie for the cute Hanukkah gift that arrived on Thursday. It's a blue Hippo with his name "Zaftig" embroidered down the side. Mom explained that "zaftig" means "FAT" in Yiddish. Amazing that they're making Yiddish/Jewish Hanukkah gifts in China! Mom went holiday shopping yesterday for today's party and was dismayed to see that practically everything she picked up to buy is made in China! We are trying to boycott due to their terrible record in animal rights and environmental issues - but holy cow, it's difficult!

Now, don't forget to sign our petition!

AGC

And now, on a serious note...

Calling all fox terrier and dog lovers!
Wire survivors in Canada need our help!

See that photo at right? Believe it or not, that is a wire fox terrier like me! An abused, horribly neglected wire who was one of 97 fox terriers found at a Monreal puppy mill belonging to Marc-Andre Laporte. Laporte was found guilty of two counts of animal cruelty at the St. Jerome courthouse in Montreal this week. Click here to see more photos

Almost 40 foxies had to be euthanized. The surviving dogs were cared for by the SPCA and later, with the help of devoted fox terrier lovers, found wonderful foster homes where they have been living for the past 2 years, unable to be adopted until the case is finalized. Laporte is only facing six months of jail time and up to $4,000 in fines. I find that disgusting - he should be locked in a cage forever or put to sleep - he murdered 40 dogs and abused 57 others!!

But it gets worse friends.
On Feb. 22, 2008 he will be sentenced.
And at the same hearing, the judge is to decide if Laporte is to get any of his fox terriers back!

Yeah, you read that right...get his dogs BACK! Are they insane in Canada? Are they blind? What is wrong with these people!? To even consider removing ONE wire from the safety and care of their loving foster families back to Laporte is OUTRAGEOUS!

WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN.

So friend, today we are launching a two-fold campaign to prevent Laporte from getting his dog/s back. We know we can count on you to take action and spread the word:

1: Please go to the online petition. Once all the signatures are entered, we will print it out and hand it over to our friend in Montreal who has been instrumental is saving and caring for the Blainville wires, for distribution to the media (unfortunately it is illegal in Canada to hand petitions to the court).

2: Please take a few minutes to write a letter to Judge Jean Sirois imploring him to prevent Laporte from ever taking possession of his former fox terriers or of owning any dog again. If you can, include a photo of yourself and your foxie/dog. All the letters received will be put in a file and also handed to the media.

Letters should be mailed to:
Elizabeth Pierce
119 16th Street
Roxboro, Québec
Canada
H8Y 1P1

Please disseminate this information on your blogs, to your fellow dog owners and friends.
Thank you for your support in this important matter.

A sad AGC and his very angry Mom

The Great Philly Wire Get Together

This morning after my walk and swim with Dad (yay, no guards were at the fountain), Mom and Dad told me we were going to the Great Philly Wire Get-Together! So off we went in the car. We came to this house, we knocked at the door, and out came Bebe, the one and half year old wiry gal I'd seen online. Boy, what a pistol she is! We immediately started running around the house. Bebe jumped from couch to couch and we were off to a great start. We then went outside and I found, to my delight, that Bebe has a lovely back yard with grass and trees and flowers.



A few minutes later, we were thrilled to see another wiry face at the gate - and it was Elliot, who is just 5 months old!
(We were hoping that Willie, Bebe's cuz would show up, but alas he didn't. Hope we can meet him soon too...)



The Great Philly Wire Get Together was well under way!
Elliot and Bebe played and wrestled while I was a bit more sedate as I was tired from my long walk and swim, and boy was it hot out, even in the shade. Elliot found a shady spot in the dirt, a refuge of sorts from Bebe...

Mom gave us each a Dingo chew to enjoy - and then us wires had fun stealing from eachother. I buried mine in the dirt and Elliot found it with his sniffer. Then Bebe stole Elliot's and carried both hers and his in her mouth and tried to eat them both! Boy it was fun! I also showed the pups - being the resident elder wire - how a drinking bowl could also be used as a pool and to demonstrate, stuck my face and feet in Bebe's water bowl.



To all those fuddy-duddies who say wires do not get along and should be kept separated, all three of us say, PHOOEEY!! (We would prefer to use a more explicit expletive, but being ambassadors for our aristocratic breed, we will restrain ourselves.) We are living proof that we are friendly guys and gals and we play brilliantly together! And we love humans (Bebe gave my Daddy kisses!)

And in case there are still folks out there shaking their heads...I have more proof for you! Today I got an email from my pal Colby in Canada. Would you believe, he was part of the Big Canadian Wire Get Together this weekend as well!! He found four fellow wires living nearby and they all got together to meet up and play. And guess what - they all had a fun time too! I, Axel G Chocholoza, submit more photographic evidence of wires getting along just swell!



I had a brilliant day with Bebe and Elliot and their humans, and I'm really hoping that today was the first of many Great Philly Wire Get Togethers!

Peace
AGC