Letters to the Editor
ResNovae
Published Letters: 32
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I completely agree with Heather.... but I empathize with the agencies, a little bit
[Read the article: Ellen, the dog bullies and me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... and also, with the agencies. No organization wants to pour so many resources and so much love into an animal they've rescued, only for that animal to wind up back in the pound in a year or two because of yet another owner who was unable or unwilling to keep their pet after some life change or another. They want people who are willing to make the kind of committment most of us would make to a new child... instead of the somewhat more tenuous one many of us would make for, say, a new spouse.
When "things don't work out" with a pet after a year or two often enough, I can see why rescuers (and also breeders) have trouble "letting go." Unfortunately, many of them become of busybody matchmakers who think they know better than you do what kind of pet you are most compatible with. I've yet to find a person who could tell me what kind of HUMAN I'd be most compatible with, never mind which dog... arranged marriages may be the norm in many cultures, but we Americans like to make our own mistakes.
I've been a dog-owner for 5 years, and I got my dogs the way I find pet-friendly apartments- by doing my homework and being in the right place when the right opportunity to materialized. My first dog was an owner-surrendered pet came from a shelter that was not so rigid as to demand I have a fences yard (particularly for a dog who climbs fences), but did make me sign a form acknowledging that a yard was preferred, but not required so long as I understood my dog would need daily, leashed walks. The second came from a woman who took him in as a stray and ultimately couldn't keep him for personal reasons... while I am sorry she gave him up, at least I know- and hopefully she knows- he has a good home with us.
Unfortunately, I am sure Batkis was falling over herself to provide one of her rescued dogs to a movie/TV star couple with a big yard... and no one is accusing Degeneres and DeRossi of not trying hard enough to make things work. That only goes to show that none of us has a crystal ball. I am sure it never occurred to Degeneres that things might not work out, and when they didn't, she didn't dump the dog off in a shelter or an unfit home. I understand where the agency is coming from- that they feel they have to enforce the rules equally in all cases or lose credibility in future situations where owners who are genuinely unfit accuse them of favoritism toward celebrity clients. But in this case, I genuinely believe that while the shelter perhaps should have reserved the right to rehome the dog, the common sense thing to do might have been to perform the home visit and, in light of the obvious bonding that had taken place between the animal and the girls and the barring any clear and obvious threats to the animal's safety and well-being, allowed the family to keep the pet on a probationary basis, under similar terms- and if money was a concern, perhaps with the condition that DeGenerous be willing to pay for routine vet exams or some other type of "puppy-support" that would cover expenses the agency is worried would otherwise go unmet.
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Ugh, when I read this letter...
[Read the article: An elderly salesman terrorized me in front of my kids!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... the first thing I thought was, this guy sounds just like my last boss. If this guy's initials were BH, he probably was- no one's ever figured out why a guy his age was still working, unless maybe he never got around to paying into Social Security. He suddenly he would say the most obnoxious things, joke about breaking kneecaps over contracts, then laugh like a hyena over his "jokes"- and people would just laugh, if only to dissolve the shock of the things that came out of his mouth. You were never really sure if the notion of professionalism via political correctness was just too beyond his 73-year old brain, or if he was displaying early signs of senility. Either way, you worried it would be age-ist to point out the complete inappropriatness of ever other sentence that came out of his mouth- and so he continued to get away with it, and probably still does, somewhere.
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Re: "the con"
[Read the article: An elderly salesman terrorized me in front of my kids!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This guy sounds like he thinks he's a real huckster, but, I guess I assumed she planned to do some remodelling and called the chain for an in-home consultation, in which case the offer is probably legit... and if she's established that to her satisfaction, I'd say $14,000 in free labor in materials is reimbursement enough for a minor inconvenience- I could see a company being concerned about repeated allegations of shoddy work- but a single potential client's complaint about a nasty salesperson? The job for free sounds more than generous. Legally, all she was really entitled to was to call the police and have him arrested for trespassing if he persisted in refusing his invitation off the property.
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Smart car's not that smart
[Read the article: Who needs a Prius anyway?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"..For those who don't need too much space, the Smart Car will be available soon in the US for $11-16,000 depending on options."
Ugh. The Smart car is a horrid little car. Cute as a button, but it's about half the size of my Toyota Echo, and gets about the same mpg.
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Does it matter?
[Read the article: Tonka trucks are made for boys!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Tonkas haven't been cool since they started replacing all the metal parts with plastic... how the heck do you bulldoze real dirt with a wussy plastic blade? Someday, I plan to have kids, and I plan to scour the earth for some decent vintage Tonka trucks... not because they were more gender-friendly, but because all the absurd marketting in the world can't make make up for the fact that a once-deservedly beloved toy is now a pale shadow of it's former self.