This dog is a biped

The word biped doesn't typically elicit thoughts of canines, now does it? However, here's the story of a dog named Faith, born with a congenital deformity (the total absence of her thoracic [front] limbs). It's an endearing story that has just simply warmed my heart. Watch the story here.Faith, as a pup...

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A Canine Café?

Ok, you may have heard of a few places like this, and if not, you can take the idea and make a mint. Or not. This post is to get the opinion of the readers. Would a Canine Café work in Toronto? Here's the concept: a place, or restaurant, only for dogs. Well their owners would be welcome as well. Owners would be given a menu with many choices of meals for their dogs. Specific dietary needs, special requirements, food sensitivities, and allergies to specific foods would be noted. A meal would be brought to the dogs, possibly as 1) appetizers, 2) a main course, and 3) desert (this part is easy). What do you think? Ok, I'll partly answer...

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Feeble laws protect the offenders

One hundred and one Arabian horses were seized by the Alberta SCPA, most of which were severely malnourished, emaciated, and in dire distress. Twenty nine were already dead from starvation. Other animals in the barn, such as rabbits, goats, and sheep, were in no better shape. The owner of the farm, Axel Hinz-Schleuter, was previously fined in August of 2005 for neglect. This is his (documented) second offence. Ostensibly, he was unable to pay for their care. He should never have had a horse farm. If times were better in the past (when he could afford their care), he should have had the wherewithal to seek help during these hard times....

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More perilous road conditions

Either I do know how to drive outside of Toronto, or I have been considerably more sensitive to terrible driving conditions elsewhere. Brooklyn, New York: diverse, cosmopolitan, and dangerous. I have never despised driving more than I have in Brooklyn, NY. Whether driving my Mini or my horse-drawn pumpkin (above), I constantly felt like a slalom Olympian. Potholes (more like crevasses), children, their parents, the homeless, were the majority of obstacles I succeeded in avoiding. Deep, smooth curves and dips in the actual asphalt reminded me of the roller coasters of Coney Island, not too great a distance from where I was staying. Mind-numbingly...

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Montreal: perilous road conditions

I'm two weeks in to my sabbatical, time off, whatever. I'm now in New York for the week, after spending last week in Montreal, whose streets have more potholes than the moon. Like the Bermuda Triangle, accidentally driving into one would inevitably have lead me into another dimension. Luckily, that didn't happen. Though my stay in Montreal was not accident-free. Around the corner from my parents' place, a lanky 14 year-old ran across the street and right in front of my car. I slammed on the brakes but alas, too late. -boom- He went up on the hood as I slammed on the brakes, and as the car skidded to a stop, he landed a few feet from the...

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