I am very sad tonight because my first seeing eye dog in training, that I loved with all my heart, has died. Rest in peace Pride, love you baby boy!
We were his "adult" family and we said goodbye to him years ago when he went to his blind person. Now his blind person has no way of getting around without his "eyes". He is devastated. His freedom is gone, but more importantly his best friend is gone. Hopefully he will get another "seeing eye" dog. I suspect right now he doesn't want one, because his best partner in the world is gone.
Funny how just this weekend I was commenting on how our newest "dog with wings", reminded me of Pride. He is a big boy, but he has a very gentle soul. Maybe he is going to be the next dog to bring great joy to his blind person.
We have only had him for a week, but we love him already. It is very fulfilling to sponsor these dogs, who are destined to help people who need assistance. The forgotten ones.
Dogs with wings, does not get any government funding like our spoiled little artists, they survive on donations from everyday Canadians. Ask me whether I want my taxpayers money going towards some artist who makes a dress of beef, or towards these dogs, who help blind people, autistic children and handicapped people, and the choice is very easy.
The forgotten ones. The people who truly need help but are not able to get it because special interest groups hog all the money. This has to stop. Real people with real disabilities should come first.
10 comments:
Hunter, you were doing great until you started with the spoiled little artists petty rant. I also would prefer my money going to training seeing eye dogs instead of killing civilians in Afghanistan, or other such nonsense. But life doesn't work like that.
PS I have a chocolate lab and know just how smart these dogs are. Sometime toooooo smart. :)
SQ - Hunter has a very valid point about artists. Culture and art are nice but if you're starving, homeless, handicapped...none of it amounts to a hill of beans. Art and culture are "nice to have" but not necessary. I am a dog lover who does not have a dog but when I retire, I'll be getting a yellow lab. Labs are my favourite dog of all and, you're correct, they ARE very intelligent. I love golden retrievers, as well, but yellow labs are my favourite.
Hunter - may God bless you for what you are doing. I am considering (for my retirement) getting into the foster program for guide dogs but I'll have to make sure that I'll be able to give the pooch back when it's ready. That would probably devastate me - giving back the pooch but I suppose that one can overcome it.
The bleeding heart liberals focus on grandiose schemes like housing and child poverty but they completely ignore the real issues which can do so much good. Guide dogs, dogs for the deaf, dogs for people with epilepsy...these are real issues and ones for which there are low-cost solutions. The grandiose schemes do little or nothing but they sound good. People like you, who foster these pooches, are doing something real and not just spouting off about it.
I worked in suicide prevention, as a volunteer, for over 30 years. Funding? Hah! Suicide is one of those issues that the lefties would like to sweep under the rug - it's just not glamourous. I left this volunteer work a couple of years ago and now do something far less stressful - I prepare meals for shut-ins and invalids who would not normally provide themselves with proper nutrition. Others in my faith-based group provide such services as grass-cutting, painting, housekeeping, errand running, etc. for these people. No funding - just our hearts and commitment. It's funny how the lefties condemn people of faith and rail against religion and yet is is those of us who are "religious" who give of ourselves and do not ask the government to provide the service.
Keep on doing what you are doing, Hunter. God will surely bless you as He blesses those wonderful pooches who give so much and expect so little.
Hunter it is a wonderful thing you are doing with these dogs. God Bless you and your family
E of E: My point was that Hunter could have taken the chance to celibrate the great life of this dog and ask people to donate to charities (like MIRA) that train dogs. When you have a chance to take the high road or the low road, you should always take the high road.
SQ: Understood. I don't blame her, however, this whole art and culture thing has gotten out of hand. We taxpayers spend billions funding so-called art and culture that doesn't stand a chance of selling so we fund it. We are capable of producing quality but whenever we do, it gets dropped. I remember Wojec, The Bold Ones, Night Heat, Street Legal...among others. All disappeared. I remember that Due South had to be produced in the States because it couldn't get funding - and yet it was a hit. We will, however, spend millions on Voice of Fire, galleries, museums and concerts which only a small segment of the population is interested in seeing.
We must fund worthwhile causes and let the art and culture funding depend on those who are willing to donate. I don't know this for fact but I'm sure that the average Canadian would rather have the money in his or her pocket instead of going to some so-called artist.
Anyway, Hunter made a good point, as did you. I'd let it slide. It shows her passion for the good that she is doing - unlike these artists and their advocates.
High road or low road? Artists whining about funding cuts are selfish, self interested ingrates who deserve nothing from the government and should be forced to survive on charitable donations like other groups. Grants are NOT their right.
Dogs with wings was only a few days from closing it's doors because of lack of funds. Average Edmontonians heard about it and donations came in by the hundreds.
So you want me to take the high road? Stop all grants/funding to immature artists and start supporting charities that actually do some good for disabled people, not limousine liberals who wouldn't know a good cause if it smacked them in the head. It's the artists that took the low road this election.
Well, if you want to stop silly spending to artists, what about Bev Oda CONSERVATIVE MP. She spent $5475 on limos. To go to the Junos. Think how much good could have been done with this money.
I mean really...
SQ - I agree - I don't even know why we have to have Oda's Department, anyway. That being said, if Harper tried to do away with it, there would be a huge hue and cry. Some of our Departments were created when there was money to spend and there was a need. It is highly unfortunate that we grandfather programs and Departments and cannot bring ourselves to do away with those which are no longer necessary or productive.
If Harper had gained a majority and if the opposing parties thought about Canada instead of their own self-interests, perhaps the government could do some real good for our country. As it is, Harper could come out with a piece of perfect legislation which would benefit every person in Canada and the Libs would object simply because it was a "CON job".
Hunter
Sorry to hear of the passing of a fine working dog and a friend.
You make valid points on the mis allocation of funding and I would go even further to include many government funded NGO's.
I spent 5 years in the NGO industry and believe me it is an industry. Many of the higher profile NGO's I dealt with were primarily concerned with advocacy, awareness and image. Front line services to those they purport to represent was at best a secondary objective and at worst seen as a necessary evil.
I can't tell you how many paper clip meetings I sat through where management complained about "clients" demands and then they turn around and wax passionately in the press about the needs of their client base. It made me sick to the point I turned my back on the entire industry.
I believe that organizations receiving public money should have to prove measurable results in order to maintain funding.
Grass roots organizations like the one you and your family work with would be recognized for results and the pontificator's would either get real or pound salt.
I could rant on at length about this one but I'll leave it there.
Syncro
I'm sorry for your loss. I grew up with goldens and they are wonderful creatures. It must be terrifically rewarding to work with these dogs in this way. You certainly are to be commended.
This is the second post I have read on your blog in which you have made rather disparaging remarks about artists in regard to government funding.I take it you don't like art?Culture? I was wondering if you have information we don't. For example,could you provide a quote where an artist says that arts funding should supersede other government funding?
It is true that artists have been in the news talking about arts funding alot lately. This is because, legislated programs that help disseminate and showcase the work of Canadian artists abroad were surreptitiously cut, without stakeholder consultation and more than that, without so much as a nod to parliamentary process. I know you value parliamentary process because of your post above about Elections Canada. So I'll ask you what you think here...if little cuts are being made by a minority government - here and there to small seemingly irrelevant programs outside parliamentary protocol and no one says anything about it, what's to stop the newly elected version of the same minority government from making bigger cuts to other programs they don't value? Where would you say it should stop?
An aside to this is one way the government justified its cuts was to say they weren't cuts and that the money was to be reallocated. By all accounts it looks like it went to the Olympics. Now, I don't know about you, but that doesn't help (those you called 'real') people who need working dogs much, does it?
Truth be told, a blind individual might just as easily use a dog for a day at the Olympics as a day at the museum or an evening at the opera depending on their interest. In fact all the complaining in the world about "Canada's spoiled little artists" does nothing to lobby for your interests. Now you have to complain about the spoiled little Olympic athletes and that just transfers a misinformed complaint somewhere else.
I submit you might better direct your anger at the spoiled little Conservatives. Did you know that "from June 2nd to September 4th, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) tracked 293 pre-election spending announcements totaling $8.8-billion made by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. That is roughly $94-million a day or about $3.9-million every hour"? You can find this information on their website:
http://www.taxpayer.com/main/news.php?news_id=2954
I humbly submit, whatever you think the government is spending on the arts, pales in comparison to the figures on Harper's pre writ spending. Certainly it pales compared to the percentage of taxes per capita Canadians give to the arts per day per year. This is before you even look at the military budget which Southern Quebec I think quite rightly also called into question.
You don't like art and that's cool but recognize that Canada's cultural sector contributes 7.4% of the GDP. Do you know how this figure compares to other sectors like, mining, forestry, agriculture or healthcare? I can tell you it pulls its weight. A huge number of Canadians are employed in the arts and play a significant role in driving the economy. They're not whiners despite the uninformed invective you have used to characterize them.
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