Here we are at another Friday, Glibs. Our beloved Jesse is out of town, but I’m hoping that this particular Fur Friday makes you long for his return.
I’m sure there’s a depressing story behind that eye.
Contrary to popular belief, I am just one big softy. Look at this puppy’s face and tell me you aren’t, also. I have a particular fondness for blue heelers, corgis, wolfhounds…and, well, most furry creatures. Yes, even cats, albeit at a distance.
In Montana, there are several pet rescue chapters–various regional Humane Societies since the state is so vast, “Res-Dog-Rescue” types (usually around the major reservations), and even some breed specific Rescues if you’re just really into Border Collies or herding types. The focus of my post today is RezQ Dogs. As was mentioned in a previous post of mine, we have some odd racial dynamics at play in the Last Best Place. However, folks seem to be able to put aside any “racist!!!1!” decries they might have when it comes to pet rescues. RezQ Dogs is a volunteer, nonprofit organization in Dodson, Montana, a bustling town of ~124 people, as of the last census. They try to find homes for the unwanted and abandoned dogs from the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy Indian Reservations. You might have guessed that it’s hard for them to find homes for all of the pups they take in, and you would be right. The owners and the volunteers of this organization foster these dogs in their own homes until they can place them. Of course, at some point, they run out of vacancy and have to turn dogs away, too. They hope that one day they won’t have to do this anymore, that people on reservations will have some kind of respect and sanctity for the life of another creature.
Clearly spoiled rotten
Before this starts to read like one of those awful, heart-breaking commercials with Sarah McLachlan music in the background, here’s a picture of a dog who has literally never known hardship, besides trying to figure out which stuffed animal to rip the eyes off first. When I drove down to Wyoming to buy this little bundle of fur, I had no idea that an organization like RezQ Dogs existed, or I really would have considered them first. They mention on their website that the bulk of their rescues are just puppies, less than a year old. You don’t always know the story behind abandoned dogs, but in the case of a puppy, seems to me like someone just wasn’t ready for the responsibility or they lacked the patience and consistency to train the dog properly, and so they abandon it. They literally leave it by the side of the road in a box, assuming that a good Samaritan will happen upon it and give it the life it deserves. Or maybe they don’t assume anything at all. Maybe they just leave it there and figure it’s in someone else’s hands now and no longer their problem. Whatever their motivation is, they deserve to go to a special Hell.
Anyway, if you’d like to make a difference in a dog’s life, feel free to visit RezQ Dogs Facebook page or their website. It doesn’t look like they update their website as often as they do their Facebook, but they do make an effort to list all of the dogs they’re currently fostering. Better yet–seek out rescue facilities in your own neighborhood and make a difference locally. It might not seem like much, donating your time one afternoon or kicking in $5, but it really does have an impact.
Sorry, my first reaction was, they still have a reservation named after William W. Belknap, who was impeached for corruption and only escaped conviction because he resigned first?
I….learned something today.
Despite your best efforts amirite?
The human encyclopedia says wut?
If Eddie ever dies under suspicious circumstances, I will assume he was murdered because he knew too much.
Thanks, Riven.
I’ve never not had a dog and am a big softie myself.
I’m curious, in looking at the available dogs, there are some uncommon breeds. Is this a thing on the rez?
A lot of folks around here have kind of uncommon dogs. I think it has less to do with the res and more to do with folks in Montana regularly shopping out of state when they want something particular that they can’t find here.
Like driving down to Wyoming for a corgi-blue heeler cross. Sure, I could find a corgi-red heeler in town, but I just really wanted blue.
My niece has an awesome corgi-aussie. She works on a horse ranch out there, so maybe it is a Montana thing!
Awww! Corgi-aussies are a cross made in heaven, for sure. I bet that pup is built to herd.
But yeah, Montanans aren’t generally opposed to driving a fair distance for…whatever. We travel four hours one way on the reg to visit our respective folks, so… Just business as usual!
Yeah, she never stops. Even with those short little legs, she chases the atv and hassles the horses all day long.
Great dog.
I have been kicking around the idea of getting a dog again. It has been twelve or thirteen years since my last best friend moved on to the tennis ball lake in the sky.
You within 12 hours of Dodson? Some good looking dogs available on their site!
Oh there are plenty of shelters in these parts. In the recent past I had a job that was not conducive to dog ownership. That has changed so it might be time to get a good mut. I miss a dog looking at my sideways when I yell at the tv.
I’ll throw in the suggestion that you actually get two instead of one; they keep each other company. With our schedules that mattered to us (and seems to have worked out pretty well).
Thanks, I will consider that.
It helps em. Some obviously won’t get along with others, but most are good.
I’ve never not had at least one dog my entire life. People are horrible. You can trust a dog.
Ya me too for most of my life. I worked overseas the past ten years though. I live alone and would be gone for months at a time. I couldn’t leave a dog on its own for three months.
Well, you could. But, you would have to get a new dog every time.
This is my first pup, and I’m definitely attached to her. She’s a sweet bean/spice weasel/pepper mouse/sass pants
I’m very disappointed that this post is non sexual.
It didn’t say “Furry Fridays.”
That’s how I read it. Didn’t you?
I did too. Imagine my surprise to learn a bunch of hardened, whip smart, snarky libertarians love dogs. It’s as if stereotypes aren’t accurate.
I’m disappointed every post isn’t sexual.
I am disappointed in the lack of imagination around these parts.
I had my tissues out and everything.
Maybe next time!
I know a guy who tells a story about how he got drunk and gave a hand job to a dog at a party. (he is Canadian) Does that help?
A friend of mine was breeding his male dog. The owner of the bitch planned to make money on the pups, so my friend was paid for his dog’s efforts. Well, he had to help his dog. By hand.
+1 Red Rocket
My poor pup Holley had an eye like that. She passed away two years ago…three days from now actually.
Totally wrecked me. And then my girlfriend left me a month later for someone she met on my birthday three weeks prior.
Yes. Two years ago I was a country song.
I don’t even like country dammit.
Don’t tell me that you crashed your pickup too.
No I just tore it apart. Wanted to freshen the paint….still apart, although what I’ve done is shore purdy.
Did she run over your Harley with the pickup truck when she left and you got drunk and broke up the trailer house and the neighbors called the sherrif and you ended up in the poky? If you are going to go country go full on.
I blacked out, but judging by the next morning there probably was a train involved.
NOT THAT KIND OF TRAIN!
Maybe.
I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison.
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck, She got run over by an old damn train.
Here she is.
Holley
::sniffs::
It’s so dusty in here. Who left the door open?
Half expected the FREDERATOR logo at 0:24.
Nice looking pup, man. It’s never easy, but it’s what we signed up for, right?
I got my GSD tattooed on my shoulder so I see her every day. I have had many dogs in my life, but she was The One.
Yeah. I’m very happy I got to take care of her. I’m about ready I think to take on another rescue pup.
I like it when a dog gets the grey on their snout. When I was visiting home, (here) before I moved back I had my dog, a Golden Retriever/Black Lab mix in the back of the truck and we stopped for gas in southern CO. He was getting up there in years at that point and had the grey snout. A crazy looking homeless dude walked over to him and stared in his eyes as I pumped gas. He looked at me when I was done and said, “that dog has wisdom” and then walked away. It was weird. I always wondered what Pete told that crazy guy.
Grey snout = past the chewing furniture, floor shitting, bark at cricket noises in the middle of the night stage. Unfortunately that is soon followed by the pee in their sleep – incontinence stage. I have a 20 yo lab that is quite leaky. She is going to wear our washing machine out.
Naa, he never did that. At he end of his life though he would go out to pee and I had to pick him up and carry him back in the house. His hips went out. He weighed about 95 lbs then. He was a big guy. He never made a mean bark in his life. He would let anyone in the house and wag his tale as they stole everything if that ever would have happened. He made it to 13. 20 is long years for a lab. Great dogs.
Yeah, she is a special one. Best frisbee dog ever when she was young. These days I do have to lift her up onto the porch from the yard and from the floor onto her ‘throne’, which is a large ottoman we bought her and fitted with a giant diaper.
Dogs are cool and I’ve never lived without either having a dog or living with someone who has a dog.
Riven, is the abandoned dog problem worse on the rez than outlying communities?
It’s tough to say. No one’s gone out and crunched the numbers, so all I could tell you are anecdotal experiences of my own and people I know personally.
Next time we drive through a reservation, maybe we’ll slow down and take some pictures.
I do know a couple folks who own ranches out in the sticks who occasionally find new dogs on their property. Someone drove them out there and just left them. They’re not near a reservation, so it does happen in other parts of the state, as well.
I’ve lived near defacto rez areas before and the stray dog issue would always simmer until a one attacked a little kid and then they were rounded up and shot. And then the cycle would start over. Pretty sad.
I do know a couple folks who own ranches out in the sticks who occasionally find new dogs on their property.
That’s me. Every couple of months a new dog shows up on my place. Someone didn’t want their pet anymore and it now becomes my problem.
That was our home when I was a kid.
Next time we drive through a reservation, maybe we’ll slow down and take some pictures.
Around here (NM) pictures are strictly forbidden on the res.
… Hobbit
I wish this apartment would let one happen.
alas.
Holy shit, Tony is agreeing with Richard Spencer over on the Other Site, it’s hilarious.
Doesn’t it have to be something unexpected to be funny?
It’s hilarious in the sense that Tony is doing that extremely insecure thing he does where he screams about how stupid we are, except this time it’s all about how Neo-Nazis are smarter than us because they’re dumb nihilists who manage to trick themselves into an ideological position just like Tony.
I dont think Tony ever made much of a secret of his being a secret nazi.
I have done my part. I have six now, soon to be five. Found homes for at least an additional 20 dogs in the last decade.
See, I looked at the first pic that was supposed to grab my heart and recognized it as the look a dog gives you a few seconds before they refuse to make eye contact with you as you point to a pile of shit in the floor and say to them “Who did this? Do you know who did this? I know you know who did this. Tell me who did it?”
Also, enough Injun in me to join a tribe but decided instead to get a lifetime membership in the John Wayne School of Indian Affairs.
What breed of dog is that in the picture? Is that a Corgi? He/she’s a cutie.
The spoiled rotten one is half corgi and half blue heeler. 🙂 But she’s all adorbs.
Oh, that’s why I wasn’t sure, that’s an interesting pattern she’s got.
“if you’re just really into Border Collies or herding types”
Herding dogs are smart. Best dog I ever had was a blue merle Aussie. Beautiful dog, he had amazing agility and speed, used to freak out my friends. One of my friends had a 6 foot high fence around his backyard and the dog jumped over it, completely cleared it, he couldn’t believe it.
Herding dogs are too fucking smart. My German Shepherd somehow got a bag of Hershey’s kisses out of a cupboard. We came home to find nothing but empty wrappers.
My current dog, a polack sheepdog, figured out that if he couldn’t quite reach something on the counter, he could shove it hard enough to rebound off the backsplash. Little fucker got a pizza that way!
Had a collie when we were kids that could drink the very last drop out of a champagne flute without knocking it over.
My Aussie loved beer. He’d drink wine too. Also eat veggies and other stuff that dogs don’t eat.
That is funny.
I was making grilled cheese sandwiches once and just as the pan was heating up the phone rang. I went and answered it.
“Hello. Oh, I am doing fine, how are you? How is every…one………..else….Hey, can you hang on a minute?”
*Watched labrador dance across the dining room toward her bed by the fireplace, head held high, look of glee and tail waging furiously holding a 5 lb wheel of cheese in her slobbering jaws*
They are shameless thieves.
Very much so. My Aussie was the closest animal to human I’ve ever seen. He used to love going everywhere with me when I would drive and if I told him he had to stay home, he would pout like a little kid. He also used to watch TV with me. He’d sit up on the sofa and he’d get right in my face and I’d make him get over some distance and he’d be looking at me, I could tell out of my peripheral vision. When I’d turn to look at him, he’d turn his head and pretend like he wasn’t looking at me. He had all sorts of other amazing almost human like behavior, like opening cupboard doors to get food and then closing it again so that I wouldn’t notice, except the spilled food on the floor that he didn’t quite clean up some of, lol.
Try a Catahoula Cur of the Leopard variety. Very distinctive personality. Mine does something very similar. She will sit on the couch near you like a human with her hind legs stretched out in front of her. In your peripheral vision you can see her staring at you and leaning closer at a barely perceptible rate. Usually by the time I turn my head to look at her our noses are less than an inch apart. If I dont pet her and look back at the tv I get a paw on my shoulder. Veeeery very slowly her claws start grabbing and pulling. This goes on until the claws are almost embedded in my skin and she practically pulls me over onto her.
Around the people she owns she is very gentle and sweet, but she is still a Catahoula. Put a prey animal in her line of sight and she become a stone killer so vicious it will make your skin crawl. God help anyone if they try breaking in my house when I am not here.
Interesting. I can’t remember that breed. Is it a newer breed, or just a rare breed?
Not rare around here. It is one of the few breeds of dog that were already here when Europeans arrived. They are from the tribes that lived around Catahoula lake. Blue tongue, heterochromatic, large hound-like build. Usually patchy pattern like a cartoon holstein cow in white, brown, grey and black. The Leopard is grey with black patches but the grey tends to black as the dog ages. Very loyal, smart, tough and tenacious. Balls of steel. Used as family pet or hunting. They are great hog-dogs or deer hounds.
Very popular around here. Of course my family is from Catahoula parish and I only live a parish an hour from there now. I never thought about their availability outside of this area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catahoula_Cur
Huh. I read the Wikipedia page. It claims the breed was developed from DeSoto’s dogs. I had been told all my life they were already here when he came through. That may be wrong, or it could be some combination of the two. In any case they are great dogs.
I have a friend who has 2 siberian huskies. In their old house they just about managed to clear the neighborhood of all types of varmints and cats. The dogs dug out a kind of trap under the fence at a couple spots that were wide open on the outside and narrow on the inside of the fence so animals could easily get in but couldn’t find the way back out. He would find all manner of leftover rabbits, opossums, neighbors cats, etc. in his back yard. His wife never really got over the time she looked out back to see them obliterate a ground hog, or something. One was keeping its attention while the other snuck up and snatched it up from behind. Then the first grabbed the other end and they ripped it in half. They’re great with his kids, though.
This^^^ Mine’s a mini-Aussie. I’m pretty sure she understands almost all of what I say to her and much of conversation in general. Truly a best friend, next to the missus.
I used to tell my GF that I’m pretty sure the dog understands everything, or enough of it, that we say.
I used to tell him to sit at the front door and stay there until I would come back. I never even once ever came back that he wasn’t sitting right there. But I know for a fact that he was doing whatever when I was gone. I was living in a house of a farmer who owned like 4k acres and had several homes on it that he rented out. One day he came to the house and was pissed as hell because he swore my dog was raiding his chicken coops, not taking the birds, just chasing and killing some of them. I told him ‘Look, I was only gone like 15 minutes and when I came back, the dog was sitting right where I left him, he must be the fastest dog in the world’. He just looked and told me ‘I couldn’t tell for sure it was him, but it whatever it was, it was like that silver and black devil!’. Lol. The dog was looking at him and he was just cursing.
The only thing I can think of is that the dog wasn’t going too far, but he knew the sound of my truck and when he heard me coming, and he would just come back and play all innocent.
Also remember one of my neighbors would walk over and look at the dog and say ‘that fucker is looking at me, I don’t trust him, he’s always looking at me, that’s one weird fucking dog’.
“Also remember one of my neighbors would walk over and look at the dog and say ‘that fucker is looking at me, I don’t trust him, he’s always looking at me, that’s one weird fucking dog’.”
And that guy just went on my ‘dont turn your back on him’ list. When a dog reads someone, trust the dog.
This. Dogs can see through anything.
The dog’s daddy and mommy were both champion cattle herding dogs. Fathers’s name was just something ‘Jack’, but the mother’s name was one of those fancy ass names they give to champion dogs these days, it was something something ‘Miss Minerva’, argle blargle. Old Jacks’s specialty they told me was putting really mean bulls on a trailer for hauling. The dog’s agility gave them the ability to put a painful bite on the hind legs of uncooperative bulls while avoiding getting kicked.
My dog was a large male, about 60-70 lbs, not a large dog overall, but with that type of speed and agility, he was pretty scary without a doubt to my neighbor, who didn’t trust the crazy eyed critter.
We had a Border Collie named Smokey. Greatest dog ever.
I think it’s that herding dogs learned to work, that’s why they’re do intelligent and have such an amazing ability to learn more. Progressives should try it.
This guy looks a lot like my dog, except mine didn’t have a tail.
Chick, Frisbee, and Aussie
Fur Fridays by Riven. Boom chicka wow wow. Oh. Well, dogs are cool.
Dogs deserve better than us humans. I bet they would’ve repealed Obamacare if they had the chance.
By shitting on it?
Chewing it up and shitting it out.
It deserves no better
OT:(Sorry, Riven. I’m selfish like that.)
It has been several months since I’ve broken out the smoker and I’ve decided to challenge myself.
I bought my first proper smoker around two years ago and since then have smoked half a dozen turkeys(It seems I have a knack for that particular bird, even to the point of being paid to cater an ‘extended’ family member’s wedding), three pork shoulders/Boston Butts<(Spelling? Fuck off, you get the gist. I personally believe I need to do a great deal of work to even begin to compete with the quality of the commercially local fare), and two full slabs of pork ribs. The ribs also need some improvement but for the weekend I'm putting all of those aside for my first attempt at beef brisket.
Now, for the record, I'm generally a molasses/brown sugar based bbq sauce kind of guy in relation to topping off smoked meats across the spectrum. But I must admit, the best tasting beef brisket I've ever happened across was in a clear, vinegar based, pepper sauce.
So, aside from the debate with my best friend over the best method in which to smoke the brisket(He's more of a Myron Dixon[again, spelling] disciple), treat it like a steak, to oversimplifying.
Where as I lean much more towards the slow and low, fuck off, I need to tend the smoker all day as an excuse to do as close to next to nothing as possible persuasion, my conundrum is this; should I make the overall flavor palette of the brisket vinegar or molasses based?
While I tend to prefer sweet fruit woods as the agent of the smoking process I still think that if done properly, hickory/oak/vinegar/salt/pepper works best wirh marbled beef.
Long story short, any tips on how I can get the fat rendered down roughly an hour after the time the smoking process stops and getting an evenly distributed smoke flavor profile before any over-smoking dryness occurs or vinegar-based bitterness ends up over-powering the natural flavor of the meat itself would be greatly appreciated.
Foil after four or five hours of smoke. Low and slow until internal is 190F
Disclaimer: I haven’t mastered the brisket, (mine are just good) but I will give my two cents on anything.
I agree you can definitely over smoke a brisket.
There are an awful lot of ways to skin a brisket. I sear mine well over 4:1 oak/hickory mix then wrap in foil with onions and cook low and slow for 5 or 6 hours. When it is done I set to the side over a hot fire and baste with muscadine/habenero until that is nicely glazed.
*save renderings from foil for gravy. If you dont want it for yourself your dog will certainly appreciate it. <—– See, staying on topic.
Dunno if that helps.
Just another little example of how smart herding dogs are, especially when compared to progressives.
Aussie/Border Collie Mix
I’m not sure if you quite understand the resdog. The ones I ran into in OK were very tame and ok with people. Many were caught, fixed, and released. They tend to be well fed. I’m not sure if resdog=stray/abandoned dog. They seemed more like communal dogs to me, but maybe the Res I was on is different.
I mean, there are ferall dogs on the res, but they are called wild dogs. Res dogs are domesticated.
Gosh. You’re right. I’ve only lived in between reservations in Montana my whole life. I guess all of the various res dog rescue operations in the state don’t quite understand it, either. I’ll let them know that they’re misinformed the next time they run across a starved dog with mange.
I don’t mean to get uppity… but did you visit the links? That’s clearly not what’s going on here.
Where do you live in Montana? My sister lives near Bozeman, used to live nearer to Missoula. Wow, that is some wild country. I’m still waiting for my chance to go there and explore the mountains. My brother-in-law is a real cowboy and hunts whatever, moose, bear, and even catches and tames wild horses. I’m more interested in gem hunting. And I’m not going out without a gun that I can kill any bear who even looks at me, with.