Wednesday, October 31, 2012

No Dogs Allowed - who's YOUR representative?

In Six days, those of us in the United States will be making our choices of representation in the ballot boxes across the Country. There are a myriad of initiatives to wade through and the hope that we choose someone who will represent the majority of our interests. If we can look past the soundbites and see what our current representatives actually did to represent us, I believe is a good start to see if they deserve to keep their job for another term.

I know virtually every State has some type of issue with HSUS and PETA sponsored legislation, legislators and initiatives. They are very strong on emotion, very weak on fact and science. Please keep in mind they want nothing more than to destroy animal ownership of all manner in this country.

I received the following request on a Nellie's litter that highlights the effect of HSUS bought legislators. In California, the vote is almost always straight down party line. I'm amazed we keep re-electing those who continue to not represent us in lieu of Campaign $ from HSUS.   I continue to hear from friends complaining and afraid of yet more dog legislation,  from mandatory spay/neuter to what we can and can't do with our dogs but then vote the same person into office again!  The saying goes - the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result!

"I am contacting you because I am in search for a new family member that will make a great hunting partner for me and my fiancé. We are in interested in a vizsla because we do a great deal hunting and we want a great family dog that we can enjoy in our house as well. I come from a long time duck hunting family and was introduced to an amazing Vizsla as a young child that my Grandfather had. He used him as a dual purpose dog for ducks and upland hunting in Wisconsin. I didn't really follow my family tradition of mainly duck hunting, I slowly started enjoying all forms of hunting until I was introduced to hunting with hounds. That's where I dove in head first. For the past 12 years I have raised and competitively hunted Treeing Walker Hounds in AKC/UKC hunts. Up until the beginning of this year I was competing with the dogs on a co owner/handler basis. The gentleman that I was co owner with owned 60% of our dogs. In the beginning of the year there was a bill introduced to ban the use of hounds to pursue bears and bobcats in the state. After much debate and concern for the further advancement of the the dogs my partner bought me out and sold my portion and rights to another handler in Idaho in march I was emotionally crushed after the result of having to let my dogs , my best friends be ripped from me like that. After six months of fighting for the rights of my fellow houndsmen the governor signed the bill to ban the use of hounds in late September.
Since I sold my dogs I have been really lost and I believe my fiancé is ready for me to be back out training and raising a new best friend. I am looking for a dog that will first off be a great companion at home and in the field. I may eventually want to try competing in field trials with a. Pointing breed but first I want to train and start a dog before I venture into that but competing with a dog I have raised from a pup has been something that I have always enjoyed. V This time around I am only interested in purchasing a dog out right and not looking for a co ownership. We live in a old farm house on five acres in Oakley not far from the delta. So we have lots of room to train and play.

During the last month I tried contacting another breeder of vizslas that my fiancé found on gundogbreeders.com. They were not ok with our previous hunting activities and did not want to place a dog with us because of our different beliefs. If you do not support our previous hunting with hounds I do understand and I thank you for your time.
"

This bill was fought hard, and the majority of County governments even opposed it. There is no Science behind the legislation, and it will exponentially increase the bear problem already in the State.

It is only a very small step from not allowing hounds to hunt bear to not allowing bird dogs to hunt birds. Step by step, piece by piece the legislators being bought and paid for by HSUS are stripping our right to own and enjoy our dogs.

PLEASE, for the sake of all of our dogs and our freedoms - consider not voting by the letter behind the name, but by how your legislator actually has represented you. I sent a letter to mine telling them why I am not voting for them, and that if they wish my vote they need to extinguish ties with HSUS and actually represent their district, not an extremist animal rights organization in New York City.
Ken