Borrowed the pictures from Crawdaddy where, if'n you're a fan of either of these gentlemen, you'll find a wonderful trail of bread crumbs that leads to something that can only be described as audio treasure.
Last Saturday was National Pit Bull Awareness Day and as I mentioned earlier in the week, Stella and I followed our noses across town to the festivities. I admit that I kind of dropped the ball on some of it photographically, but we were busy celebrating & making new friends. We missed some good shots, I'm sure of it.
We started the morning off with a long walk and a trip to the dog park. I've mentioned before that Pit bulls (or any dogs that resemble a Pit bulls) are banned from the city's dog parks in Nashville. There's a sign on the gate with the rules of the dog park and that's the very first rule. People from other, more civilized cities are pretty much horrified by it but we've always been surrounded by xenophobes in this part of the world so it comes as no real surprise that one (non-fatal) incident would set the stage for everyone else. It'll take a younger, smarter generation of council members to kill it though, so we wait. The up side however, is that the people who passed the ordinance generally aren't the same people that go to the dog park so for the most part, people overlook it. Yes, we've made a couple of people nervous but more often (in my limited experience anyway) they're charmed by the Pit bulls who do show up. Sometimes, as in our case, they aren't even sure they're Pit bulls until someone asks. Bunch of outlaws.
The problem with making such rules is that the dogs they're trying to keep out, the aggressive, unruly, apt to eat a Pomeranian-type dogs aren't on their way to the dog park any time soon. The dogs they're trying to keep out are unfortunately chained to a tree somewhere. They're sitting on a wet cardboard box wishing they were at the dog park or anywhere else for that matter. They're busy shredding a plastic two-liter bottle their owner just lobbed in their direction for six seconds of personal entertainment; right before they go back in the house for that next PS2 round of Grand Theft Auto. Don't get me wrong, there are some drawbacks to the dog park culture and occasionally, those dogs do show up, they generally don't last very long - but just like people, they come in all shapes and sizes. But I digress.
The event on Saturday was fun despite the fact that we missed the parade. Again, I got distracted for six seconds and everyone left without us which was too bad since that's the photo I was really hoping for. There was some great art to look at and a ton of wonderful dogs (only one clueless owner it seemed, in the whole bunch). We'll probably go back next year. Maybe they'll have it right outside the dog park :)
This beautiful creature (below) was in fact, spotted at the dog park. He's a Basset Hound-Dalmatian mix. There was also a Pit bull - Dalmatian, a great match for Stella, but I didn't get a good shot of him.
And here are a few from the Pit bull Awareness Day celebration.
Finally, here's a video (it wasn't from the Nashville event although there were some folks with video cameras there - I'll keep looking)
First, I want to take a minute to welcome the new batch of dog lovers who stopped by here today, thanks to a terrific website called Draw the Dog. There's a talented pair of guys over there who were kind enough to feature Stella on their website this morning (in a wonderful cartoon) that depicts me getting her into the shower. The story that inspired them (Suds Your Duds) has eighteen comments on it now, which is an all time record. From a virtual standpoint, I can't think of a more fun day in recent history.
Second, with regard to today's photo, I'm not sure you can see that tease of a cat (Gigi) looking through the door at us or not but I wish I could get in her head sometimes. For the first six years of her life, she was actually kind of shy and now that we have Stella, she's turned into a completely different cat. It's taken some time but I honestly believe she thinks Stella is her dog, not mine. They're sweet on each other but in a careful - I'll snuggle up against you if you promise not to look at me - sort of way, unless of course there's a door between them, which apparently makes it safe to act like a maniac.
