Dog Abuse? Not in America!

THAT DOG'S FACE, so miserably unhappy, might always stay with me. The one that was chained to a tree for four years, before being rescued. By now he is recovering in the care of a veterinarian, and will make a full recovery, they say, even though the beautiful german shepherd was seriously dehydrated and underweight, and covered with sores, and probably everything else you can imagine. Baby will recover fully, and be adopted out to a good home, and for that it seems there will be an application process. Anyone is free to apply; There will probably be tens of thousands of Americans alone who want this dog. I can already think of one. Toby, renamed "Joseph" by the rescue people, will probably spend the next ten years being loved more than anyone in America, more power to him. The bastard who mistreated him evidently said "dogs are not human," which, for all we know, is the most intelligent thing the idiot is capable of saying. You wonder what his life will be like for awhile; his name and face have been all over AOL, and, presumably, other places well. Enough places that there is the opportunity for many folks to know who he is, and where he is. In this great country which so loves animals, particularly dogs and cats, he might want to lay low for awhile. Some time ago a Harvard study revealed that ten percent of the American people prefer dogs and cats to humans, and I have lived in America long enough to believe it. So have you. I know I do! Most people seem to think that the number is higher than ten percent, and nearly everyone I mention this to claims to be among the ten percent. Everyone. It may be that all Americans prefer dogs and cats to humans, every single American, and that's what makes the United States of America such a great country. A nation of loners, who work together quite well when the chips are down. For every American who abuses an animal there are a thousand who treat animals with loving kindness. An astute intellectual from Shanghai once said to me: "you Amellicans care more about your dogs and cats than you do each other!" You got that right. But we also care about each other, just not quite as much. This punk who abused that beautiful german shepherd will live to greatly regret what he did, and who knows, maybe he will reform. He'll always have to live with this, however.