I am fascinated by the videos Karen Thompson is sending me of Kate, and grateful. It is a gift to get to know a puppy before it comes home. It will help greatly in figuring out a training program. I am learning a lot of about this dog from Karen’s videos and am always struck by how comfortable and perceptive Karen is in her training and understanding of dogs. This is the third video and it tells me much about this dog we are getting and helps me get started thinking about training.
Fate is nine weeks old, she is a pure-bred border collie with unusual markings. It is clear she is a grounded, confident and curious dog, she will be a handful. Here is the newest video, fresh from New Kent, Virginia. Until yesterday, Fate had never been in a house, was never without her littler mates. Karen says she spent much of Tuesday evening in a crate for the first time, she handled it quite well.
She has had no problem adjusting to her crate. In the video, I can see she is very interested in food. We never give any of our dogs human food – ever. It is the quickest way to have an obnoxious pest in the house. Kibble twice a day and some bones and treats, that’s it for food.
Unfortunately, people outside of the house are not as disciplined. Red is offered treats and food everywhere he goes. when he came to me he was never interested in food beyond what we gave him, he is more interested now, although not a pest with us. I think he knows that wouldn’t fly.
Fate is going to bear watching, we have to have healthy and appropriate chew toys and bones for her as an alternative to shelves, furniture and our kitchen food. When we are not in the house she will be in a crate, at least for a few months. I can see Fate is bright, curiosity comes with intelligence and she is carefully exploring every nook and cranny of Karen’s kitchen.
She is also still figuring out the crate, Karen has put bones and treats in there, and Fate is taking them out, but she took her sweet time about going deep into the crate – about three minutes. I have some sweet smelling training treats, I will put them in the far back of the crate whenever Fate is out of the house, she will go in the crate to get them. I can see food will be a useful training tool for a dog like this.
I’ll leave the crate open until she goes in of her own choosing and then I’ll make sure there is something for her to gnaw on there and then close the gate. The crate is never a punishment, always a safe and quiet place. There will always be something good in there. After awhile, that won’t be necessary.
This is a dog that is aware of everything, wants to know every story, will explore every corner. Maria and I watched the video. We see she will need work to do. Maria loves her stocking feet.
This is an active and curious and mischievous animal, she will require vigilance, patience and imagination. Border collie chess. I am up for it, but I’m not cocky with this creature. We are leaving for Virginia Saturday, will stay over with Karen Thompson on Sunday, coming home Monday with Fate. Red is coming.
I love training dogs, it is not about obedience for me, it is a spiritual experience, about communicating and showing an animal how to live safely and well in our world. You get out of it exactly what you put into it. We all get the dogs we need and deserve, one way or another.
I sat out on the Adirondack chair for a few minutes and stayed in the quiet. A lot happening here. The first Bedlam Farm farmhouse may have been sold, we are getting a puppy and then a pony. We are going to Virginia this weekend to bring Fate back, and it’s a nine hour drive each way. Sunday, we plan on staying with Karen Thompson for a day and a night, we are eager to spend time with her, Red is coming also. We will come home with Fate on Monday or Tuesday, I can only imagine the friends she will have all over town. We will socialize the daylights out of here.
She is a transition symbol for us, from Lenore, Simon, Fried and the hard winter to a return to life, a new member of the family. I love training dogs, I can’t wait, I think Maria has no idea yet how much a dog like this will re-arrange her heart. I’m excited for the two of them to be together. We are returning to life here, and with a vengeance. I think the blog will be a hoot this summer and hopefully beyond. Thanks for your subscriptions, they matter and will help pay for puppy food and saddles and hay.
In the country, the boundary between work, family and friends is always blurred. There is a sense of family here. Kristen Preble, our faithful and hard-working realtor, often brings her daughter Fiona to work with her. Real estate is a business, but it never feels that way with Kristen.
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It looks like Bedlam Farm may have been sold to an out-of-state couple. One of them is a writer, this makes me happy. At this point, the proceeds go to the bank, not to me, but if the sale ultimately goes through – there are lots of twists and turns in real estate these days – I will be happy, I know they love the farm and are excited about living there.
The farm as been on the market awhile, it has been quite a ride, I am happy for the farm and for the lucky people who mean to buy it. It is a wonderful place. I am grateful to Kristen for hanging in there us, I can’t imagine how many times she walked up and down that hill and dealt with so many people, many of them obnoxious.
My heart will lighten at the thought of people in that wondrous place, may they thrive and prosper there. A part of me will never leave there, my blood and soul remain on that hill and in that beautiful old farmhouse. I know a writer will be happy and productive there.
Minnie, our three-legged barn cat, sometimes needs love. When she does, Maria picks her up and gives her a big hug, when she needs love and doesn’t get it she makes a lot of noise. Minnie came to me as a feral kitten, she generally avoids people. She and I get along well enough, she really loves Maria. They are good for one another.
Yesterday, I got this sad message from Tawni Angel in California: “Hi, Jon, it’s been a little while, I hope this e-mail finds you well..I wanted to let you know that yesterday, “Mother’s Day,” was it! The last day for pony rides at the Santa Monica Main St. Farmer’s Market, it was a very emotional day, lots of my customers who have become so much more than that, my friends..brought goodbye cards, hugs and tears, so sad to see the ponies go. Many of the parents were trying to explain to their toddlers that this was the last time they would see the ponies at the farmer’s market. It nearly broke my heart. It’s just so sad. I wanted to thank you again for all your kind words and support! So thank you, Jon, Tawni Angel.”
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It was thoughtful of Tawni to send me that message on such a hard day for her, we have never met, but have been talking to one another online for months. I was heartbroken as well, Tawni’s sustenance has been taken from her, and the lives of her ponies are in danger as well at the hands of the people who would save them. The media, which swarmed to relay every unfounded accusation against her, has melted away, drawn to yet another hysteria. She has a hard road ahead of her.
I am sorry to tell you that this past Sunday, Tawni’s Ponies and Petting Farm, Inc. ended it’s 12-year time at the Santa Monica, Calif., farmer’s market. Last September, the Santa Monica City Council voted to end all animal activities at the market and cancel Tawni Angel’s concert.
This February, a survey of customers at the Farmer’s Market showed that 92 per cent of those who commented on the pony rides favored keeping them at the market. On Sunday, more than 250 people, many in tears and many with children, came to say goodbye to Tawni Angel and her ponies. Many of the parents wondered if their children – many of whom came every week to ride the ponies – would ever see a pony again.
This story will be all too familiar to the good people of the New York Carriage Trade, their mayor has scheduled June hearings before the City Council so that he can try to pass legislation that would ban the carriage horses from New York. As in Santa Monica, there is no evidence of any kind that the horses in New York are suffering or being mistreated, and an overwhelming majority of the city’s residents want them to stay. As in Santa Monica, it doesn’t seem to matter much what the truth is or what the people want, or whether or not people are being treated with cruelty and neglect.
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In the Spring of 2014, a handful of people who call themselves supporters of animal rights appeared suddenly at the farmer’s market and called the police, claiming that a pony was injured. The police found no evidence of an injured pony. In May, another demonstrator called the police to say one of the ponies had a cracked hoof, the police came and found that this was not so. Other demonstrators claimed the ponies water was filthy and that the ponies were tethered too tightly, and that it was too hot for ponies to be giving rides to children.
Tawni Angel had given thousands of rides to children on her ponies and there had never been a single complaint of mistreatment or abuse in all of that time.
The police department conducted a thorough examination of the ponies at the market and found, as so many veterinarians and experts have found in New York, that these horses were well cared for and healthy. As in New York, this did not seem to matter to anyone involved. In fact, the more evidence that showed the ponies were find, the more intense the persecution of Tawni Angel got.
Animal control specialists from the police department found that the water was clean, and that the animals were tethered properly, and found the animals were doing light work in temperatures that were well within their comfort and safety range. Three different police investigations found that the ponies were healthy and well cared for.
The assault against Tawni Angel, who has a five-acre farm near Santa Monica, turned especially ugly and personal after the police failed to support the demonstrator’s puzzling claims that it was “torture” for ponies to give rides to children. Evidence just didn’t seem to matter. It was necessary to dehumanize Angel in order to destroy her business and way of life. This kind of cruelty to people in the name of preventing cruelty to animals is increasingly familiar, it resembles an Orwellian inquisition more than a civic or legal process.
You can ask Joshua Rockwood, the New York carriage horse owners and drivers, Tawni Angel, or thousands of farmers struggling to fend off accusations that they are subhuman creatures, abusing their animals because soldiers in the new army of animal informers call the police and say so.
Yesterday, Rockwood scored a significant victory in his fight to save his farm and his reputation from people who seem to know nothing about farms or animals. A judge said he did not have to pay the people who seized his horses many thousands of dollars in care and boarding costs since there was no evidence he had abused them or should have ever been seized. But also yesterday, news of an especially poignant defeat for Tawni Angel and her ponies and the children of Santa Monica.
And for every animal we wish to keep in our world and our everyday lives. The sorry truth is that those of us who love animals and respect freedom and property are in a deepening struggle with people who do not believe animals should remain among people and work and live with us in our world.
There will be victories and defeats, that is the awful sad nature of conflict, as we saw yesterday.
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The campaign against Tawni Angel was uglier and far more cruel and unfeeling than any cracked hoof on a pony. When they could find no proof of wrongdoing, the so-called animal rights activists went after her reputation. Animal rights protestors scoured Facebook looking for personal political opinions or comments from Angel and her husband that they decided might be offensive or controversial in very liberal Santa Monical, and mailed them to City Council members, some of whom have close personal ties to the demonstrators. They found a photo of Tawni Angel holding a glass of vodka and suggested she was unfit to be around Santa Monica’s children. (Angel is suing one of the protestors for defamation in what could be a significant case in the animal rights wars). They found a photo of Angel with a gun and suggested she was dangerous and unstable (she likes to shoot.)
These communications were conducted in secret and out of public view.
The City Council caved in the face of this sudden controversy, as politicians most often do, they held an unscheduled late night meeting, they revoked Tawni Angel’s contract with the farmer’s market. As usual, no one expressed any concern for the future welfare of the ponies, who need to find work in order to survive, or of Tawni Angel, faced with serious loss of income despite the fact she loved her ponies, treated them well, and gave many children the only contact they ever have with the natural or animal world. You can read her lawyer’s account of the case here.
I have talked with a half-dozen people who know Tawni Angel. She is a good person, a loving wife and mother, she is honest and she loves her animals dearly, and is committed to working with children to keep nature and animals in our consciousness. She had fashioned a life for herself with animals, just as the people in the New York Carriage Trade have done. What happened to her is a travesty, and please make no mistake about it. It can happen to you if you have a pony, a horse, a dog, a cat, a chicken, a cow, or love to see the stupid tricks in the circus.
Like Joshua Rockwood, Tawni Angel is brave, and like Rockwood, Tawni Angel is fighting back. Still, her way of life and the fate of her ponies, both anchored by her contract in Santa Monica, is in grave doubt. She is a poignant example of the growing number of victims of what has become an irrational and especially cruel hysteria over animal abuse, and which is driving animals out of our world and towards extinction. It is also hurting many people badly.
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And so here, in the name of preventing cruelty to animals, is a powerful example of how we are doing animals no good and inflicting cruelty on people, innocent people at that. Tawni Angel told me she is looking for another location in the Santa Monica area for her pony rides. She has found a mall 50 miles away from the market where she is offering 20 rides one night a week, but it is too far and through too much traffic for most of her very loyal Santa Monica customers.
This is what you need to understand about Tawni Angel. She has loved and cared for ponies for years, they have given her the resources to live with animals, she has given them as good and healthy and meaningful life as domesticated animals can have in or world today. She has broken no law, violated no regulations, paid her taxes.
Her world has been shattered, if not destroyed, despite the fact that she has been found guilty of absolutely nothing and likes vodka. This is not just a story for animal lovers, it is a story for anyone who cares about compassion, truth and freedom from cruelty, whether it be by so-called activists or by government. Her freedom and way of life have been unjustly taken from her, she may well lose her ponies, they may well lose their lives. Tawni Angel’s story reminds us that any movement to end cruelty to animals is bankrupt and immoral if it is built on being cruel to human beings and lying about them.
This is the final message to me yesterday from this alleged animal abuser, this torturer, this person who is so cruel that she must be banned from public spaces and lose her livelihood and resources for caring for her animals: “I will make sure all my ponies are taken care of and there is no way I would ever let anything happen to them. I will figure it out, one way or another.”
I think Tawni would love to hear from people who love animals and who care about people. Her e-mail is [email protected]
