Going, going, gone! (home, hopefully)

Big news today:

A new fundraising venture! At present, there are a couple of fundraising efforts already underway. The goal is somewhere around $12,000, a breathtaking sum. It might be more or less; so far, however, I have already paid over $7,000 for legal counsel alone.

First, I have asked for direct donations, and so far, they total $1750. There is a paypal account and a special account at Royal Bank.

Second, a very kind offer came along a few weeks ago, which was posted on the Facebook Save Brindi page. Until November 8 (extended from the fifth), a jewelry company in Montreal called "Love, Montreal" is donating 15% of sales to the fund. The designer herself volunteered this generous offer, and the jewelry is very pretty indeed, with semi-precious stones and silver.

There is talk of a possible benefit concert, which would be absolutely wonderful. I'm crossing my fingers for that to work out.

And today, a third new venture begins: an online auction at epier.com!

Three items are already posted, and more are on the way. Donations are very welcome!Anything from a toy to a yoga class is welcome! We can even auction off dogwalking services, or dogsitting, or training, by the hour, if someone is so disposed.

The first item is a weeklong stay next June at a beautiful lakeside cottage not far from the South Shore, on Nine Mile Lake. There is also a Royal Doulton figurine, and an antique model train set. All you have to do is click here to see them:

And if you have anything around the house that you've never really used, that somebody else might like, why not add it to the auction? All that is needed is a brief description of the item, a ballpark price, and if possible, an image. Once the item is sold, the shipping costs will be paid by the buyer, and you'll be assisted in all the arrangements.

You don't need to live anywhere near Halifax, Nova Scotia, in order to donate to the auction. I only need the information and an image. You ship it directly to the buyer when it's over, and the buyer pays for shipping. The listing includes a city location so bidders can estimate the cost. Theoretically, this auction could be span the globe -barring currency differences.

What would be really helpful for the auction is for people to send the word around. That way there's a greater chance of finding caring bidders. I'm learning as I go, so this is a big experiment right now. And I'm really excited to see how it does!

Meanwhile, I have to figure out how to warm up my frozen pipes, so I can take a shower... Canadian Tire, here I come.

ONE HUNDRED DAYS

of solitude. Not solititude with anything to recommend it.

One hundred days of terror and grief and sadness and fear and disappointment, right, the whole "pity party" that some people seem to love to accuse unfortunate others of, should they have the audacity to speak of their plight, and risk ruining the party everyone else is at.

In the first excruciatingly painful days after they took Brindi, in a state of horror, I was even more horrified to learn about a dog that was held in the SPCA pound for eight months or so in 2007.

My reaction to the rest of the story was filtered by a visceral response to the gut-slash of those words that hasn't left me since.

Months? Months?? NO WAY.

The rest of the story got worse with every word. I've mentioned it here before. And sorry to say, I am no closer to connecting with the owner of this poor creature than I was back then, not for lack of trying, either.

The story goes, this unknown dog, mixed-breed, had an unfortunate encounter with another dog, which happened to be a greyhound. The greyhound is fine today; the mixed-breed is dead.

The dog was accused of one attack on another dog. Never attacked or threatened a human being. The other dog however had some sort of a minor bite, The bigger problem was a number of skin lesions it sustained. Apparently, greyhounds have very thin skin,that easily tears off during a scuffle just from rolling around on the ground. I saw the photo: the dog was covered with roundish patches where the skin had been lost, like big polka dots. It was a mess. But unless an infection set in, the injuries were not likely to be fatal.

The rest of the story is that this dog waited eight months or thereabouts during a court case mounted by the owner against the city. It may be that like me, he was never charged with any offense. He lost the case, but went right back to court to appeal.

Then he lost the appeal. And he decided enough was enough. He had to give in.

He was never granted the right to visit his dog at the pound. He was given two days to spend with his pet, nd then animal services (as in funeral services, I suppose) came and took the dog away again - where? - and put it down.

This story is so horrific one doubts it is true. But I know it's true: my first lawyer represented the owner. And I saw the photos.

What I will never understand is why this story didn't go anywhere. It never made it into the papers or the TV or the radio or the blogs of animal advocates or anywhere that I can see. It is simply not to be found. Unfortunately, my lawyer declined to give me the name of his former client.

When I heard that awful story I was absolutely determined to make sure my dog would not even spend a month behind bars, let alone be put down. Not this dog. I would rather die first. I will go to the pound and stand in line for the injection.

So now where am I? One hundred days - perhaps a day more or less, I cannot sit with a calendar and count precisely, I don't have the strength. One hundred days of utter agony with no end in sight.

One hundred days for Brindi, one hundred days for me. In many ways I suffer more, having the great misfortune of being able to understand human language. I don't understand humans, though, at all.

Brindi certainly knows something is up, I suppose she must feel my agony, too. Fortunately for her, she doesn't know all the intentions involved; she probably thinks she'll be there forever, as she must have believed after spending two years in a shelter. And she'd accept that with good humor, knowing her.

But I have other knowledge of what is going on and what is meant to happen, and it is incredibly damaging to my soul. It is already a soul-killing experience to be forced to live without her. To suffer and know she is suffering, yet have to move forward, for one hundred days and who knows how much longer? I am suffering in more ways than I can talk about, and for more reasons than I am able to reveal. In more ways, in fact, than I even want to reveal to myself.

Does the city intend to actually destroy dog owners along with their dogs? Well, it's working.

In case anybody wants to help, I am asking for daily calls to Mayor Kelly and especially to Animal Services. The numbers are (902) 490 4010 and 490 1791, respectively.

Email does nothing; they delete it. A human voice is harder to ignore.

Call every day if you can, it doesn't take long, and it can really help. Please request that they meet with me, and that they let Brindi go, and reign in their free-wheeling interpretation of A300, because a muzzle order is NOT a mandate to automatically euthanize for violations, not under that law - not by any stretch of the imagination.

Keep in mind: Animal Services does not actually have to meet with me or anybody in order to let Brindi go; it needs no judge or jury. It can review its own decision and the process leading to it, anytime it likes. There is no law or rule or policy or limit on their ability to do this - despite what they may tell the public. It may be hard to accept, but it's a lot easier than having to testify in court.