Dances With Wolves
The 1990 “western epic” film starring Kevin Costner, “Dances With Wolves” is about a Union Lieutenant who is injured during the civil war and instead of having his leg amputated he decides on a “suicide by opposing forces” attempt (by charging on his horse towards confederate troops). His suicide attempt fails but the Union Army wins. He is later awarded a citation for bravery and is given the horse he rode on and his choice of any post he wants. He chooses to head out to the western frontier so he can see it before it is claimed and developed. There he meets up with local Native Americans as well as an unlikely companion – a wolf he named Two Socks since it looks like he is wearing socks on his paws.
Breed Spotlight – Greyhounds
(IMO) One of the most underrated breeds of dog in existence is the greyhound. Most people think of greyhounds as racing dogs and while most are used for racing, many retired (and some not born to racing kennels) greyhounds go on to live very long lives with families. Some, go even further than that. Some have gone on to acting careers like Winnie and Mia who co-starred with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in “Charlie Wilson’s War”.
Greyhounds make great pets and are quite often referred to as “big cats” or “cats in a dog costume”. They have a very short coat so they do not shed that much, are typically not barkers, are smart enough to understand some obedience, and while they do love to be with their people they are independent enough so they are not on you 24-7. Continue reading
Mollie (Capt. Janeway’s dog) – Star Trek: Voyager
Can you guess the breed of dog that has made 3 appearances in Star Trek?
The Star Trek: Voyager series features a crew who gets lost in the delta quadrant (the other side of the galaxy) by an entity known as “The Keeper”. The captain of the Voyager is Captain Katherine Janeway. During the series Janeway makes several references to her dog, Mollie, who is an Irish Setter. In the beginning of the series (first episode, “Caretaker”) she convinced her fiance (Mark Johnson) to watch over Mollie while she is very pregnant, while acting reluctant he agrees to her and even comments that he’s already moved her bed and toys to his place.
Wolves – if you don’t mind me getting a little political
Recently the US government took wolves off of the endangered species list as part of the debt reduction plan. Personally, I do not see how it is relevant other than allowing states to sell wolf hunting licenses. Personally, I feel this is a big step back and if you are on this site then there is a good chance that you also at least have a respect for the wolf.
3 states – Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, all plan on making (or have already made) the wolf a “trophy” level hunt meaning a hunter can kill one on sight just so they can use it as a trophy. I don’t have an issue with hunting like the Native Americans – use as much of the animal as you can when you kill it but allowing a mass hunt for wolves is not the right thing to do. I’ve been trying to figure out why there is such large support for this and I’ve heard some pro-wolf hunt arguments and I’ll address my responses to the most common ones. Continue reading
Twilight series – Werewolves
The Twilight movies are based on a series of books (with the same name) about a girl who is caught in a love triangle between Edward (a vampite) and Jacob (a werewolf). In the series vampires and werewolves are also at war with each other putting all three of them in a very difficult situation. Continue reading