Here's another one of those stories that defies explanation.
It's difficult to comprehend why it happened, but in Griffin, Ga., south of Atlanta, a police dog was stolen from his kennel this week, was shot and killed, then thrown in a ditch. A $1,000 reward has been offered to anyone who can lead police to the person who did it.
Griffin police officer Chad Moxon was at a firing range when his two German Shepherd Dogs, Jimi and Yeager, disappeared.
Moxon told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he searched Monday night and most of Tuesday, handing out some 300 flyers in the hope of finding his missing dogs.
Then, Wednesday morning, he got a call that someone might have found Jimi, a 3-year-old, in a ditch. A vet found buckshot in the dog's body.
"I just sat down in the ditch for the next 30 minutes," Moxon said. "I didn't have the energy to get him out."
The other dog, Yeager, was found in a neighbor's yard. "I almost didn't recognize him," Moxon said. "He was badly beaten." He's hopeful Yeager will recover in the next few days.
Let's hope police find the person who harmed the dogs. Given all they do - Jimi was trained in finding drugs and explosives and tracking people -- it's unbelievable someone would hurt a police dog.
Sometimes I worry that I can't seem to let go of the Michael Vick issue. I wonder if maybe I've written too much about it, and that at some point those of us who own and love dogs need to move forward - forgive and forget and get on with our lives.
But it's tough. The unspeakable crimes that were committed against those dogs and Vick's transition back into pro football after serving 18 months in prison have come and gone. So why we can't we let it go?
I know I'm not alone. It's a subject that continues to resurface, particularly by those were personally touched by the Pit Bulls that were rescued from Vick's horrific dogfighting operation in Virginia.
One of them is Donna Reynolds, co-founder Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls (BAD RAP), who has seen up close the results of Vick's dog-killing ring - the kinds of things few others truly realize. As Christie Keith wrote this week in the San Francisco Chronicle, Vick was convicted of running a gambling operation that involved dogs, not of animal cruelty.
That's why we've never really heard the details of how Vick and his cohorts actually disposed of unworthy fighters. But Reynolds knows.
Two years ago, she went to Virginia to evaluate 49 Pit Bulls that were found alive on Vick's property. A federal agent told her some of the things they discovered during their investigation, horrible things no one knew. In her blog, Reynolds wrote, "The details that got to me then and stay with me today involve the swimming pool that was used to kill some of the dogs. Jumper cables were clipped onto the ears of underperforming dogs, then, just like with a car, the cables were connected to the terminals of car batteries before lifting and tossing the shamed dogs into the water.
"We don't know how many suffered this premeditated murder, but the damage to the pool walls tells a story. It seems that while they were scrambling to escape, they scratched and clawed at the pool liner and bit at the dented aluminum sides like a hungry dog on a tin can."
It was difficult to read that the first time, and it's equally difficult to write now. But it helps explain why so many people remain angry, why Vick still encounters protestors when he plays for the Philadelphia Eagles, why dog owners still wait for a sign of remorse from him that isn't likely to come.
And the fact is, he has never paid for those acts of cruelty. He is earning millions of dollars playing football again while speaking occasionally to groups about the evils of dogfighting. But where's the apology? Where are the tears? When does he ask for forgiveness?
Until then, I can't forget.
If you missed it, the "Today" show on NBC featured the story of a Marine who made friends with a dog in Iraq named Nubs. It's no ordinary story, though.
The fact the two of them were sitting in a New York studio on Monday was impressive in itself. It wasn't supposed to happen. Military rules are written to prevent this sort of thing - soldiers cannot have pets in war zones. Period.
But it happens, as we've written about previously. In this case, Maj. Brian Dennis, a Marine pilot who first came across Nubs in October 2007 at a border fort, befriended the dog, got him to California and has written a children's book about their adventure: "Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle," published by Little, Brown Young Readers.
"As soon as I met him, he just kind of jumped up and I started playing with him," Dennis said. "The first time we ever met, he just kind of flipped over. I started rubbing his belly. Really, my whole team, we just kind of bonded with him as soon as we met him."
Nubs got his name because his ears had been lopped off by an Iraqi soldier. It's a common procedure, done so that there's less for another dog to grab in case of a fight, but also to make the dogs tougher. As Dennis said, "It didn't make much sense to me."
Dennis figured he had seen the last of Nubs when he was transferred to another fort 70-75 miles away on the Iraqi border. But as his convoy of soldiers pulled out, the dog followed. And followed.
Somehow, Nubs made it all the way to where Dennis was stationed. It took him a couple of days, but he was not going to be denied. "It was the craziest thing when he walked up," Dennis recalled. "It was just amazing."
Now, the two are together, thanks to donations that helped Dennis bring his dog home. It's clearly an enduring friendship.
If a Pit Bull - or any aggressive dog, for that matter - bites a person, should that dog automatically be put to death?
That was the question facing a judge in Thibodaux, La., after a dog bit a woman last week, severely injuring her left arm. The woman, 48-year-old Tecla Smith, will require several reconstructive surgeries as a result of the bite.
Local sheriff's officials sought to have the dog, a three-year-old Pit Bull, euthanized, but an animal rescue organization in St. Tammany Parish stepped in and volunteered to care for the dog while its owners make their home safe for keeping a dog deemed dangerous.
The judge, Jerome Barbera, agreed to spare the dog and gave his owners, Jerome and Lillian Jarreau, time to comply with state and parish laws. They include building a fence for their yard, buying a kennel and placing a sign outside their house warning the public of the dog's presence.
"It was an unexpected, pleasant surprise," said Mike Jimenez, sheriff's staff attorney. "We never wanted to have the dog killed, but our greater duty is to the general public. I think with this compromise, everybody will be safe and it will give the Jarreaus a chance to become responsible dog owners."
The dog will be kept by the Pontchartrain Humane Society until the Jarreaus have their home prepared to care for the dog.
I'm happy a dog's life will be spared, but I sure hope the owners exercise better responsibility from now on. When dogs are dangerous, it's the fault of the owners, not the dog.
I was never much of a fan of the TLC reality show "Jon & Kate Plus 8," but I recall that they added a couple of dogs to their brood at one point - two beautiful German Shepherds that seemed to enjoy roaming the family's expansive grounds.
Well, the breakup of the marriage between Jon and Kate Gosselin turned out not to be a good thing for Shoka and Nala, who were returned to their breeder in September.
At the time, Kate Gosselin said "They'll come back, but for now I needed a break." The Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call reports that Kate also said she "never intended to give them back," but the dogs "needed more than I could give them."
Hmm. I don't mean to sound skeptical, but I wonder whether the dogs were little more than a storyline for the TV show. Give the family a couple of dogs, let them wreak havoc on the house for a week or two, then slip them into a few background scenes as the series moves along.
I hope not. But as USA Today blogger Anne Godlasky points out, on the video showing the Gosselins originally picking out the dogs, Kate says, "I could go my whole life without having a dog."
