Calamity Cove

It’s been two days, and almost half of the original images have been sponsored (and nearly all of those are actually paid up). There are more orders, but they came too late–I have to disappoint some people with e-mails after I finish this update. It makes me feel terrible, so I wish I’d had the time to implement an actual claims system, but bills are bills and they come when they do.

Thank you so much to everyone. I’m absolutely amazed at how many people responded to PlunderZOO, both with purchases and with RTs, blog posts, and other signal boosts.

All of this really makes me appreciate technology more than before. If it wasn’t for the fact that we can open up a dog and put pins and wire into its bones, my puppy would be literally crippled for the rest of his life, walking and acting like an old dog before he even finished growing. It wouldn’t even matter how much money anyone had, or whether or not they would put it toward what he needed. And if it wasn’t for the free information on the Internet, I wouldn’t know how to draw (seriously). And most importantly, if it wasn’t for the way people use the Internet, the way we take cold, hard code and use it to build warm, sharing communities, not nearly as many people would know about my venture or have the means to join it.

Our zoo is going to look so cool when all those animals are captured, folks. (: Thank you for being a part of this.

Our pet landshark when he was a wee little beastie! (Before we had him.)

He eats everything he can fit in his mouth, plays in mud, and LOVEd these little guys. I think he's a pigbull.

Hanzo saw the piglets from about twenty feet away and perked up, wagging his tail, just like he does for other dogs. We took him up to the fence and he touched their noses with his, then licked their faces like he does with people. He was pretty happy to just sniff and lick, but the piglets of course have a different agenda. They’re only curious until they find out whether there is food involved; Hanzo didn’t feed them, so they became disinterested and wandered away. Hanzo uttered a heartbreaking whine, just the way he does when there’s a dog he likes behind a fence he can’t play with, or a child in a stroller he can’t lick.

It was one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen.

Hanzo has a condition called “luxating patella,” or “kneecap fell out of place and is floating around like a kid with an illicit hall pass.”

(Dark as the inside of my dog's leg...)

Usually, this happens to small breeds like Yorkshire terriers or pomeranians, in which case it’s congenital. Sometimes, it happens to larger dogs, especially active jumpy ones like our spazzy little pitbull. We don’t know how it occurred. It could have been trauma that we didn’t witness (or that we underestimated the impact of), or it could have been uneven development in his hind legs that stretched out the ligament. Apparently sometimes dogs with muscular legs get a slightly bowed bone as they develop, and that creates sideways pressure on the patella.

He’s going in for surgery tomorrow morning. If I understand correctly, the vet is going to deepen the groove in the femur (top white blob) where that little bean-shaped thing (patella) is supposed to go, then stuff it back in, and attach the loose ligament to a pin in the tibial ridge (poky bit on the right of the bottom white blob)  so it doesn’t come loose again. Captain Jumpytron will have to remain quiet and mostly still for six weeks.

Because if he doesn’t, he’ll have to have surgery again, and then be still for twelve weeks. (As you can see below, that is going to be impossible without a boatload of tranquilizers.)

Poor Hanzo.

When I talk about my dog, I don’t usually just say “my puppy.” I say “my pitbull,” or “my pitbull puppy.”

Why?

Because I want you to know, since you have theoretically found me intelligent, erudite, and pleasant, not to mention amazingly attractive, that I own this breed of dog. Many people have incorrect assumptions about American Staffordshire Terriers. Once you’re aware that I own one, you hopefully will feel comfortable enough asking your burning questions about whether or not my dog mauls children. I can give you answers about how it’s a dog, not a shark with legs, and a dog’s temperament is defined by its rearing, training, and owner’s attitude much more than its breed.

For the record, you may remember the Little Rascals had a pitbull to play with. Pitbulls have been long referred to as “nanny dogs” in the U.K. Many other accepted family pet breeds, even well-behaved specimens, make me much more nervous with small children than a well-behaved pitbull. For example? Lassie.