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“Dogs don’t need clothes, they have fur.” Uh huh? And where do you live, Bub? LA? Sydney? Florida? How nice for you!

Here at the Rancho de Chihuahua, we have frozen water that falls from the sky, and even more frozen water that comes up from the ground in the form of ‘dew’ (or shall we say ‘ice!’) five months of the year. Fur plus ice may make a fine, easily shuffled-off combo when dealing with a longhaired, say, chow-dog. It may even suffice for a hardy Shepherd breed.

But we’re talking a 10-pound, shorthaired transplant. They’re about as warm as you are on a ski trip without your fleece gear and whiskey flask. Read on…

One of my all-time favorite utterances comes from my favorite writer, Robert Stone. He is quoted as saying, “Being a realist doesn’t mean believing the worst possible outcome will happen every time.”

I love the optimism of this quote. I hang my hat on it. Admittedly, I wear hats only about twice a year on average.

But what to do when one’s dream is that every animal (human and other) will be loved, cared for, cherished and wanted all its life? Sometimes I wish I had normal dreams, like winning the lottery, having perfect teeth, being a movie star or disliking Snickers bars. At least those dreams might be possible to realize in one lifetime. Read on…

Rich-people followers—and those wanna-be rich-people out there—please listen up! Fur is dead and has been dead a long time, as all elegant, non-commercial, good-leaning, smart beauties realize.

Okay. An oldster-family maiden may wear her dead-animal fur around. Just give it to her. She’s so cruel and out of it… She was raised in a cruel-age and has no idea her clothes are… icky-poo. There’s no changing her. Read on…

No more Chihuahuas for Christmas!

Yes, they are cute. Yes, they are small and helpless. Yes, they make a fabulous huge-eared captive, adoringly wiggling in a fuzzy Christmas stocking—if you are that sort of human. But it’s uncool. Immoral even.

No one likes to talk about the actual ethics of Christmas presents—and I don’t either—but let’s just say giving a cute, wiggly, live photo-op is, well, evil. Read on…

Again, in visiting many, many other countries and cultures, for many, many years, I’ve been offended by only one thing: animal cruelty.

I remember once, years ago, when I was engaged to marry a Moroccan citizen while living in Morocco. I was shocked and horrified to see how he treated a starving dog wanting some of our food at a cheap bazaar. I was so disgusted by his cruelty that I couldn’t carry on the relationship. Read on…