A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

Best in Glow!

Westminster: a Pageant of Pornography

The Westminster Porn Show
A pageant of objectification and commoditization.

Best in Shoes, 2016
The judge’s blue, knee-length skirt really showed off the muscle tone of her legs.

The Freaks of Westminster
No, not the dogs, but the people who turn them into deformed shadows of their true canine nature.

Best in Glow, 2011
Big Mama Jubilee, a rescued pit bull mix, takes our prize!

Westminster Dog Show Nixes Adoption Ads
Dog food company gets axed for promoting adoption.

Today Show Investigates Puppy Mills
Their interview with the AKC’s communications director is priceless.

The BBC Investigates Dog Show Breeders
How spaniels, bulldogs, pugs and others are deliberately bred for distorted features that cause lifelong sickness and pain.

… and just for fun:
Top Ten Signs You Got a Bad Judge at Westminster
10: He keeps saying, “There’s hardly any meat on this one.”

Big Mama Jubilee Takes Our Prize

Kudos to Hickory for winning Best in Show at Westminster last night . . .

Scottish deerhound Hickory at Westminster

. . . and to Big Mama Jubilee for coming in tops in our “Best in Glow” last night:

Pit bull mix Big Mama Jubilee at a reading program for kids

Hickory (a.k.a. Grand Champion Foxcliffe Hickory Wind) comes from a grand heritage of Scottish deer hounds dating back to the 16th Century. She lives on a 56-acre farm in horse country, Virginia, where she’s considered a doggie diva.

Jubilee (a.k.a. Big Mama Jubilee) is a pit bull mix who was rescued from the streets of Albany, New York, and taken to the local shelter. When she got no adoption offers, Jubilee was going to be killed in order to make room for newcomers, but Nancy, her original rescuer, came by and rescued her once again, taking her to a boarding facility and then telling her friend, Amy Willey, about her. A few days later, Amy and her husband adopted Jubilee.

Hickory – Best in Show at Westminster

Hickory beat the odds at Westminster after a Las Vegas expert gave her only a 60-1 chance of winning in a field of 2,600 dogs in 179 breeds. (The odds were just for fun; there’s no real betting at the dog show.)

Big Mama Jubilee in shades

Jubilee beat the odds at the city shelter – in a field of about a million and a half pit bulls who are looking for homes each year, and where the odds of being adopted are very small indeed.

Hickory the Scottish deer hound is celebrating her victory at Westminster with a photo op at the top of the Empire State Building.

Jubilee is celebrating at home, where she’ll be spending the day playing with her “brother”, Frankie, another pit bull mix who’s her best buddy.

Hickory’s family say they plan to breed her in hopes of producing more show dogs and keeping the line going.

Jubilee has been spayed, so she won’t be adding to the number of unwanted dogs and cats still dying at shelters every year.

Hickory and Jubilee and both beautiful dogs, beloved by their families, both talented and fortunate, each in their own way.

Hickory won her honors from the judge at Westminster, Paolo Dondina, who lives in Italy and has bred beagles, spaniels and Jack Russell terriers. One of his dogs won Best in Show at the prestigious British Crufts Dog Show in 1975.

Jubilee at home with Frankie

Jubilee won her honors when we counted the number of “Likes” she got on Facebook after we published her story there. Most of the people who “Liked” her are also the proud guardians of rescued pit bulls, many of whom have won prizes in agility and awards in good citizenship.

Speaking of Hickory, Judge Dondina said: “She’s got everything: the movement, the presence. It’s a dog for the big show.”

Speaking of Jubilee, her mom, Amy, says, “Jubilee is a happy soul who brings smiles to the faces of everyone she meets. She works every day to help change the world, one heart and one mind at a time.