Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Follow-Up Friday

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For those new to the blog, my follow-up Friday provides me with an opportunity to update or revise a post from the previous week.

You know sometimes you post about something and you need an update but it doesn’t warrant a whole blog.  Or sometimes someone made a comment that really resonated with you.  Yup, Follow-Up Friday baby! 🙂

Foster Opportunity – Update

My friend who asked about me fostering Nikko assures me that Nikko will be taken care of.   My goal would be to try to get to see Nikko and maybe introduce him to Sampson and Delilah so they could possibly have a play date.  I will see what I can do, but I know I can’t take Nikko for a full year.

I’m Sorry If I Offended You McDonalds – Update

There was certainly a lot of talk and publicity about this ad, not surprising none of it was from McDonald’s.  I checked the internet but couldn’t find one thing besides the initial retraction.  I wish someone would call for a ban on McDonald’s, if only for just one day.  Wouldn’t that let them know loud and clear where people stand?

The next day however, my awesome niece posted this picture on my facebook page, don’t you just love it!

We were discussing the ad after obedience class last night and I heard (not verified) that the ice machines at McDonald’s in CT were inspected and they had mold growing inside them!  And McDonald’s has the nuggets to put down pit bulls!

That’s another Follow-Up Friday wrap, how did you wrap your week?

Book Update:  My book has 10,459 words.

I'm Sorry If I Offended You McDonalds

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By now you must have seen this ad.

I got this ad from Seattle Dog Spot

McDonald’s, one of (if not) the biggest fast food chains in the world blatantly and irresponsibly disrespecting the pit bull.

Of course I called the number, and it was automated, and when I pressed the button regarding their ad, I got a recorded apology.

Yes this McDonald’s, the one with revenues of (I believe it says) 27 million dollars.  Had a recorded message apologizing for inadvertently offending some of their customers.

“In our effort to spread the word about our new Chicken McBites, one of our local markets ran an ad that inadvertently offended some of our customers. The ad was insensitive in its mention of pit bulls. We apologize. We are pulling the ad, and will review our creative screening process. It’s never our intent to offend anyone with how we communicate news about McDonald’s.” 

When I was in college I took a Public Relations class, I know who would have ever thought ME, of all people would be interested in Public Relations. 🙂

Part of the class was to look at two PR campaigns. One was successful, the other one wasn’t.

I won’t name the companies because I cannot remember the specifics of each case but they were both big name companies and both companies had to recall their products for health reasons.

The company that failed in their campaign recalled the product and then there was nothing further from the company until they had gotten to the source of the problem and resolved the issue.

The company that succeeded, recalled their product and then kept updating the public frequently as to where they were at in their investigation and how they were handling the issue to be certain it didn’t happen again.

Not surprisingly one company lost public confidence in their product and revenues fell, while the other one weathered the storm, with very little loss of revenues or confidence.

From a public relations point of view, (IMO) McDonald’s has handled this debacle all wrong.  Yes, they did pull the ad and yes they did issue an apology, but it should have been BIGGER.

McDonald’s has a platform to make a difference and they could make a difference by making a LARGE contribution to Pit bull rescue and educating the public about the proper treatment and care for animals.

But then they might have to look into their own backyards and see how the animals they use for food are treated.

How childhood obesity is running unchecked today and how many of those kids eat at McDonald’s.

Surprisingly enough when you go to McDonald’s website and ask what’s in a chicken mcnugget  they tell you chicken, tempura batter and fried in Canola oil.  Wikipedia tells a little different story.

Frankly McDonald’s, I think the pit bull is safer and I’d rather pet one of them, then eat one of your chicken mcnuggets.

I’m sorry if I’ve inadvertently offended you McDonalds.

Call me, I’ll answer my phone personally.

Book Update: It’s like a Bob Seger song, “Still The Same.”

Walking a Fine Line…Day One Hundred, Forty Eight

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The neighbor’s dog (Gunner) escaped from their house yesterday.  It was actually fairly fascinating because my neighbor was out there calling the dog and he was running through the neighborhood totally ignoring her.

While the dog was running through the neighborhood, two ladies were walking their little pit bull.  It’s a nice little dog, and friendly as far as I can tell.  About two weeks ago, I pulled into the yard and opened the car door and Sampson bolted out and charged down to the street to greet the two ladies and their little dog.  I apologized because I didn’t even see them;  if I had I would never have opened the door because I know how Sampson is.

Flash forward to yesterday and the two ladies and their little dog.  The ladies walk the dog on a gentle leader, which as you know is not my favorite type of dog ‘collar’.  I guess the woman was nervous about her dog and Gunner because she kept yanking up on her dog’s leash.  Chet was out there and he kept telling her to relax but she wouldn’t.  Apparently what she did do was to take the end of her leash and smack at Gunner with it while she repeated, “Go home Gunner.”

I’m not really sure what I would do in a situation like that, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be smacking at somebody else’s dog; especially if the dog wasn’t aggressive.  To my way of thinking, this would be a situation where a dog would bite in defense; but then of course it would be the dog’s fault; (at least according to the legal system.)

When I was a child we had a German Sheppard that was a bit aggressive, particularly with strangers.  One day the dog got out of the house and he bit the paperboy on his shoulder.  The paperboy, was a really tall boy and he was riding a bike; a 10 speed. My father’s argument (that saved the dog) was the paperboy had to have kicked at the dog because otherwise the dog would have bit him on his leg.  I don’t think that argument would ever fly in today’s society.  In today’s society we are too quick to blame the dog instead of the owner or the ‘victim’ that messed up.

What that means for us as dog owners is we need to find a way to control our dogs and give them boundaries and limits, while still allowing them the freedoms that make them happy.  It is at times, a fine line we walk but the love and devotion we receive more than makes up for any balancing act we perform.

Look at that sweet face; I WOULD walk a fine line for him!

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