Video About Friendship...

There is nothing new to report about Bosco. His trial is set for April 12. It looks like the judge will be the one deciding Bosco's fate. I ran across this video clip, which you may have seen already. But the message bears repeating, as you watch the duck and the dog, together... friends! . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arKoaJA7Vlc

OUTSTANDING Editorial in Lowell Sun...

Please take a moment to read this editorial in the Lowell Sun, the largest and most influential daily newspaper along the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, with readers in both states. It was written by Editor-In-Chief Jim Campanini.

http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_17680401

Bosco supporters are going to LOVE it! Mr. Campanini says what we all have been thinking -- he just does it more eloquently than we could!

I also want to point out, again, John Collins of the Lowell Sun has written a series of stories about Bosco and his plight that have been both reasonable and fair, unlike the Channel 9 TV story told strictly from the chief's viewpoint, without telling Bosco's side.

You will smile when you read today's editorial. Then I would suggest sending a Thank You note to Mr. Campanini and Mr. Collins for telling Bosco's story truthfully and fairly. You can use the Letter to the Editor format and share your thank you by clicking on http://www.lowellsun.com//writetobacktalk

And for all our friends in the New England region, we strongly urge you to read and subscribe to the Lowell Sun, as well as patronize their advertisers -- and let those advertisers know you are shopping there because of their ad in the Lowell Sun.

The newspaper business is getting tougher and tougher, with competition from the internet and TV. We want to make sure we support those media outlets which are not afraid to speak the truth, even in the face of pressure from powerful government leaders.

Dogs rarely get to tell their story in an unbiased way. They are not a powerful interest group and do not command large blocks of voters, to entice public officials to cozy up to them. The deck is always stacked against dogs.

All we wanted was the truth about Bosco to be told. Those of us who support Bosco's right to live just ask for all the facts to be told, fairly and responsibly.

The Lowell Sun has been an unerring voice for honesty and truth in its reporting of Bosco's story, and they have not caved to pressure from the powerful in local government. That is not easy to come by in modern America.

Bank Account Is Running Low...

Caitlynn says, I hate to write about money, but we are running low at the bank again.

If you or someone you know could help us with a one-time donation...

or sign up as a sponsor for one of our dogs listed on our website...

that would be a God-Send right now!

Just click on http://smilingdogfarms.org/Donations_Page.html to donate or become a sponsor.

Our End of Year Fundraiser was a little anemic this year. We did not make our goal.

We have also had an unparalleled number of folks who have lost their jobs and had to cancel their monthly sponsorships with us.

I will soon be talking about our Great Hope for a Spring Fundraiser -- a Garage Sale Across America in May! We hope to get many of you and your groups to hold a garage sale the same weekend, from California to Maine, to benefit Smiling Dog Farms. We think we can raise a lot of awareness AND money by planning garage sales everywhere that same weekend!

But we have to make it from now until then!

If we could just get everyone who has sent a dog here to sign up a total of $80/mo in sponsors to pay the cost of maintaining that dog, we would be in great shape! Just 8 people at $10/mo would do the trick!

We explain this when folks ask us to take a dog. We tell them that it costs us $80/mo to pay the salaries of our five full time team members (Ricky and I do not take a dime for our work), to buy dog food and to pay for vet visits and meds, like Heartguard and flea prevention.

But so often, once the dogs are here, folks sort of forget about the cost of maintaining their dog!

If you don't have any money to send, but you'd like to help us by donating time sending out emails for us, please contact me at Intake@SmilingDogFarms.org

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One time donations put money in the bank and help us get over the hump.

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Monthly sponsors help us month-in and month-out with the ongoing expenses of operating a dog sanctuary and rescue like Smiling Dog Farms.

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If you have donated to us, or if you are a monthly sponsor, or if you have done both,

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Thank You!

We are still here, helping dogs, because of YOU

Your donations literally SAVE LIVES!

Bosco's New Day In Court...

Bosco's attorney and owner appeared in court yesterday, March 21. They pled not guilty to all charges and the hearing was moved forward to April 12. This will allow Bosco's attorney, Jim O'Roarke, time for "discovery", which means he will get to see exactly what the police department is going to allege against Bosco and his owner.

The police chief, Joseph Roark, has been misstating that Bosco bit a little girl in the face during the alleged Christmas tree incident, so it will be interesting to see if he persists in that characterization! There will be no documentation to support that claim.

The hearing is a bit confusing because it involves more than simply Bosco's right to live. The town is prosecuting Bosco's owner for violating state dog control and nuisance dog laws. And they are asking the court to authorize them to kill Bosco as part of that prosecution.

The town of Pelham does not have to get a court order to allow Bosco to come to the sanctuary. This is in the courts because the police department and its chief are determined that Bosco should pay with his life, even though Sgt Pickles should never have tried to pick up a strange dog without the Animal Control Officer, and the alleged bite of the little girl is in dispute, since the father denied that she had been bitten to Bosco's insurance company! Neither party had a serious injury resulting from the alleged bites.

These incidents do not rise to the level of justifying the killing of Bosco!

Our job is to convince the town of Pelham that Bosco has many, many supporters and convince the decision makers in Pelham that Bosco deserves a chance to live out his life at the sanctuary. We have to go over the head of Chief Roark who has dug in his heels and nothing short of Bosco's death will satisfy him.

We need to convince town administrator, Tom Gaydos, to whom the chief reports, that the chief is not thinking clearly and is allowing his emotion to get in the way of rational thought, regarding Bosco.

Please continue to send emails to Tom Gaydos and the Lowell Sun at the addresses below. (I have included the email address of Chief Roark because many have asked for it. I can tell you from first hand experience trying to work with the chief that it is useless endeavor. He is not interested in facts. His mind is made up and he wants Bosco dead.)

Here are the contacts and their email addresses. Remember to be brief, polite, respectful! That is how we will help Bosco!

Tom Gaydos, town administrator - townadmin@pelhamweb.com

Joseph Roark, police chief - jroark@pelhampolice.com

Lowell Sun newspaper - http://www.lowellsun.com//writetobacktalk

Thank you for calling and emailing yesterday! I am certain they were surprised by the sheer numbers of people across the nation who care about what happens to Bosco.

Bosco Needs Your Emails, Phone Calls Today!

This is Bosco. A hearing Mon, March 21 will decide if he lives or dies.

Bosco bit a cop in Pelham, New Hampshire. The police say he is a vicious dog. And he needs to die. Many others say this is a pure vendetta because Bosco embarrassed the Pelham Police and Bosco's actions have not nearly risen to the level of death penalty.

Bosco got loose from his yard. No one denies that if he had stayed in a fenced yard, Bosco would not be in this trouble.

The cop stopped when he saw Bosco by the road and tried to pick him up to get him into his car. Bosco did not know the man who was trying to pick him up and Bosco perceived it as a hostile act. So he defended himself the only way a dog can. He bit him.

On the hand. A single bite. The way any well behaved dog sends a warning to someone whom they see as a threat.

Now anyone with any knowledge of dogs knows that Bosco could have continued to bite the good sergeant, and had he wished, he could have mauled him. That is what truly vicious dogs do.

But Bosco bit him to say, "back away" and he stopped biting.

One could argue that the officer should never have attempted to move Bosco without the aid of the town Animal Control officer (who was in near-by Salem helping out at the time of the incident) or the aid of a catch pole.

Bosco should not have bit the officer. The officer should not have attempted to corral Bosco without the proper tools and the proper personnel. Both could have handled it better.

From the cop's stand point, it was all downhill from there. Bosco jumped onto the front seat of the police car, perched behind the wheel, and somehow managed to lock the sergeant out of his car! As Bosco sat smiling behind the wheel, several of Pelham's finest fumed and fussed from the sidelines, wondering what to do next!

Most observers found the scene amusing!

Not the Pelham police.

You can see Bosco posing for this photo in the middle of these men. I will let the gentle reader draw his own conclusions about whether these men look terrified at being so close to a dog labeled "dangerous" by the Pelham Police Department!

In fairness, this is not Bosco's first bite situation.

Bosco's family sells Christmas trees from their driveway in Pelham. A little over a year ago, a man and his daughter were shopping for a Christmas tree when Bosco allegedly bit the girl. I say allegedly because there is significant confusion about the incident.

The Pelham Police have been blasting Bosco for biting a little girl in the face. That is categorically not true. It was the girl's finger that was affected. If he bit her at all.

Because no one saw her get bit. Her dad was 30 feet away on another part of the driveway when the alleged incident occurred. Some who were present suggested she may have cut her finger on a saw that was present, and she was afraid to tell her father she had touched the saw. Those same people said that she was not crying or reacting, as one would expect if a large dog had just attacked her! There was no blood on the girl!

The insurance carrier for Bosco's family contacted the girl's father after the alleged incident... and he denied that she was ever bitten at all! The insurance company closed the case!

There is just too much confusion and conflicting information to even state categorically that Bosco actually bit the girl. But if he did, it was clearly not serious and certainly nothing like the Pelham PD and its chief are alleging!

Once again, one can argue that Bosco's owners should not allow him to mingle with Christmas tree shoppers, and you will get no argument from me.

But Bosco should not pay the ultimate price for these incidents.

Bosco has been invited to come live at Smiling Dog Farms' sanctuary, where he can live out his life in safety and peace. And the good citizens of Pelham, New Hampshire can feel safe, knowing that Bosco is over 1000 miles away living in a secure facility.

Our farm is 1/2 mile from our nearest neighbor, and five miles from town. Visitors are only allowed with an appointment and with stringent security measures to guarantee they will not be bit.

I will let the reader decide if the Pelham PD and its chief is really concerned about Bosco harming anyone while living in our sanctuary, or whether it is purely "pay back" for Bosco embarrassing one of their officers by commandeering his car!

There really should not be a need for a hearing. I talked to Pelham Police Chief Joseph Roark over a week ago. I told him that not only would we accept Bosco here at our sanctuary, but I also assured him that a well respected local rescue, Pets In Need, headquartered in Dracut, Massachusetts, would pick up Bosco and insure that he would be transported safely to the airport for his trip to Texas. The police would not have to release Bosco back to his family, so there would be no worry about him getting loose again.

The chief led me to believe he was seriously considering this option. That is why I did not write this story a week ago. I thought I was negotiating in good faith with the chief. It is now clear that the chief had no intention of resolving this except by demanding the death penalty for Bosco.

Bosco has a highly regarded attorney, James P. O'Rourke from the Gleason Law Office in Henniker, New Hampshire. He will argue for Bosco's life before the judge on Monday.

John Collins, a writer for the Lowell Sun has written some fair and responsible stories about Bosco. Here are the links to those stories: http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_17546034 and http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_17563752 .

What You Can Do...

First Thing Monday Morning...

(Remember... New Hampshire is Eastern Time Zone!)

Contact the town administrator, Tom Gaydos, at (603) 635-2040. Respectfully and politely tell him that it is unconscionable to kill Bosco when he has a sanctuary where he can live out his life, without posing a risk to anyone. Make it brief, professional and to the point. The police chief reports to the Town Administrator, so Mr. Gaydos needs to know that his chief has created an unnecessary mess. He should have allowed Bosco to come to sanctuary.

Email the local newspaper at http://www.lowellsun.com//writetobacktalk. Again, keep it polite, professional, respectful and to the point. The shorter your post, the more likely it will get printed.

I am hoping that we can let the decision makers, like Town Administrator Gaydos, and the general public, through the Lowell Sun, know there are many people around the nation supporting Bosco's right to live.

And when those of you who do the Fall leaf tours through New England travel to that region, you may want to remember Bosco's treatment by the city of Pelham, NH and just pass on through their town without stopping. Spend your tourism dollars in other New England communities. Send a message to Pelham, New Hampshire that there are consequences for killing dogs who have better alternatives.