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The photo of Poncho drew me to this story. I was raised with two female German shepherds who were my sisters. When I started my family, we adopted mixed-breed dogs from shelters. Once our two children moved out and on, I felt lost and alone. In our local newspaper, I saw an ad for a farm puppy not-yet wormed, a female GSD. She became my guardian angel. She was diagnosed with cancer at the age of one, but she lived to be 13, despite cancer, Lyme disease, arthritis and an extra toe that her vet removed. She understood that her job was to love and watch over our first grandchild. We fostered then adopted an 11-month-old male GSD, who resembled a wolf. A DNA test revealed he was 11% wolf. His job was to chase bikes and baby carriages, which made my job walking him harder. Crushingly he died of hemangiosarcoma, two months after his eighth birthday. He was beloved by our friends, neighbors, and veterinarian.
A friend understood my anguish and found a GSD that had been in a shelter for two months, waiting for a home. She had been found by a sheriff as a stray and needed immediate training to address fear-reactivity. And she needed to gain weight, as she was only 40 pounds when we adopted her.
We learned from our vet about a pregnant GSD who had nine puppies. My husband and I made the decision to bring a puppy into our lives, and for our female GSD, to give her some canine companionship. At one-year old, he was diagnosed with elbow dysplasia, but a phenomenal surgeon in Des Moines created a “new” elbow by shortening his ulna; after months of healing and several radiographs later, he is a happy four-legged dog. However, due to prolonged limited activity (healing protocol), he missed a developmental window of socialization, so he too had sessions with a trainer.
I realized purchasing dog (health) insurance was a good idea. Being a dog parent is a lifetime commitment; a commitment that starts in the heart. Everything we do as a family is coordinated with our dogs in mind.
Poncho has a home and it's not Lake Animal Hospital, despite the care and love Poncho receives there, according to”"Poncho expelled from SL.” Director Hannah Neumann is doing all she can to provide for Poncho, as reported, and all of her staff feel “comfortable” with handling him. The Storm Lake City Council should most definitely — and soon — reconsider their ruling that Poncho is “vicious.” Consider an ordinance revision that allows for rehabilitation of a family and their dog. Councilwoman Mc-Keon’s statement that yes, trauma occurred, for the woman bitten, and for the family losing their dog; and yes, Poncho pays “the biggest price.”
Ways to remedy the expulsion of Poncho and the related fallout:
Should Poncho’s human family update his vaccines? Most definitely. Regular vet care is not optional. Having a good relationship with a veterinarian who knows your dog is optimal for your dog and you. A veterinarian is also a good judge of a dog’s behavior.
Should Poncho’s family pay medical costs for the woman who was bitten? Yes.
If Lake Animal Hospital has a trainer, make time to work with him.
If Poncho’s family has a fenced yard, Poncho can exercise there until his trainer gives the go-ahead for walks.
Use a gentle leader as a positive, fear-free method for dog walking. Reinforce good behavior.
I truly sympathize with the woman who was bitten. She will be wary and fearful of German shepherds, maybe forever. German shepherds are working dogs and want a job. That job can be chasing a ball. It can be following you around while you garden, with a ball, to remind you that you are also playing with them. It could be sitting under a tree and keeping track of the neighborhood activity, warning with barks as needed. It could be keeping a child company, being watchful and attentive. It could be nudging you with their nose every morning at 6 a.m., reminding you to get up.
Separating a dog from his family is its own distinct trauma. The 11-month-old male GSD dog (part wolf) we fostered had been rehomed twice before we were asked to foster him, with guidance from German Shepherd Dog Rescue of Iowa. I urge the Storm Lake Council to find a way to remedy their expulsion of Poncho from Storm Lake. For all the reasons above and for the love of dogs.
Gretchen Reeh-Robinson, Mount Vernon
If you tell a teenager to clean their room and they respond with a sarcastic tone, “How do you clean a bedroom?” Well, everyone knows how to clean a bedroom. The same applies to climate change. When someone asks, “How do you solve climate change?” We know how to solve climate change. We just need to do it.
John Clayton, Brooklyn
I was against the big bill.
In his speech in Des Moines President Trump hates the Democrats in Congress who voted against the bill.He must hate me too. I am honored. I do not hate him or anyone. That is wasted effort.
Brian Cooney, Des Moines
I’m 71 and retired. I live on Social Security.
On July 3, right after the U.S. House narrowly passed Trump’s budget bill, the Social Security Administration sent me an email saying “The bill ensures nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits…” It included a fanboy boast by Commissioner Frank Bisignano that “this is a historic step forward for America’s seniors.”
After some fact-checking, I learned the budget bill does not eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits. Instead, it includes a temporary tax deduction (until 2028) for some seniors aged 65 and over — a far cry from what Trump has been crowing about.
This isn’t a surprise. Trump uses lies and misinformation every day to hoodwink the public and promote himself as the greatest president ever. He’s everything my Goldwater-Republican mom taught me not to be.
It’s up to us — regular people and our organizations — to push back and challenge him every step of the way. Our democracy and our sanity depend on it.
Hugh Espey, Des Moines
Should we in rural places be worried about the $37 trillion U.S. debt?
Don’t check on this with elite U.S. oligarchs who are to receive the major chunk of Trump tax breaks or with those who benefit from the out-of-control Pentagon (military-industrial complex) budget.
All the while our U.S. debt skyrockets, largely for the benefit of America’s most privileged classes.
Millions — disproportionately rural folks — will be losing Medicaid insurance coverage, having costlier Affordable Care Insurance premiums, finding it more difficult to negotiate Social Security’s platform, as ordinary citizens get stuck with higher private sector insurance costs to make up the difference. Many rural hospitals will close or reduce general services; there’ll be some nursing home closures.
And ordinary citizen-taxpayers, with the most vulnerable, will eventually confront the national debt by way of tax shifting (from wealthy to others) and by way of reductions or elimination of government safety-net programs, i.e. cost-sharing farm conservation projects, crop insurance subsidies, food assistance, life-saving medical research, etc.
Oh, by the way, as our weather goes crazy and more hazardous, it’s been decided to cancel green energy incentives!
Greed, ignorance, bluster prevails!
Jay Howe, Greenfield
President Donald Trump visited Iowa on July 3 to launch a celebration of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding. Trump spokeswoman Monica Crowley said the celebration and the speech would unite Americans.
“We’ve had so much division and so much polarization … over the last few years, that to be able to bring the country together to celebrate … through patriotism, shared values and a renewed sense of civic pride … is incredibly important,” Crowley said, according to ABC News.
Trump didn’t follow the script. Before he landed in Des Moines, the House of Representatives passed his tax and spending plan, giving him something to crow about. He attacked Democrats’ refusal to support a bill that evidence showed would harm their constituents.
Democrats wouldn’t vote for the bill “only because they hate Trump,” the president of the United States of America said, as The Hill website reported. “But I hate them, too. You know that? I really do, I hate them. I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country.”
No president has ever accused his opponents of hating him or the United States. No president has ever said he hates his opponents.
It’s the opposite of “bringing the country together.”
Thomas R. O’Donnell, Keosauqua
Recently we have read about devastation from wildfires and strong storms. Climate scientists say we will see more as a result of climate change.
To reduce air pollution that causes climate change we must reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Senator Lindsey Graham said, “CO2 emissions generated by man is creating our greenhouse gas effect that traps heat, and the planet is warming.”
Our government needs to do much more to promote clean energy, such as wind, solar and geothermal, and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. This includes maintaining tax credits for clean energy — not reducing them.
I encourage readers to email their U.S. Senators and Representative. Joining Citizens’ Climate Lobby and similar groups is another great way to fight climate change.
Make earth great again. There is no planet B. When our grandchildren ask what we did about climate change, let’s have an answer.
Gary Jump, Itasca, Ill.
Twenty-five years ago, my wife and I had just returned to Del Rio, Texas, from walking over to a Mexican town. Seated on a bench with others resting there, we watched returning folks on the bridge.
Then, all alone, came a woman walking crouched, and laboriously. Laboriously indeed. She was clearly in labor. At some moment it came clear to me that crossing this border was an act of love for her baby-to-be.
Even now, I can see that impending mother crossing into a promised land. I can still hear and see our little crowd wishing her on. One member of our happy group was the uniformed American border guard. Then another guy came out of the guard shack to inform us in English, and exhausted mother-to-be in Spanish, that help for her was on the way. The comparison to our American present is too obvious to mention.
Bruce Curtis, East Lansing, Mich.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise recently announced, “We are at the precipice of the new golden age of America.”
The last golden age was the era of the Robber Barons in the late 1800s. Scalise’s use of the metaphor “golden” is very apt, because the “Big, Beautiful Bill” puts new piles of gold in the hands of the 1% class.
There will be no new gold, no new silver, not even brass in the hands of the middle class or the working poor.
The 1% class are laughing in the face of both the church and state in America. The Bible teaches against the Egyptian royalist “golden calf” lifestyle. The state in America has always had checks on rogue wealth and power, but today, in the United States of Trump, those checks are gone.
The Democrats’ only strategy is waiting out MAGA until new elections. Folks, Russians have been waiting out Putin for 25 years now. Ain’t going to happen there or here.
Democrats don’t know the history of anything, let alone law, monarchy, their own Constitution or the American presidency. Without this knowledge, they are toast.
Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross, Utah
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