Not Complimenting With My Mouth Full. Honest!

Dear Mr. Goldberg,

Your piece on eating etiquette, “Finesse with Food,” published in its entirety by the SunPost on Feb. 8, boldly addressed barbaric table manners in South Florida. What chutzpah! What courage! What idealism! What steely nerve!

I’m not talking about you, Mark. I’m talking about the editor and the publisher.

Morris Sunshine, Miami Beach

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Avoid the Heartbreak By Avoiding Pet Stores 

Dear Mickey Rourke and other Dog Lovers,

I read the Feb. 8 story, “Puppy Death” and felt that some valuable information for others considering adding a pet to their home was missing. Every pet that I’ve had was a member of the family and each death was a deep sadness. When you love your pet, no matter how long they are with you, you feel the loss. When my pets died, I wanted to go anywhere to buy a puppy to fill the loss so I understand people who end up at a puppy store.

1. NEVER BUY A PUPPY FROM A STORE, NEVER! Behind that cute adorable puppy is a life of misery and suffering for the mother and father in a puppy mill. These dogs are used to make money without medical care, over-bred and starved. When the breeders turn up too sick to produce, they are dumped on shelters and rescue organizations. Many fine organizations and volunteers raid these black-hearted puppy mills. Go to some of the rescue sites and look at the intake photos and the recovered placement photos. It looks like an entirely different dog. You will have no doubt of the suffering and misery. Just remember, that puppy was produced for profit, and you aren’t seeing the cost to the parents or the health of the puppy. I’m not surprised that a puppy mill puppy may not be in good health. Even worse after you fall in love, three years or six years later, you may have a dog with incurable skin allergies, or a genetically known disease that quality breeder breed to eliminate. Do not go in or buy anything from a store that deals with puppies. These stores shouldn’t even exist. 

2. NEVER BUY FROM THE INTERNET PLACES THAT ARE WILLING TO SHIP TO YOU THE NEXT DAY A PUPPY OF YOUR CHOICE. You do not have any idea of the health or parent’s situation. Good breeders and rescue organizations car-transport dogs or have you fly and insist the dog rides in-cabin if small enough.

3. IF YOU MUST BUY, BUY FROM A GOOD QUALITY BREEDER. If you have to have a certain breed, go to someone who has bred for quality. Go to a local dog show and you will find a source for every breed. The prices may seem high, but it is nothing compared to paying vet bills for years for a dog that was bred incorrectly. If you look into a good breeder, they are trying to maintain the quality and continuance of a breed that is special to them. They show their dogs and that takes huge amount of time and money. They don’t get rich. They have big vet bills, because they care more about the dogs than profit. They are able to show you the mother, sometimes the father, and the dog’s lineage. This is IMPORTANT. It gives you a clue as to the health and quality of your puppy. If this isn’t possible, RUN! Dogs that are weaned properly and stay with the mother at least 12 weeks are better adjusted. A good breeder knows all about the temperament of their breed, and often will refuse to place a dog with you if you are the wrong type of person. If you work 18 hours a day and have no time to walk a dog, you should not have a highly intelligent, active, or young dog. Dogs need a good 45 minute brisk walk and to go outside three or more times each day.

4. KNOW YOURSELF AND WHAT KIND OF DOG WILL WORK FOR YOU. Do the research (www.akc.org).  Don’t take a dog for the wrong reasons, but think of a good match for yourself. If you get the wrong pet, you may drive each other crazy, and eventually you may have to get rid of the dog. Terriers are a perfect match for me. I love other breeds, but it would not be a good match. Watch the “Dog Whisperer” on National Geographic Channel, read Cesar Millan’s books and go to his site, (www.ceasarmillaninc.com/dogwhisperer).  Cesar has done more to improve the understanding and condition for dogs than anyone in the history of dogs.

5. GOOD NEWS! YOU CAN OFTEN GET THE BREED OF YOUR CHOICE FOR FREE. YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY OR BREED DOGS. There are thousands of dogs available to good homes.

Here are some sites to help in your search:
www.theanimalrescuesite.com, http://animals.miamidade.gov, www.pets911.com,  www.petfinder.com,  www.cairnrescueusa.com,  www.cairnrescue.com.

I had sent in my application to both of the Cairn organizations. I did the research, and I watched and learned from these two sites. They foster their rescues and match dogs to potential owners. They do not release dogs that are ill or not recovered from abuse, and all are neutered. I had to give personal references and my last two vets as references. They also had a volunteer visit my home. The person they sent reminded me about outlet safety, medication left out on a night stand, and I appreciated having another pair of eyes check for safety. I was matched with Ruby, a one-and-a-half-year-old red wheaton Cairn terrier, a puppy mill survivor that had lived her life in a cage. I saw her photo on the site and fell in love. Puppy mill operators don’t waste money on the care of dogs. Ruby probably wasn’t sold because she has an under-bite, but I’m happy she has teeth. She may have been put into service as young as six months, and may have had a litter. Ruby weighed 10 pounds when she was spayed by the organization. After two months, she put on eight more pounds. She had been starved, given poor quality food, or didn’t eat due to extreme stress. I take so much joy and satisfaction in helping to save her and see her enjoy everything. She has overcome her fear aggression, she is trained, and she is the one at Flamingo Bark Park (an enclosed dog park) that greets every dog, big or small, that enters. 

Miami Beach must be some special place. When I walk Ruby, we talk to other dog people, and about 95 percent of the people have rescued their dogs. When people find out that Ruby is a rescue, they find it hard to believe her story and that many more like her are available everyday.

Kathlene Wishart, Miami Beach

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The First Step Is Admitting You Have a Problem, Manny

It is a well-proven fact that to overcome an addiction one must first admit to it and then seek all possible help from friends, professionals and even a higher power.

Last year many of us were shocked to actually hear for the first time our very own President George W. Bush announce to the world “The U.S.A. is addicted to oil.” His acceptance of reality is long overdue. We all hope and pray that some “12 Step Program” will actually be able to help Mr. Bush and the rest of us to overcome this oil-aholic addiction, habit, and sickness.

 Now it is the time for our very own city of Miami mayor to steadfastly and unashamedly step up to the podium and face reality. He needs to finally say, “Hello, my name is Manny Diaz and I am a build-aholic.”

Just look around and you will clearly see the results of this building addiction. Cranes everywhere, roads torn up, traffic at a standstill, lack of enough potable water and too high a demand on electricity, sewage, and drainage systems. There’s not even enough parking in the buildings to accommodate the owners. No solution in sight to mass transit shortcomings. A glut of thousands of extra condominiums is reducing the value of all of our homes and investment rental properties. Hospitals like Mercy are salivating to be granted permission to change their G/I zoning to R-4 so they may sell off property to developers and build more luxury condos that are really not needed and that will further destroy the texture and flavor of neighborhoods.

Mr. Diaz must stop rationalizing his building addiction for his sake and for ours! He incorrectly thinks that more building will bring increased tax revenues. He thinks there is a demand for even more buildings. That Miami needs more, bigger, taller, and fancier buildings to become a world-class metropolis. That he is improving our cityscape and skyline with world-class architecture. That he and his unrestricted growth polices, variances, up-zoning, and friendships with lobbyists and developers have been the reason for Miami’s success.

In order for a “12 Step Program” to have any chance of success one must first admit to mistakes, self-deception, and attempts to rationalize what is blatantly false. Miami’s success is due to many things that have little to do with Mr. Diaz or his policies.

Miami’s success is mostly due to its coincidental geological location in this temperate subtropical latitude, its proximity to the warm Gulf Stream, its diversity of mostly first- and second-generation immigrants who work tirelessly to make a better life here for their families, its easy access to the Caribbean and Latin America and the fact that for the past several years the interest rates have been low enough to help motivate more purchases of homes and investment properties.

Miami’s new skyline may be impressive to Mr. Diaz and his developer cronies, but it has not had such a dazzling effect on the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and much of the public. A recent poll was conducted by the AIA to help determine the “Top 150 Favorite American Buildings.” The list is available at: www.aia150.org/afa150_template.cfm?pagename=aia150_afa_default.

It is noteworthy to observe that Miami is not even included in this list of 150 entries. Not one design by Arquitectonica, Kobi Karp, Chad Oppenheimer or any so-called signature building by the likes of the Related Group made the cut. Zero, zilch, bubkes, nada. However, Miami Beach did make the list with #39 for the Art Deco-era Delano Hotel, as well as #93 for the Fontainebleau. 

So please, Mr. Diaz, stop rationalizing and start admitting to the truth. Rise from your seat, walk up to that podium, take a deep breath, look us straight in our eyes, and with a clear conscience speak out with conviction and say the words that will set you on your path to redemption: “Hello, my name is Manny Diaz and I am a build-aholic.” It will be the first step in your road to recovery. It will be the first step on the road to recovery for the city of Miami.

Harry Emilio Gottlieb, Coconut Grove