• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Let me file that under fuck it.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

This fight is for everything.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Friday Evening Open Thread: The Most Important Dog Skill

Friday Evening Open Thread: The Most Important Dog Skill

by Anne Laurie|  August 25, 20235:11 pm| 22 Comments

This post is in: Dog Blogging, Something Good Open Thread

FacebookTweetEmail

Gift article. Enjoy! #dogs #dogsoftwitter

Dog paralyzed in hit-and-run was adopted, then learned to wag his tail https://t.co/KrjdGQ8KLd

— Mrs. R. Snugglesworth and Cool McDude (@MrsRSnuggles) August 20, 2023

A timeline cleanser to start the weekend. (Don’t miss the closing paragraphs!):

Animal control officers in Chattanooga, Tenn., got a call about an abandoned dog cowering beneath a car in a parking lot in January. When they arrived on the scene, they found a stray dog that couldn’t walk and was covered in splotches of oil.

They took him to the McKamey Animal Center in Chattanooga, where a veterinarian concluded he had been hit by a car and was partially paralyzed.

“After the hit and run, he’d pulled himself to safety under the car, and we had no way of knowing how long he’d been out there,” said Lauren Mann, the animal shelter’s director of advancement.

The dog had a spinal cord injury, leaving him unable to use his back legs — or wag his tail.

He was treated for his injuries, and fitted for a canine wheelchair they had at the shelter. He took to it as soon as he was strapped in.

Mann and other shelter employees named the black-and-brown mixed breed “Ward the Wunderdog” because of his resilient nature and sweet demeanor, she said.

Once Ward gained some strength, they listed him for adoption and took him for regular physical therapy sessions at a local veterinary clinic that offered free hydrotherapy sessions for injured shelter dogs…

Then on July 11, a woman who works as a physical therapy assistant went to a Bissell Pet Foundation adoption event and saw Ward. She was immediately smitten.

Kellyn Murphy said she and her husband Matt Murphy knew they wanted him. Where other people saw a paralyzed dog who couldn’t even wag his tail, Murphy saw a loving face and a lot of potential.

“As soon as I saw him, it became my goal to get him moving and standing,” she said. “I spend my days helping people do these things, and I thought I could also help Ward.”

Kellyn Murphy hoped he’d be a fit with their three other dogs, adding that special needs animals are often overlooked, but can make great pets…

Less than two weeks after taking Ward home, Murphy saw Wade lying on the floor one morning chewing a bone. Then, in what seemed like a miracle, Ward wagged his tail.

“It was a small wag, and it was only one wag, but it was definitely a wag,” she said…

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Zygotes & Zealots
Next Post: Where’s Our Friday Afternoon News Dump? »

Reader Interactions

22Comments

  1. 1.

    Betty

    August 25, 2023 at 5:15 pm

    What a beautiful smile. Thanks for the happy story, AL.

  2. 2.

    John Revolta

    August 25, 2023 at 5:20 pm

    Awwwwwwwwww

    (I’M not crying! YOU’RE crying!!)

  3. 3.

    Alison Rose

    August 25, 2023 at 5:21 pm

    MY HEART!

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    August 25, 2023 at 5:24 pm

    Awww, good people and Good Boy Ward!

    I’m-a save my Shasta County Republicans story for another time. No need to muck up a clean floor.

  5. 5.

    prostratedragon

    August 25, 2023 at 5:31 pm

    Ward!!

  6. 6.

    Joy in FL

    August 25, 2023 at 5:36 pm

    I love reading about dogs and humans who help.
    thanks AL : )

  7. 7.

    Jackie

    August 25, 2023 at 5:41 pm

    @trollhattan: I concur. Lots of news to discuss, but now’s the time to celebrate Ward!🥰

  8. 8.

    Percysowner

    August 25, 2023 at 5:49 pm

    We have a happy resolution to the troubled relationship between my trans grandson E and his paternal grandparents. As their normal watch E and A day approached they asked if the grandkids would be coming to their house. After a long discussion, after both boys were in bed, Grammy and Poppi have agreed to use the proper pronouns. They are going with that whatever they said, and I haven’t gotten a full account, what they meant to convey was that they love E no matter who E is. E and A did go over yesterday and things seemed to have gone fine. So crisis averted because 1) the chance of losing 2 grandkids over this was enough to have G&P rethink their attitude and 2) they really do LOVE the boys, they just can’t wrap their heads around the idea of gender not matching genitals. I remind myself that the way to change minds on the whole issue is one person at a time and knowing a trans person is the best way for those changes to happen.

    I’m sure that having E wake up one morning and realize they are wrong about being a boy will go on G&P’s list of things they pray for nightly. That list includes having both boys baptized and my daughter deciding to find God instead of being an atheist, but baby steps. All we can really ask for is that E be respected.

    Sometimes the good guys win.

  9. 9.

    kalakal

    August 25, 2023 at 5:50 pm

    Deleted can’t get link to work

  10. 10.

    Tenar Arha

    August 25, 2023 at 5:52 pm

    Aww, what a cute smiling doggo.

    @Percysowner: that’s some really good news

  11. 11.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 25, 2023 at 5:54 pm

    Couldn’t read the whole thing, the type kept getting blurry

  12. 12.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 25, 2023 at 5:59 pm

    @Percysowner: That is such good news!

    They can pray all they want, so long as they respect E’s choice of gender.

  13. 13.

    Percysowner

    August 25, 2023 at 6:01 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: ​
     Exactly.

  14. 14.

    Jay

    August 25, 2023 at 6:12 pm

    @Percysowner:

    The stupid thing, is basic respect isn’t hard, is it?

  15. 15.

    KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))

    August 25, 2023 at 6:21 pm

    This is such a lovely, feel-good story, and Percysowner’s news is just the icing on the cake. What a good day this is! I’m so happy for your grandson, Percysowner!

    Happy weekend all!

  16. 16.

    One of the Many Jens

    August 25, 2023 at 6:42 pm

    What a wonderful story, and I LOVE that Ward is going to be a therapy dog.  Thanks for sharing this!

     

    And

    @Percysowner:  I am so glad to hear it. Love wins!

  17. 17.

    Kristine

    August 25, 2023 at 7:54 pm

    Another doggy day brightener (gift link)

    Ellie Mitchell was scrolling through Facebook when she came across a photo of a sweet-looking black dog with floppy ears and a face flecked with gray.

    “Overlooked for 11 Years,” read the caption on a post accompanying the photo.

    “Vanessa is one of those that slipped through the cracks,” the post from Villalobos Rescue Center in New Orleans said.

  18. 18.

    Kristine

    August 25, 2023 at 8:13 pm

    Ward looks so happy. It would be wonderful if he could regain a little mobility, but he looks pretty happy now. The couple who adopted him are special people.

    I followed Ward on Instagram.

  19. 19.

    Ruckus

    August 25, 2023 at 8:19 pm

    @Jay:

    It would seem for some, yes it is very difficult. For many of us not so much. We give as we’d like to get and that solves a lot of issues. But some of us who walk upright with 2 arms and legs seem to see the world as though they own the design rights to every other human. And I think some of them might do this to back up how they feel about themselves or how they were raised, not how some other person may see themselves. They can’t see differences being allowed because that calls their views into question. We all have to be the same or they might be part of another version of humanity, and that is a road too far for them. Selfish bastards. And I do mean that in the nicest way. But each human has their own life, not anyone else’s. There is nothing but their own limitations that make them unable to see people can fit in other boxes besides the one they fit into. And that they often do. There are over 7 billion of us on this rock and we don’t and never will all think, be or act the same. Has never actually been that way and never will be. And it doesn’t hurt us in any way to let them be. Are you gay? Yes? No? Whose business is it of anyone but you? This question can be about a wide and varied range of characteristics of humanity and it doesn’t change who you are or I am in any way. Do you have red hair? Yes’? No? Blue eyes? The questions are close to endless. The answers are sometimes specifically wrong, for example if I told you I have brown eyes. But for many questions there are no wrong answers.

  20. 20.

    brantl

    August 25, 2023 at 8:27 pm

    Ward is way too cool.

  21. 21.

    K-Mo

    August 25, 2023 at 9:39 pm

    (Simon Cowell voice)

    I’m a yes on Ward!

  22. 22.

    Trollhattan

    August 25, 2023 at 9:43 pm

    Think it’s easy raising wolves? It is not. Take, for example, the toy demands.

    youtu.be/E0537mVprjU?feature=shared

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Kody Kastel - California Photos 8
Photo by Kody Kastel (3/5/26)

We Met Our Goal for Alaska!

Election Resources

Voter Registration Info – Find a State
Check Voter Registration by Address

Recent Comments

  • Chetan R Murthy on Thursday Night Open Thread (Mar 5, 2026 @ 9:17pm)
  • Suzanne on Thursday Night Open Thread (Mar 5, 2026 @ 9:16pm)
  • Baud on Thursday Night Open Thread (Mar 5, 2026 @ 9:15pm)
  • wjca on Thursday Night Open Thread (Mar 5, 2026 @ 9:13pm)
  • TheScarletPimpernel on Open Thread: The Fog of War-Promotion (Mar 5, 2026 @ 9:13pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
On Artificial Intelligence (7-part series)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Outsmarting Apple iOS 26

Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup

Order Calendar A
Order Calendar B

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix
Rose Judson (podcast)

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Privacy Manager

Copyright © 2026 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!