BS: Interesting for dog owners!

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 30 Jul 22 - 01:28 PM

We’ve employed the three-second rule for many years with our BT. It was taught to us by the dog-trainer when we took him for training classes during his first couple of years.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 30 Jul 22 - 07:37 AM

3 seconds to reduce dog reactivity!!

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 07:20 AM

I'd be happy with that.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 07:00 AM

Good to hear it!

There are lots of elderly people in Bude and surrounds and many own at least one dog. The evidence for bad ownership is all too plain to see (and hear) round here. It's the bad owners that get my goat, not the good ones or the well-behaved dogs. I just wish there were more of them. I still think that all dogs should be licensed and that the cost of a licence should reflect the cost of cleaning the streets and parks of dog mess and the provision and emptying of bins. Of course, any politician trying to impose that would be in the same boat as Biden suddenly banning all guns,doubling the price of petrol or siding with Palestine...

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 06:09 AM

"every responsible dog owner (who is in full control, can make his dog walk to heel, who treats it well, who keeps it on a non-expanding lead, who trains it not to bark or to run at people or other dogs and who picks up the shit even when no-one is looking)

That certainly accounts for all greyhound owners.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 05:05 AM

I'm certain that the dog-owning contributors here are all highly responsible, Doug. Also, I applaud the fact that 'twas Bonzo who started the thread, but would point out that the post would hardly have been needed had the world been replete with similarly responsible owners. Sadly, it seems that for every responsible dog owner (who is in full control, can make his dog walk to heel, who treats it well, who keeps it on a non-expanding lead, who trains it not to bark or to run at people or other dogs and who picks up the shit even when no-one is looking), there are plenty who are utterly unfit to own dogs. It's free, and far too easy, to own a dog.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 04:42 AM

cats at least usually have the courtesy to bury what they do...

Seriously, we've had cats and dogs over the years and I can like both.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 04:07 AM

I can only speak for myself, Doug

As do the responsible dog owners who have contributed here. This thread was started by a dog owner who listed the bad excuses used by bad owners for the bad behaviour of their dogs. The opening post finished with the perfectly reasonable plea:-

In short, please be careful when allowing your dog off lead and be mindful of others around you.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 02:23 AM

Doug, by BWMs logic if you complain about cat shit you must have a sad case of ailurophobia and need to be pitied by "rational people"

(Sorry John. I couldn't resist :-) )

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 02:10 AM

During this 'heatwave' which is apparently going to be very dodgy next week, I'm a bit worried about foolish dog-owners leaving their poor animal in a car while they go shopping etc. You'd think everyone was aware of the suffering this causes (and Police might justifiably smash a car window to save a poor dog from dying) but it does happen.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 16 Jul 22 - 02:09 AM

Our greyhound had a greyt time in a 6 acre enclosed field last night just 10 minutes drive away. We had the 8-9pm slot so nice and cool. The grass was cut short so easy for my wife to push her mobility walker, and to see any dog crap so that it can be removed and put in bins provided.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: BK Lick
Date: 15 Jul 22 - 07:36 PM

I just learned that, according to the CDC, dogs and cats are susceptible to COVID-19.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/covid-19/pets.html

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/covid-19-pets-prevention.pdf

The salient facts are:
• The virus that causes COVID-19 can spread from people to animals during close contact.
• The risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is low.
• Pets can get serious illness from infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, but this is extremely rare.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Jul 22 - 07:32 PM

I can only speak for myself, Doug. I repeat: I don't take my cat into the street, into parks, playing fields, nature reserves or on beaches. Way over 35 years ago, we lived in Loughton, had a tiny garden and had two cats. All I can tell you is that every single one of our neighbours also had cats. All was harmonious on the catshit front. I suppose that was lucky. I know that many non-cat neighbours of cat owners complain about catshit in their flower beds, etc. It definitely ain't right, I confess. But at least those errant cats don't bark like buggery for hours, threaten your kids or shit all over the streets.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 15 Jul 22 - 06:52 PM

I've lived here for 35 years and have half an acre and no neighbours. My neutered cats have never strayed and have never shat in anyone else's garden.

Lots of cat owners have tiny gardens and have no idea where their cats disappear to once they are let outside. Yes, there are irresponsible dog owners who do not clear up after their dogs but there are plenty of others who do. I can't recall seeing anyone following their cat, poo bag in hand.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 15 Jul 22 - 02:09 PM

You won't have that problem with greyhounds because they are always on a lead in public, and if they're not, you won't see them for dust!!

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Jul 22 - 01:23 PM

I don't hate dogs. I'm a biologist who savours the amazing diversity of life on earth. I hate irresponsible and entitled dog owners. And that is a very large number of them, possibly even a majority. The dog-defenders here are shooting at the wrong target. It's the masses of bad owners, the shit-leavers, the dog non-controllers, the people who don't get that we don't all want their pooches running up to us and who let their dogs bark, who bring dog ownership into disrepute. That's who the wrong 'uns are.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 15 Jul 22 - 12:54 PM

I must say that I agree with the sentiment that it does not mean you are somehow deprived if you don't like dogs. I don't mind dogs at all but I would never own one out of choice. They do nothing for me. What I do not like is the entitlement that some dog owners feel they have over us 'mere mortals'. It is not a right to allow your pooch to run up to children or vulnerable people and lick them. It is not a good excuse to laugh and say "oh, he's only being friendly". It is not acceptable to either leave heaps of dog shit on the playground or, worse in some cases, scoop up said shit in a bag and then leave it dangling on other peoples gates.

Before anyone says otherwise, I am sure that neither Jonh nor Bonzo are in this category but, sadly, many are and if I say it is wrong, I am branded a dog-hater or a whatever-is-is-ophobe. I am neither but, just like millions of others, I am not a cynophilist!

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 08:35 PM

Oops, he already has (I had to look up "GTFU"). I guess that means that you have lost the argument, John!

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 06:01 PM

You can't counter the things I'm saying, unfortunately. And you started this by calling me a sad case, somehow deficient, because I don't appreciate doggie joy and affection... It's hard to try to outdo the mass of dog-lovers here and it isn't what I'm about. All I'm doing is putting the minority case. John, you're with Bonzo. Less than 24 hours ago you were telling me not to encourage the muppet. It's make yer mind up time! :-)

(Thinks: Will John now swear at me, the usual thing...?)

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 05:49 PM

For once, I’m in complete agreement with Bonzo. Your need-to-‘win’-at-all-costs is making you look very, very foolish indeed. GTFU.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 05:24 PM

Absolute rubbish

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 05:01 PM

(Ignoring the idiot Donuel for now...)

"It’s very sad that they are incapable of experiencing the joy that the unconditional affection and companionship of a dog can bring to rational people."

I get great joy and companionship with real human beings, even affection sometimes. I find the notion that you get great joy from an animal who can't talk to you, can't challenge you intellectually, who gives you fake love only because you're the hand that feeds it and who is comfortably far more dumb than you are to be interesting, even poignant. It's very sad that you think that not being particularly fond of dogs makes me a sad case. It's all part of the doggie mindset, he's only being friendly so don't be silly, dogs have to poo somewhere after all (parks, playing fields, streets, beaches), and the rules don't apply to my dog anyway because he's such a good little doggie, and you non-doggie taxpayers ought to be grateful that we get you to pay for our dogshit bins (which are an optional facility anyway).

I have a cat. Cats carry pathogens, just like dogs. Generally, cats don't bite and are quiet (if your dog barks a lot, it means that you are a lousy owner). I've lived here for 35 years and have half an acre and no neighbours. My neutered cats have never strayed and have never shat in anyone else's garden. I don't take my cat into streets, parks, playing fields or on beaches. Unlike your dogshit, including the smears left behind when you pick up the shit if someone's looking, my catshit is all mine, exclusively. Just in case you bring up cats.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 03:43 PM

Rational is relative and not a good word choice since a dog bite vistim is rational in avoiding that situation. Dr. Trauma sez a single course of MMDA would cure Steve for life.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 02:12 PM

I feel great sympathy for cynophobes (Look it up Steve, nothing ‘made up’ or ‘invented’ by me). It’s very sad that they are incapable of experiencing the joy that the unconditional affection and companionship of a dog can bring to rational people.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 01:27 PM

I wouldn't want to be a bubble boy but I suppose some people do. If you garden in soil you are exposed to as many bacteria as there are grains of sand. Some people enjoy a long face washing by a licking dog but I would rather limit my exposure. Shit happens. People are buying probiotic shit pills and swallowing them daily. The old adage "eat shit and die" is not a universal truth. I would not ban one's attitude about anything but I do point out the inconsistences. Steve needs true comfort food more than anyone I know.

Arlo Jack Shit seems more than a force of nature he sounds like the expression of truth and joy bursting into life.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 11:30 AM

We spend billions trying to keep raw sewage out of our coastal waters. Only to give dogs a pass, because, well, dogs will be dogs...?

Just find a place where there are no holidaymakers in the water, that's all. That's as far as your sense of entitlement should take you. For 'tis a sense of entitlement we are surely seeing here...

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 10:10 AM

That laser attention to the possibility of "fecal matter" from dogs supposes that there aren't birds and fish and tons of other critters pooping in the water. If there's a red tide then you know the water is unsafe; if there is a sewage dump then you know the water is unsafe. Regular everyday critters at the edge of the regular ocean are plenty safe.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: gillymor
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 09:39 AM

I know, it still keeps me awake at night.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 09:37 AM

Damn the fecal matter was your choice. Had other people been in the water with you, you'd have been imposing your choice on them too.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: gillymor
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 09:32 AM

Many decades ago I had a black lab named Lucky and as an early fall ritual we would swim across Lake Needwood in Maryland every year. Damn the fecal matter, full speed ahead. When we took him to the Atlantic beaches in the summer he would get in the water and wouldn't come out until I bribed him in with a sandwich.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Neil D
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 09:21 AM

Donuel, his name was actually Arlo, Jack Shit was what I called his breed. I was sitting on a bench out on Canal St one night and a group was going home from the bar. One of the girls asked "Ooh, what kind of dog is that?" I said "He's a Jack Shit" and her boyfriend said that was the funniest thing he heard all year. You would have like knowing Arlo. He was funny and feisty and brave and cute as all get out. In the movie "Dean Spanley" which I heartily recommend, Peter O'toole's character say that there are only ever seven great dogs on Earth at any given time. Well, Arlo was one of the seven. He left us far too soon and broke our hearts.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 09:11 AM

(I was responding to Donuel). A few years ago a young girl died after contracting E. coli from dog faeces on Dawlish beach near here. Anecdotes are easy to come by but they prove little. Churchill smoked all his life and drank brandy and champagne every day. He lived to 95. My mum smoked for 65 years and enjoyed a diet that I'd call terrible, and she didn't quite make it to 92. Tenets for good living can rarely be gleaned from anecdotes.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 09:04 AM

Of course. But a dog owner allowing his dog, with its dirty mouth and dirty bottom replete with pathogens, to swim with children on the busy beach is assuming equal priority for his dog with children. Well I don't agree with that. He needs to take his pooch elsewhere. Children are the precious future of humanity. Your dog is your hobby.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 09:03 AM

If you don't think dogs and children belong commingling in the same edge of the ocean then you would cringe to see my old chocolate Lab spending hours in the pool at Susie's house (his first owner) with the kids as they threw toys for him to fetch. Everyone survived that shared water experience.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 08:13 AM

I've heard people have diseases too. I would like to have known Jack Shit.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 08:04 AM

If Emma bit you, you would be wise to get an anti-tetanus jab if you're not already well-protected.
As for frolicking in the waves, it raises the quasi-philosophical question as to what's more important, dogs or children? Our children are precious to us, we invest huge amounts of time, money, and emotion in bringing them up to be the future of humanity. Your dog is your hobby. I'd add to that that dogs do not routinely clean themselves or are cleaned by parents, unlike children, they carry several pathogens in their unclean mouths and up and around their unwiped and unwashed anuses. So no, dogs and children should not mix in the sea. In fact, dogs shouldn't even be on busy beaches at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Neil D
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 06:55 AM

Steve said that dogs frolicking in the waves with children is unhygienic. For the dogs or the kids?
Someone said earlier that they thought small dogs were more likely to bite and this is statistically true, but is also an example of the inadequacy of statistics. I'll use my two dogs as an example. One is a 65lb pitbull and the other is a 12 pound chug. The chug, Emma Rose, hates everyone and would much more be inclined to nip someone than Bagel the pittie who likes most people. The difference is the potential for damage. If Emma bit you the worst scenario would be a tiny puncture you might want a pinky bandage for. Now if Bagel ever did decide someone needed biting, he could crush bones. Of course I'd never allow that. On the rare occasion that he does take an instant dislike to someone he gives fair warning with his "I mean business" bark. I keep him on a short leash at such times, but I also trust his judgment.
If anyone wondered what a chug is, it's a cross between a chihuahua and a pug. When my wife said we were getting such a hybrid I said it should be called a chi-pug in honor of 70's all-female punk rock band, Chi-Pig. But my wife said "It's already a thing and it's called a chug!" But then, when we had Jack Russell/shit-tzu mix I told anyone who asked that it was a Jack Shit.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 Jul 22 - 03:54 PM

Oh, yes, our hound/beagle mix would howl along with the siren from the limestone quarry.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Jul 22 - 03:44 PM

Just took our greyhound for a walk, it was 8.30pm 25C and very humid - she walked about 100 yards uphill, stopped and turned around and pulled me back home!!

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jul 22 - 01:24 PM

Over the years my pitbull got to where she howled not only with coyotes on the other side of the back fence (it became a nightly thing for a while!) but she also joined in any fire truck or ambulance or police car siren.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Jul 22 - 01:05 PM

The howl of the wolf is familiar to all. I suppose all dogs can howl.
Our wolfhound would match the tone and pitch of the volunteer fire department siren.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 07 Jul 22 - 07:44 AM

"Second thought: "We do crop rotation: wheat, oats, barley, and rock festival." Sounds like Norfolk 4 Course Rotation gone wrong!!

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Jul 22 - 07:38 AM

We are using dogs to sniff out wasting/prion disease.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 07 Jul 22 - 07:38 AM

> Crikey that field has slots booked for weeks ahead, must be more
> profitable than growing stuff!

First thought: It probably is these days.

Second thought: "We do crop rotation: wheat, oats, barley, and rock festival."

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 07 Jul 22 - 05:22 AM

Crikey that field has slots booked for weeks ahead, must be more profitable than growing stuff!

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 06 Jul 22 - 05:07 PM

We took our greyhound to a new 6 acre secure field this afternoon, where she enjoyed trotting around off lead. The owner of the land has 2 such fields, which are very popular at £10 for 55 minutes + 5 minutes to drive out and lock the gate.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 06 Jul 22 - 04:25 PM

20 years ago we had a dog and 2 cats who were definitely in charge!

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 06 Jul 22 - 11:31 AM

> (unless you have a cat, obviously-they just don't mix well)

Depends if they've been brought up together. Herself's auntie was staff to a cat, and was given a small puppy: they coexisted reasonably well, as long as the dog remembered that the cat was quite definitely in charge.

YMMV. Mebbe it's a size thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: peteglasgow
Date: 06 Jul 22 - 06:13 AM

if you are anywhere near kendal on sunday you could go and have a look at the south lakes greyhound walk. quite a sight is 60 plus beautiful dogs gliding around silently, no fuss or squabbling. vast majority are rescue dogs (is is our lovely Rosa) and some there are looking for a home. i like to watch the bemused yet impressed expressions on the faces of onlookers. if you want a new dog, please get a well-behaved, beautiful and affectionate rescued longdog. (unless you have a cat, obviously-they just don't mix well)

Subject: RE: BS: Interesting for dog owners!
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 06 Jul 22 - 05:43 AM

It’s not just Travellers - recently in a village a few miles from us a couple - both ‘respectable’ and very well-britched company-directors - were prosecuted for organising dog-fighting meetings, and breeding Staffies for fighting.

A person’s personal standards aren’t necessarily indicated by their wealth and place in society, Bonz. As an accountant and a Tory muggins, you should be amply aware of that fact.

---

Bonzo's remark and the following responses were removed. That kind of slang is never left in place here on Mudcat. -----mudelf