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BS: Big Beasts

15 Apr 05 - 03:09 AM (#1461858)
Subject: BS: Big Beasts
From: Davetnova

Some people like small yappy dogs. I myself have a preference for big slobbery ones. Does anyone else like big beasts.


15 Apr 05 - 03:11 AM (#1461861)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Liz the Squeak

I've always prefered big dribbly ones... the small ones - one bite and they're gone.

LTS


15 Apr 05 - 03:20 AM (#1461868)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Davetnova

Big dribbly ones linger longer? I'll make a note of that.


15 Apr 05 - 07:43 AM (#1462000)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Leadfingers

Whats the point of a dog thats small enough to stand on ? I recall walking into my local Folk Club and thinking "They've got a new mat!"
Then the Wolfhound got up and walked over to check me out !!
'Smallest' dog worth having is an English Bull Terrier - They have muscles in their spit !!


15 Apr 05 - 09:08 AM (#1462062)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Rapparee

Gimme an Irish Wolfhound! Big, friendly (unless you're a wolf), and if your car breaks down you can saddle up and ride it to work.

St. Bernards, Newfies -- nothing smaller than a Lab.

'Round here, small yappy dogs are called "eagle bait." Or "furry footballs." Or worse.


15 Apr 05 - 09:18 AM (#1462068)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: freda underhill

pugs, staffies, I like them ugly, not big.


15 Apr 05 - 09:20 AM (#1462074)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: SINSULL

Size doesn't matter...


15 Apr 05 - 10:27 AM (#1462137)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Liz the Squeak

Funny, it's usually the blokes saying that size doesn't matter.... but they they're never being towed around the park on the business end of a bull mastiff.

LTS


15 Apr 05 - 10:36 AM (#1462146)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: gnu

Irish Wolfhound... minds me... Years ago, my landlord got this pup for a watchdog about five months before I moved in to the old farmhouse. He never walked it. What a shame. At five months, this Newf (father) and Shepherd (mother) mix was over a hundred pounds, had long legs and coal black hair. I re-named him "Bear" and I walked him every day.

On our daily walk, we crossed a fairly long bridge with three foot high concrete barriers on the sides. One day, when Bear was about six months old, we were on the bridge and I spied a fellow walking his Irish Wolfhound along the river road we were approaching. Bear and I got to the end of the bridge when the fellow and his dog were about a hundred feet away. I was apprehensive.

Bear spotted the Wolfhound and I got ready. When the Wolfhound spotted Bear he raised his head and stared intently. Bear began barking wildly, made a mad dash to the end of his leash, and fetched up. Despite my command to heal, he continued to bark and fight the leash.

The old leather leash let go and Bear burst forward like a pony out of the gate. He ran about twenty feet before he locked up all four wheels and slid to a stop in the gravel. He looked over his shoulder at me as if to say, "Aren't you going to stop me?" The Wolfhound let out one little snort and Bear, tail between his legs, ran back past me, turned and wedged himself betwen my legs.

Now, as if the fellow and the passersby (and the Wolfhound perhaps) weren't laughing hard enough, Bear began to bark again, at which point I yelled, "Shut up!!" and cuffed him, gently, of course. I led him back home by the collar and I could still hear people laughing when I got to the other end of that long bridge.


15 Apr 05 - 10:55 AM (#1462166)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Davetnova

My Lurcher (95%greyhound 5%deerhound) is a bit of a wimp like that. On a leash or with a fence between he's Macho dog, running loose he's scared of every dog on earth.


15 Apr 05 - 11:40 AM (#1462208)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Stilly River Sage

Little beast.


15 Apr 05 - 11:40 AM (#1462209)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Peace

The small dogs are easier to cook.


15 Apr 05 - 11:54 AM (#1462221)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: GUEST


15 Apr 05 - 11:57 AM (#1462224)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: GUEST,MMario

Wolfhounds are okay - but for real size get a liger.


15 Apr 05 - 12:00 PM (#1462227)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Rapparee

Yeah, Brucie, but a couple bites and two hours later you're hungry again. Ask the cougars around here.


15 Apr 05 - 12:10 PM (#1462236)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Peace

Hey, Rapaire. We have cougars here, too. Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.

Hey, while we're about it: heard while speaking with one of the trappers here that the reason cougars have a rep for being 'willing killers' is that during the winters (which we have lots of) their dentition does not allow them to be able to bite off pieces of frozen flesh. They can't do it the way a wolf, dog or fox can, so they have to eat game while it's fresh (warm, or at least not frozen). Once the flesh freezes, it can no longer be used by the cougar, so it will then have to go kill something else. That is what has given them a bad rep.


15 Apr 05 - 02:04 PM (#1462320)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Liz the Squeak

Cougars must have funny teeth then because the cat family have the finest set of cutting tools ever devised by Mother Nature....

LTS


15 Apr 05 - 02:30 PM (#1462335)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Peace

Yes, they do. Also, your cat will not be able to handle frozen food. That is the point.


15 Apr 05 - 02:36 PM (#1462344)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: gnu

But they are somewhat smaller and poorly rooted compared to those of a wolf. Different jaw structure too. Our coyotes, at fifty pounds, snap off the ribs of a white-tailed deer at the backbone.


15 Apr 05 - 02:54 PM (#1462362)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Peace

"Also, your cat will not be able to handle frozen food"

Lest you get picky about this, I am referring to frozen carcass in the wild. I know bugger all about cats in people's houses.


15 Apr 05 - 03:30 PM (#1462383)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Rapparee

So, Brucie, you don't know about my puddytat, cutey-wutey


15 Apr 05 - 03:32 PM (#1462386)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Rapparee

itsy-bitsy-poo Felicity?

(That's what happens when you push the wrong button.)


15 Apr 05 - 03:52 PM (#1462407)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: gnu

Minds me... last fall at the camp, I was at #6 camp (there are six camps in a row along a stretch of the river) and there was an old bitch who moved very slowly. She was a good sized dog of whatever mix and very well behaved... you know the type. From #4 camp came Rocky, a two year old Golden Retriever, about a quarter the size again of the bitch. He saw her and began huffing and puffing and kind of prancing in, real tough like. She sat quietly, perhaps admiring the hunter's orange vest his doting "mother" straps on him during hunting season.

As soon as he the property line, she blazed at him and proceeded to put the boots to him. After the dust settled, Rocky was high-tailing it back home and she was sitting at the edge of the property with his orange vest in her mouth. Just like in the story above, we were all having a good laugh... but, when she dropped the vest right on the property line, turned, squatted and pissed on it, we fell apart. It was one of those, "I gotta get a video camera." moments.


15 Apr 05 - 07:16 PM (#1462585)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: ranger1

The bigger the dog, the more he thinks he's a lap dog. I have no use for creatures that are accessories rather than dogs. And I'd worry about losing something the size of a baby rat.


15 Apr 05 - 07:33 PM (#1462590)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Peace

Rapaire: I lived with one that looked like that. We were together for three years and she never did get used to me.

(That line was from Will Geer in "Jeremiah Johnson". True in his case--and in mine.


15 Apr 05 - 09:19 PM (#1462649)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: number 6

I have a 75lb greyhound called Otis. The laziest, dog there ever was. Sleeps about 20 hours a day. I have to drag him out for his walks. The only time he gets up and runs is to greet me when I come from work. That's why I find that dog is so special.

sIx


15 Apr 05 - 10:08 PM (#1462668)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Peace

I have had many memorable dogs pass through my life, but none so special as Tamar. She was a German Shepherd I found by accident at a farm in Quebec. The owners had broken her right ear and her tail. I offered to take her and the asked for some money because she was a pedigree. Her father was the Count of LeMans and I don't recll the mother's name. Her mother was the prettiest dog I have ever seen. Tamar inherited size from her father and looks from her mother. Her temperament was ruined when I met her. Hated the world and suspected everything in it to be her enemy. In her world it was that way.

I took her back to Montreal and spent the better part of a year training her and getting her used to kindness. At the age of two, she understood my hand signals. She developed a wonderful demeanor and had a loyalty that was beyond comprehension. Animals have often captured my heart, but this gal took a piece of my soul, too.

George's dog, Mister, was a Shepherd-Collie cross. He was a misreable thing who made the mistake of growling at me (as he did with many people) in front of Tamar. She had him by the throat, picked him up by it, turned to me and it was plain that the decision the Roman's made about gladiators was a decision I too would have to make about Mister. Mister lived for about four more years.

I got very drunk one evening about four blocks from where I lived. Tamar was with me. She got me home. I remember nothing about that evening. People said she herded me for the whole walk. Wouldn't let anyone else near me.

I took her to a lake in her third year and she jumped off a wharf. She sank and all I could see along the surface of the water was the tip of her tail. I jumped in figuring she'd drown. There she was chasing fish--catching none. I dragged her to the surface and it then struck me that she'd never learned to swim, something I thought came naturally to dogs. When she saw me floating on the surface, she seemed to connect the dots. I was never able to go in the water after that without her. If I went beneath the surface she was close behind me.

A fellow on the street in the city yelled at me for some reason. Tamar got between the two of us and that was the first time I ever heard her growl. I had never seen her angry with a human before that moment. Trust me when I say that seventy-five pounds of pissed off German Shepherd is lotsa pissed off. She didn't attack, but I know she would have had I indicated she should.

The most difficult part of training her was when I would put my hand in her food dish while she was eating. It took days before she would just sit and wait until I withdrew my hand. Making her drop food from her mouth was hard also, but she learned quickly and obeyed completely.

She had a sense of humour and would leave the room when I played music she didn't like. She seemed to enjoy soft songs and not really care for rock. Children were totally safe with her. I saw her from a window when she didn't know I was looking. A toddler was pulling her ear ans had his arm about halfway in her mouth. She was gentle while she worked herself away from the child.

Eventually I had to give her to my aunt and uncle. They had come to love her, and the course of my life was such that I could no longer keep her. I received a phone call when Tamar was eleven. My aunt requested my permission to have her put down. Hip dysplasia was making Tamar's life miserable; she was in pain daily. Of course I said yes. Then I cried for days.

I have few possessions in this world. The ones I treasure are photographs of my children, grandmother and grandfather, and a single picture of Tamar who was my companion and friend for three years. I don't know that dogs love, but I suspect they do. My wish for her is a quiet lake and soft songs. I know she would wish the same for me.

BM


15 Apr 05 - 10:48 PM (#1462689)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: open mike

ahhh brucie...nice story///
what a special critter!
She was lucky to be with
you for those years.


15 Apr 05 - 11:04 PM (#1462697)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: jacqui.c

Brucie, that is lovely.


16 Apr 05 - 12:51 AM (#1462738)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: open mike

the Saint Bernard, brown and white,
the Newfoundland, black, and
the Great Pyrynees, white,
all have similar size and sillouhette.

all are big.


16 Apr 05 - 04:03 AM (#1462798)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Richard Bridge

Bonnie the small Dane - she'd only be about 8 or 9 stone (about 120 lbs). Small and dainty for a Great Dane. Rescue. Sort of leans on things. Getting old now, but so beautiful and graceful (honestly) when younger, fast as a greyhound with those endless legs (but stop and swerve were unknown functions, so small trees used to get a bashing). All blonde apart from the "panda" eye make up, a bit like Dusty Springfield, except that DS did not have black lips and muzzle too.

Jacqui C has seen her in action. Foolish friend brought his Jack Russell (sort of large rat sized and not trained in any respect) to a barbecue, and proceeded (some people are so stupid) to put down a bit of meat for it, right in front of Bonnie. Despite her size, Bonnie could be quick. She leant down, picked the rat up by the middle, carefully put it to one side (as it cried) without marking it anywhere, leant back and ate the bit of meat. Her territory.

The other one is Benjamin who is border collie/lab (probably) and also rescue. Very much the border collie temperament. Being "number two dog" in the pack he guards his status like anything, and is the edgy one of the two. If a burglar came in Bonnie would sit on him while Ben nibbled the edges and tore bits off, I reckon. Too many brains for his own good, and sometimes so desperate to try to talk, he sits or stands and tries to modulate growls and yaps, but a dog does not have the muscles or bony bits that enable speech, and it takes a while to get to know him so that you can hear the difference (which I can), with a result that quite a few people think he is being aggressive when he is simply trying to communicate. Throw sticks for him and he is in heaven. Try to leave them behind and he carries them home - and if he can't find a small one I have seen him manage a small chunk of tree about 8 feet long and four to five inches in diameter. Neck muscles like Lou Ferrigno (amazing Hulk, if you don't get the reference at once). Collars simply slide straight from his shoulders off his nose. Might be 75 lbs, but regrettably the terror of the neighbourhood, and I have to be very careful when walking him to avoid other dogs.   Despite his other intelligence he will not accept that seagulls fly but he can't and he has been known to chase a flock of seagulls for several miles if I don't get the recall command in before he has gone 30 feet, although in most other situations he is really obedient.

And talk about calculating! One time another dog (about his size)tried to take his stick. I have to admit Ben was rougher than required (just one bite, but it was enough), and so fast I did not see it at the time, but two hours later the other dog's owner was at my door with a very large vet's bill. Her insurance covered most of it, but she had to make a police report to claim, and when the dog warden came round, crafty Benjamin knew he was in trouble, and did such an impersonation of a Crufts obedience champion (sat when the warden came in, silenced on command, lay on command, left the room on command, eventually went on his bed on command, and sat there looking sheepish) that the dog warden left saying "I wish all the dogs I saw were so well behaved".


16 Apr 05 - 04:07 AM (#1462800)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Liz the Squeak

Cats and frozen food?

I took a whole chicken out of the freezer to defrost once. Put it on the side with a cloth over it, like I always did. Went to the bathroom for a 'read'. Came back 20 mins later (it was a good book) to see just the cloth hanging off the side. Looked all over the kitchen and then the garden. Finally found the remains of the chicken about 2 hours later (chickens take about 6hrs to defrost properly) behind the shed with a very fat and guilty looking kitty wrapped around it....

He'd eaten a good half of this chicken, and it was still quite well frozen when I found them... mind you, he didn't eat for 2 days afterwards!

LTS


16 Apr 05 - 04:22 AM (#1462805)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Peace

Liz, I don't really give a shit what your cat did. I am talking about cougars (mountain lions) in -30 degrees in the bloody wild and what a trapper told me.


16 Apr 05 - 04:23 AM (#1462806)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Peace

PS

If the fellow ever visits this site, you are welcome to argue with him.

Goodbye.


16 Apr 05 - 07:27 AM (#1462873)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Mooh

Bigger is better for me, though Rosie The Wonder Dog is only 45 lbs or so. She looks twice as big before her annual spring shave. Have also had a Lab, a Dalmation cross, and a Doberman/Shephard cross, but none of those dogs were half the dog Rosie is. She's part Collie, Springer, and likely a bit of Coyote.

Dogs as small as a house cat are kinda useless in the woods and deep snow.

Peace, Mooh.


16 Apr 05 - 04:10 PM (#1463129)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Mooh

...but work pretty good for trophy muskie bait. Mooh.


16 Apr 05 - 05:23 PM (#1463167)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Rapparee

Chu Lai, Vietnam, 1969. Every locker door is plastered with pictures of either the Playmate of months past or wives and children. Except one. My brother's locker has an 8 x 10 glossy of his Irish Setter.


16 Apr 05 - 05:46 PM (#1463183)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Peace

I understand your brother, Rap.


21 Jan 17 - 03:26 PM (#3833940)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: keberoxu

Can you guess why this thread amazes me? No?
I'm not going to tell you.
I'm just going to wait and see how long it takes... this time...


21 Jan 17 - 03:35 PM (#3833945)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: akenaton

Because it has "peace" in it    :0)


21 Jan 17 - 03:52 PM (#3833947)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: keberoxu

nah....nice peaceful answer though.


22 Jan 17 - 03:32 PM (#3834135)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: keberoxu

Anybody have barns with beasts in them?
I mean, besides varmints and barn cats?


22 Jan 17 - 03:51 PM (#3834142)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Senoufou

If we're not restricted to big dogs and cats, have a look on Google at Poitou donkeys. They're gigantic, and a funny orangey-brown colour.
I first saw them at the Norfolk Show (big agricultural show) and couldn't believe my eyes. They look more like pantomime donkeys.
I'd like to own one.


23 Jan 17 - 10:53 AM (#3834283)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Nigel Parsons

From: keberoxu - PM
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 03:26 PM

Can you guess why this thread amazes me? No?
I'm not going to tell you.
I'm just going to wait and see how long it takes... this time...


I guess what amazes you is the fact that no one pretends to have misread the thread title.
Was that really worth reinvigorating a thread that's been dormant for 11 years+ ?


23 Jan 17 - 11:55 AM (#3834298)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: robomatic

There was a little old man in the dog park with an ungainly, low slung beast on a leash. Rolly with the Pit-bull laughed himself silly. "That is the ugliest dog I done ever seen!"
The little old man was as slow as his pet. Rolly started lambasting the creature as he gained on the pair. "Your dog has mange, he looks too stupid to live, if I didn't have my Mofo on leash, he'd have him shook apart right pronto!"
The little old man said nothing, just shuffled slowly along. Rolly had finally had it with the unresponsive man and animal. He let the leash off and said "sic 'em!"
Mofo stepped forth boldly and went for the critter. Which promptly turned on him, rolled him over, and chewed him to a pulp.
"Geezus H Jehosophot!" yelled Rolly, "what the hell breed is THAT?"
"Before he got his nose fixed," said the old man, "he was a alligator!"


23 Jan 17 - 12:05 PM (#3834300)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Jeri

Our refreshatrix has struck again.
2005, eh?


23 Jan 17 - 09:52 PM (#3834427)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: kendall

I like all dogs as a rule, but, I prefer Yellow Labs, Golden retrievers. Those little runty yapping, snapping shivering cats that bark, I just don't get it.


24 Jan 17 - 02:32 AM (#3834450)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Teribus

"What's the point of a dog that's small enough to stand on ?"

Without dogs of that size, man's link to the animals would never have evolved.


24 Jan 17 - 03:30 AM (#3834456)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Joe Offer

"Refreshatrix"???
Jeri hit the nail on the head.

Give it a break, keberoxu. One pet thread at a time is enough. One thread on any subject at a time is enough.

What's next? Will Mudcat be overrun by Cute Kitties? Good thing we can't accommodate photos here....

But the worst, of course, is when you refresh nasty threads that have died an honest death.

Remember that "gag me with a spoon" saying that was popular once upon a time?

Please don't refresh threads that are best forgotten, and don't refresh multiple threads on more-or-less the same subject. It makes the moderators think ill of you.

-Joe-


24 Jan 17 - 05:48 AM (#3834475)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Steve Shaw

Er, let's not make everybody feel that thread refreshment is a Bad Thing. OK, trying to dig up old nasties is trollery. But some nice threads from years ago have also been revived, such as the classical music one, which gave me the chance of a whimsical rethink about what I like. We respect the mods for their hard work but we scratch our heads when we see them making work for themselves unnecessarily. It's quite noticeable that revived threads that are of little interest except to the reviver soon sink back down. And thanks for giving me the opportunity to use that lovely palindrome "reviver." Never managed it before!
    Refreshing one pet thread, no problem. Refreshing THREE pet threads is annoying.
    -Joe-


24 Jan 17 - 07:56 AM (#3834485)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Big Al Whittle

sorry I thought it said...big breasts


24 Jan 17 - 01:15 PM (#3834574)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: keberoxu

GOTCHA!


24 Jan 17 - 09:18 PM (#3834670)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: kendall

There's too many fools making too many rules; that's one thing you can't say about us; we all sing the same song, we all get along, but there's one thing that causes a fuss. We've got a $5.00 fine for whining; we told you that when you came in; if it aint on your mind to have a good time, y'all come back and see us AGAIN.


25 Jan 17 - 02:22 PM (#3834808)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: kendall

Joe, that was not aimed at you.


25 Jan 17 - 03:04 PM (#3834821)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Ed T

I like most dogs, except the yappy type, though I have no desire to have a dog as a pet, , as I find most have an odour when inside (cars or houses) that I dont like. I suspect dog owners become desensitized to the smell. Because of that, and a few other reasons, I prefer to keep a cat as a pet.

I like the look the look of Dachshunds, (I recall many Little Hawk posts about their merits) and they are likely tasty with a little dijon.


26 Jan 17 - 12:31 PM (#3835022)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Steve Shaw

No dog will ever darken my doorstep. Every dog-containing house I've ever been in smells of dog, and it seems to be a thing among many dog-owners that you automatically won't mind if their stinky, slathering animal comes sniffing around your feet/crotch/hands whenever you're in their house. In two different houses I've sat at the dinner table enduring the family dog sleeping between my feet leaving me unable to move a muscle. On another occasion I was babysitting for some friends. For three hours of sheer terror I was pinned to the chair I was sitting in as every tiny move I made elicited snarls and growls from a huge dog lying three feet away with its beady eye constantly on me.


26 Jan 17 - 01:17 PM (#3835037)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Senoufou

Sorry Steve, but your last post is making me laugh at the thought of you quivering with fear while the huge dog kept its beady eye on you! :)

I like all animals, and have always wanted a dog. However, I'm not strong enough now to provide all the exercise a dog needs, and it wouldn't be fair. (Our cats exercise themselves)

Not long ago, we took in a lovely cocker spaniel for the weekend when her owners (a rather hard-nosed South African family whose house we used to clean) told us they intended to just shut her in their tiny yard with food and water while they were away. We felt this was cruel, so they let us have her for the two days. It was lovely and she was so affectionate and loving. But I found it hard walking her morning and evening for miles. My husband did the second day's 'duty'. When we took her back we were very sad and missed her. But it showed us we aren't really up to having a dog at our time of life. I still think of her. They went back to SA and gave the dog to a British couple they knew. I hope she's happy with them.


26 Jan 17 - 08:38 PM (#3835110)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: leeneia

I don't find Steve's story funny at all. Steve, you have my sympathy.

Dogs need baths, or so I read. The smell comes from dead skin cells under their fur.

I like dogs both big and small, but I don't feel like doing the work that they involve.


26 Jan 17 - 08:57 PM (#3835116)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Steve Shaw

Well I have been known to dine out on those yarns, leeneia, though I must admit that they sound funnier in the telling than they felt at the time. Did I ever tell you about the cat and the prawn cocktails...?


27 Jan 17 - 07:32 PM (#3835263)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Ed T

Awhile back, I was offered a desireable model, low km car, that belonged to a neighbour, an elderly gentleman entering a nursing home. I snapped up the deal. The problem was he had a dog for many years that went with him everywhere he went with that car.
I tried every comnercial cleaning option tonget tge dog smell out of the vehicle without success. It was especially strong on hot, humid and rainy days, window ooen or not.

in the end, I sold the vehicle to a dog owning neighbour, who did not serm to notice the disgusting aroma - though I gave him a warning. He later told me it was tge best car deal he ever experienced (at tgevtime I took a sniff and the smell inside had not improved).


27 Jan 17 - 08:02 PM (#3835269)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Steve Shaw

I know your pain, Ed. We moved into this house thirty years ago on Feb 9. A bottle will be opened. The previous owners had two great big hairy golden retrievers. Lovely people (the owners were ok too). We still see them occasionally. We inherited all their carpets as we were broke and the carpets were OK colours and not worn. We scrubbed and shampooed them till the cows came home before we moved our stuff in. It was months before that horrible doggie smell finally dissipated. I mean, what is it with these doggie mindset people? If I'd made the house stink like that Mrs Steve would have put me in one of those homes that smell of wee years ago!


28 Jan 17 - 03:59 AM (#3835285)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Senoufou

It's sadly true, as Steve says, that many dog owners assume you'll adore being sniffed, jumped up on and generally slobbered over by their dogs. I have a friend with a fox terrier. He's quite a dominant little beast and bites/chews any bit of you he can get his teeth into. Another friend went round there quite recently and the wretched animal got hold of one of her expensive leather boots, which she'd politely removed on entering, and bit it until it was full of holes. The dog's owner could see no reason to pay for this damage. I can normally get the better of this dog as, being a retired teacher, I know how to be firm and strict!

But, speaking of Big Beasts, my poor sister was once as a child attacked by the inevitable large Alsatian. It rose up on its hind legs and pinned her against a wall, trying to get at her throat. Naturally she's very afraid of big dogs now. But the number of times someone out walking a huge dog finds her completely unreasonable when she cringes away from its embraces! They always say, "He won't hurt you!" They get very offended when you don't like it.


28 Jan 17 - 04:54 PM (#3835390)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: keberoxu

As a small child, I remember a Great Dane knocking me down and sort of flying back and forth over me as if I were a hurdle on a dog agility course. Obviously I was smaller than the dog at the time.

Fortunately I was cured of my dog phobia, if that's what it was, by Mickey the Bagel Dog -- that's part beagle, part other-hound like maybe foxhound.

I'm still skittish around horses though.


28 Jan 17 - 05:18 PM (#3835396)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Senoufou

We saw a huge (and very beautiful) tan-coloured Great Dane in the centre of Norwich just this morning. He was very well-behaved and well-controlled by his owners. They really are a massive breed aren't they?


28 Jan 17 - 07:32 PM (#3835425)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Steve Shaw

Well I was also attacked by an Alsatian that got loose from its owner when I was seven. It was the dog's second bite and we took the owner to court. I remember standing on the leather-clad bench and being warned by the beak that I had better tell the truth. I remember being castigated by an inquisitor because the dog had attacked me while I was "playing football in the street." Heinous! The dog-owner was ordered to keep his dogs under control and to pay court costs. A little while later he was caught shoving dogshit through the letter box of my mum's shop. He was bound over that time. Bloody dogs. Bloody dog-owners. Do you blame me?


29 Jan 17 - 04:07 AM (#3835457)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Senoufou

That's outrageous Steve! And you were only seven?! Do you think nowadays the dog would be put down by the authorities for its second attack?
And putting poo through your mum's letterbox!! Disgusting!
The thing is, dogs need a lot of exercise and some owners don't provide it. I reckon this makes the dogs bored, edgy and vicious. It's cruel to the dogs, and ignorant on the part of the owners.

When we cleaned a holiday barn out near the North Norfolk coast, we often had 'guests' with dogs. A maximum of three dogs was allowed. When we arrived, often the 'guests' were just packing up to leave. But when we pointed out they should pick up any dog poo in the barn grounds they usually kicked off. They seemed to think that was our job! And as often as not, they'd showered their huge dogs in the bathrooms, using the white fluffy bath towels we provided to dry the animals with. And the dog hairs! On everything! It made our work twice as onerous.
Our neighbour is the 'groundsman' there still, he has to cut the grass and sweep the patio etc, and he never holds back. I've heard him tell some 'guests', "Dew yew git orl that shit clared up orf the graaaass afore yew goo. Snot moi jarb! Them dawgs is narthing but Bloody Shit Machines!"


29 Jan 17 - 05:51 AM (#3835466)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Steve Shaw

I worked for five summers on Radcliffe Parks Department and one of the jobs was to cut the grass on the verges and open areas of council estates. I had a large self-driven machine with a clutch and cutters at the front. Generally you could spot the fresh dog turds and steer round them, but once they'd sunk in for a few days and got grass growing round them they were a nightmare. The worst were the old ones that had dried up after a few days without rain. When you hit one of those it exploded into a puff of dust. You had to hope the wind wasn't in your direction. And don't get me started on those stupid leads that can expand to about twenty yards long, stretched across the path in front of you like a deadly booby trap. Make 'em illegal!


29 Jan 17 - 06:29 AM (#3835468)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Senoufou

Exactly Steve. Our neighbour does this type of work all day, every day, all year round, all over Norfolk. He has huge diesel-driven cutting machines, and like you he finds that large mounds of dog poo explode around his ears if he drives over them. He ends up covered in it, and it absolutely stinks.
He also 'does' farm grounds and smallholdings, and there are always huge snarling 'dawgs' to contend with. He wraps strips of canvas round his lower legs (like buskins or gaiters) and always has a stout stick with which to 'discourage' the animals. He says the farmers often become 'suffen savage' (rather cross) and give him 'squit' if he asks them to control their dogs while he's working!


29 Jan 17 - 11:31 AM (#3835502)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: robomatic

I have had an antipathy for shih-tzus, which I find an astoundingly well-named breed, for some time. For one thing, the ones I've been exposed to have hair over their eyes so they look at you, or at least they face you, with their small hairy faces and their panting little mouths agape, showing only their lower teeth, which reminds me of a certain Officer Driscoll who gave me my first speeding ticket on Route 128. The second thing I have against the breed is that my neighbor had two, they piddled on my car tire, which I did not realize until I had checked the puddle to see if it was brake fluid.

It is not merely their size, though the thought of a ruddy giant shih-tzu looking me in the eye while I'm sitting or standing is even less pleasant than the prospect of the giant ants from films of yore.

Big beasts, but not too big.


29 Jan 17 - 02:07 PM (#3835532)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Steve Shaw

Went to a zoo today. But I was very disappointed. It only had one animal in it.

It was a shih tzu.


29 Jan 17 - 05:38 PM (#3835578)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: Ed T

It looks like a shih tzu, smells like a shih tzu and tastes like a shih tzu, don't step on it


29 Jan 17 - 05:57 PM (#3835586)
Subject: RE: BS: Big Beasts
From: robomatic

So it is ONE shih tzu