The Dog Thread: Our Furry Family and Friends

[SmoothieX]

Mine woke me up this morning by running across me and puking on the carpet. Yay.

[Nerys Ghemor]

Rhubarbodendron wrote:

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Nerys Ghemor, I couldn't agree more. We call such things "torture breeding". They really ought to get forbidden. So many dogs with hanging lips or drooping eye lids suffer all their lives from painful inflammations. Dogs with shortened noses like Pekinese or Boxers have breathing trouble. Bull Terriers with their contorted legs have to endure horrible joint pains, Dachshunds regularly suffer from slipping discs and the list goes on and on.

Yeah. And the sad part with dogs is, unlike with cats, I'm not sure the true breeds--without those deformities--still exist. With cats, for example, if you're lucky you can still find what's called a doll-faced Persian, which is bred in a much healthier manner than the Peke-faced Persian.

It gave me hope when recently the Crufts dog show in the UK rejected some dogs due to torture breeding (GREAT term for it!). I hope that someday public opinion really and truly turns against that sort of thing.

Btw, the cutting of ears and tails or de-clawing is illegal in Germany unless it's for medical reasons. We have pretty much the strictest pet-protection laws in the world, I believe.

That's very fortunate...I hope the US will someday follow suit.

[Rhubarbodendron]

I just looked it up in the dictionary: the term has several possible translations as the English language is richer in facets than German is.
The range includes: agony, anguish, bale, distress, dolour, excruciation, ordeal, pain, tantalisation, torment and torture. I am not sure which one is the official translation (if there's one at all). The original term is "Qualzucht".

In vertebrates (mammals birds and fish), any breeding of features that tolerate or cause an animal pain, suffering, physical or emotional damage or behavioural disturbances are strictly forbidden by German law. There are exceptions for scientific purposes, such as hairless mice required for certain medical tests.

[SmoothieX]

^Great term for it. That shit bothers me too. I own a breed prone to hip and knee issues, but at least it wasn't bred into her like those brachycephalic breeds.

I visited my mom over the weekend and caught this shot of my dog being camera shy the other morning.

[cooleddie74]

My dog hides under sheets and blankets all the time. I'm not sure if it's shyness or playfulness, because she seems to want me to come find her when she's covered in several layers of cotton and rayon.

[Finn]

^my mom almost sat on the dog because he was sleathy hidden under a blanket on the love seat once

[Sigokat]

I posted some pictures of my cats in the feline thread and then found out there was one for dogs too!

Here is a picture of Sally with her favorite of ALL her toys (and she has alot of them), Tigerbot.

[Sigokat]

Another pic of Sally, this was when we first brought her home. Umm, how do I not make these pictures so huge? Sorry about that!

[Captain Ice]

^Sites like photobucket have image editing capability. Also, programs like Gimp or Photoshop. For Photobucket or Gimp, both of which I use, all you have to do is to find the "resize" function. I don't recall where it is in Gimp at the moment, but for Photobucket it is pretty easy to locate.

[macloudt]

SmoothieX wrote:

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Mine woke me up this morning by running across me and puking on the carpet. Yay.

Heh, our dog did pretty much the same thing to my husband this morning. Yay.

My husband was a postman for several years, and as a rule he was far more wary of small dogs than big dogs. He was lucky in that he was never bitten while on duty, but his colleagues who were not so lucky were more often bitten by little yappy dogs than the larger breeds.

On the topic of poor breeding standards, one of the most shocking stories I've come across is that of Rosie the chihuahua. The poor little thing barely looks like a dog at all, but she's a highly inbred purebred. Thankfully her new owners are giving her the best care possible.

[sbk1234]

My best friend, The Jake.