[Miriam Wade]

Having just had a very disappointing experience with folks who I thought were icons and turned out to have no concern for dogs beyond them being a commodity...

...what do you feel we owe these dogs on a day in and day out basis? A good home if a washout? Not warehousing 100 plus dogs with nothing more than basic needs met and no concern for quality of life?!?

Bottom line is wondering what all of you feel we owe these dogs on an emotional level or are they just a commodity?

 

[HPL]

I think we owe them attention, tenderness, and care, but then again, in general I like dogs better than I like many people. In most cases the failures of dogs are really due to our own inadequacies, seldom actually the dog's fault. My dogs have always been family members and I have often said that there are plenty of folks out there that if my dog and pretty much anyone other than a family member or a very close friend were drowning, that other person better be able to hang on, 'cause I'm saving the dog first.

 

[Rick_C]

I think we owe them attention, tenderness, and care, but then again, in general I like dogs better than I like many people. In most cases the failures of dogs are really due to our own inadequacies, seldom actually the dog's fault. My dogs have always been family members and I have often said that there are plenty of folks out there that if my dog and pretty much anyone other than a family member or a very close friend were drowning, that other person better be able to hang on, 'cause I'm saving the dog first.

Very well said!

I concur.


.

 

[amretrievers]

I think we owe them attention, tenderness, and care, but then again, in general I like dogs better than I like many people. In most cases the failures of dogs are really due to our own inadequacies, seldom actually the dog's fault. My dogs have always been family members and I have often said that there are plenty of folks out there that if my dog and pretty much anyone other than a family member or a very close friend were drowning, that other person better be able to hang on, 'cause I'm saving the dog first.

Very well put! I will agree with you! My dogs are like my kids. They are spoiled. I talk to them like real people (some people may laugh) They are my best friends. They are out running around the yard when I'm there. They get to be out and play everyday. They get to go in the car with me to run errands. Like I said they are my kids and I treat them that way!

 

[Twolabsplus]

I agree with all above.... when a dog comes to live with me he/she can depend on having a forever home. Good or Bad.... he/she is mine.

 

[hotel4dogs]

I totally agree with what everyone else has said so far, my dogs are my friends, and I will take the best possible care of them regardless of their talents or lack thereof.
There are some people who love the dog, and some who just love the game. That seems true of all dog sports.

 

[Carol Cassity]

My dogs are dogs. They are not my fuzzy kids. I am not a “pet parent”, I am a dog owner. That being said, I do love them and I do care for them.
What do we owe them? Respect.

To me, respect means we care for them, provide for them and treat them with decency. I have placed dogs in pet homes after retirement or injury. There are only so many days and so many dollars. My petted out dogs have a wonderful life and I do not regret those decisions for an instance. I cannot do justice to more than four dogs. Some people can, I can’t.

My young dog is in an indoor kennel run during the day. When I get home he and the other two (and my mom’s dog now) go outside for a little bit. All have house privileges when I am awake. At bed time, the young dog is either on the bed or back in the kennel and the two older dogs are on the bed. Mom’s dog has lost free house privileges at night because he chooses to pee and poop in the middle of the floor – I have rights too.

The bigger and more difficult question is WHOSE standards are right? I think that is left to the individual. Three - four is my preferred number of dogs. Some folks can handle one. Some folks can handle ten. How many and to what degree is too many – in the words of LVL: “it depends”. If you feel the situation you witnessed was an abusive one, contact the authorities. They have guidelines in place and the dogs well being would be evaluated by a third party.

Well, it is time to earn the dog and cat food.

 

[Steve Hamel]

Hey M,

I hope your situation is improving. Drop us a note now and then.

As to your question, I am with Carol, they are not my fuzzy children. They're dogs. They still receive alot of the same attention and love that my kids get but in the end, they're dogs.

Mine don't sleep on the bed, they have their own. They do get to hunt from Sept - Feb. Train and run HT's and FT's from April - Aug. They also like to hike mountains, go camping, get summer ice cream cones, fetch tennis balls that mom throws, go for walks with mom, and eat any left overs from dinner, especially lamb chop bones. ................ haha

I will say though, having a wife who refuses to get rid of a dog once it's in the house adds a crinkle to owning "competitive dogs". Her attitude is once they're here, they're staying, so make the best that you can out of them, and be happy with it.


Since I've been married for 26 years now I guess I can live with that stipulation.........

Be good.

Steve

 

[jeff t.]

There are some people who love the dog, and some who just love the game.

Good point.

There comes a time when each of us has to decide whether we are in it for the dog or for the game.

 

[Pete]

think we owe them attention, tenderness, and care, but then again, in general I like dogs better than I like many people. In most cases the failures of dogs are really due to our own inadequacies, seldom actually the dog's fault. My dogs have always been family members and I have often said that there are plenty of folks out there that if my dog and pretty much anyone other than a family member or a very close friend were drowning, that other person better be able to hang on, 'cause I'm saving the dog first.
__________________

If my dog and you were drowning. I would save you before my dog. Weather I liked you better or not or weather I liked you at all.. Your death would affect alot of peoples hearts which could take forever to heal.

I have put all of my enregy in my life to dogs ,, but i would never put a dogs well being over a persons.
The love an owner has for the dog is way more powerful than the dog itself.

When I train someones dog my love and care does not get projected on that dog but on the person who owns that dog. but its done through the dog.
If that dog were a ferral dog i wouldn't give a rats behind about it. But the minute someone takes that dog under their wing and starts to care and love it,,thats when the dog becomes special . but its an inderect kind of special. It wouldn't be special if no one loved it. It would just be a ferral dog passing by.
The same cannot be said about people.

You say your not a pita ite or a humane society ite but most of your posts suggest animals are more important than people. And thats your parogitive,,, Just sayin

Pete

 

[moscowitz]

Wow Carol and Pete great perspective of relationship with our dogs.

 

[savage25xtreme]

I love my dogs, but if they can not become responsible citizens in the house and preform in whatever venue they are trained for, then they will find another home.

I think 2 in full time training is plenty, once a dog pours his heart out for me he will have a retirement home on my carpet until his day comes, that's for damn sure.

I think everyone's view on this subject will be very different.

 

[HPL]

If my dog and you were drowning. I would save you before my dog. Weather I liked you better or not or weather I liked you at all.. Your death would affect alot of peoples hearts which could take forever to heal.

I have put all of my enregy in my life to dogs ,, but i would never put a dogs well being over a persons.
The love an owner has for the dog is way more powerful than the dog itself.

When I train someones dog my love and care does not get projected on that dog but on the person who owns that dog. but its done through the dog.
If that dog were a ferral dog i wouldn't give a rats behind about it. But the minute someone takes that dog under their wing and starts to care and love it,,thats when the dog becomes special . but its an inderect kind of special. It wouldn't be special if no one loved it. It would just be a ferral dog passing by.
The same cannot be said about people.

You say your not a pita ite or a humane society ite but most of your posts suggest animals are more important than people. And thats your parogitive,,, Just sayin

Pete

Pete, you are completely correct about me. One does not have to be a proponent of organizations like PETA or HSUS to be something of a misanthrope. I realized some time ago that I don't believe in the intrinsic value of human life so indeed, it is quite possible that SOME animals' lives are more important to me than SOME people's, but I will admit that I have never really faced the test. I would also suggest that your dogs' lives are more important to you than some people's, otherwise you would get rid of the dogs and spend the money you spend purchasing, feeding, housing, and campaigning your dogs feeding the starving children around the world or on some other worthy HUMANITARIAN effort. There are folks who die in the U.S. for lack of funds to pay medical bills or purchase medicine. You could probably save some of their lives.

As for there being some "moral" (for want of a better word) difference between some "feral" dog and someone's pet, all I can say is a dog's circumstance in life is seldom its fault, and although I have never heard of a dog hurting anyone out of pure malice (one would have to believe that dogs are capable of true human reasoning for that to happen) but I personally know of plenty of cases where people are guilty of that and much worse.

 

[Pete]

Pete, you are completely correct about me. One does not have to be a proponent of organizations like PETA or HSUS to be something of a misanthrope. I realized some time ago that I don't believe in the intrinsic value of human life so indeed, it is quite possible that SOME animals' lives are more important to me than SOME people's, but I will admit that I have never really faced the test. I would also suggest that your dogs' lives are more important to you than some people's, otherwise you would get rid of the dogs and spend the money you spend purchasing, feeding, housing, and campaigning your dogs feeding the starving children around the world or on some other worthy HUMANITARIAN effort. There are folks who die in the U.S. for lack of funds to pay medical bills or purchase medicine. You could probably save some of their lives.

As for there being some "moral" (for want of a better word) difference between some "feral" dog and someone's pet, all I can say is a dog's circumstance in life is seldom its fault, and although I have never heard of a dog hurting anyone out of pure malice (one would have to believe that dogs are capable of true human reasoning for that to happen) but I personally know of plenty of cases where people are guilty of that and much worse.

Yes my dogs lives are more important than some peoples,,,,like criminals and people set out to cause harm. I can't take care of the world ,,,but I can handle my own little world and what happens in it.
I do take the time to help people in need. And I do feed them by the way
just not the kind of food your thinking of.


Its not unusual for nice people to have their priorities mixed up,,, . Some people have a hard time discriminating between circumstances . They tend to lump all things into one basket and then try to figure out how to make them not contradict. To me thats insanity.
Life is so much clearer if you can catorigize.

Pete

 

[HPL]

Its not unusual for nice people to have their priorities mixed up,,, . Some people have a hard time discriminating between circumstances . They tend to lump all things into one basket and then try to figure out how to make them not contradict. To me thats insanity.
Life is so much clearer if you can catorigize.

Pete

I too have known for years that all my opinions and all my actions may not exactly line-up logically all the time, so apparently it's not just "nice people". That's just part of being human.

 

[HPL]

The bigger and more difficult question is WHOSE standards are right? I think that is left to the individual.

Man, I was with you until right there. I'm sure Michael Vick and his cronies thought what they were doing was OK by their standards. Hope none of us would agree.

 

[Chris Atkinson]

Man, I was with you until right there. I'm sure Michael Vick and his cronies thought what they were doing was OK by their standards. Hope none of us would agree.

I find that the use of "partial quotes" tends to create opportunity for the partial quoter, to spin the original writer's words into an unintended direction.

Here is the entire paragraph:

The bigger and more difficult question is WHOSE standards are right? I think that is left to the individual. Three - four is my preferred number of dogs. Some folks can handle one. Some folks can handle ten. How many and to what degree is too many – in the words of LVL: “it depends”. If you feel the situation you witnessed was an abusive one, contact the authorities. They have guidelines in place and the dogs well being would be evaluated by a third party.

It seems pretty obvious to me that Carol Cassity would think that Michael Vick's infamous activities would indeed be considered abusive and therefore worthy of contacting the authorities. It is covered in the rest of the partially quoted paragraph.


Chris

 

[pupaloo]

I love my dogs, and spoil them, I suppose-but they are not people and I do not get them confused with people. They are members of the family, and live in the house, but-they are dogs. There are rules that they are required to follow in order to live here.

Any sport has a line in the sand that, IMO, should not be crossed. That line is the moment when winning is more important than the welfare of the player. Again, IMO, the only time a person has the right to make the decision to cross that line is when s/he IS the player. I believe, as a coach (which is what we are for our dogs in these games) it is proper to keep the dog's welfare and safety first on the list. But, there are people for whom winning is first on the list, and that changes their priorities.

For some people, animals are a tool, or a means to an end. Their animals may live a different life, but that does not always mean they are abused. They may not have the same level of personal interaction as an animal that is also a pet or companion, but often they have better care and feed than animals who are "pets" and owned by people who do not understand their needs. Often, these animals are doing what they were bred to do, and are more "fulfilled" than animals who are pampered. If you could ask an animal what they wanted, I think you might be surprised sometimes....

 

[Kevinismybrother]

I'm with Pete on this.

 

[obx4me]

Having just had a very disappointing experience with folks who I thought were icons and turned out to have no concern for dogs beyond them being a commodity...

...what do you feel we owe these dogs on a day in and day out basis? A good home if a washout? Not warehousing 100 plus dogs with nothing more than basic needs met and no concern for quality of life?!?

Bottom line is wondering what all of you feel we owe these dogs on an emotional level or are they just a commodity?

That is very unforunate and sad for those animals in that environment. They are working animals, but I also see them as family members.

My dogs truely have an amazing life. And I do my best to insure my pups go into homes of the same, and follow up with their new owners. All my pups have been 100% placed into awesome homes. I have had to "re-home" one of them, but it worked out. Love my Labs!