All I want to do is send the damn things outside. Why would you want something so licky and gross in your house? Quit nosing my pants.
some women aren't afraid of their vaginas, heebie.
I grew up with a small, quiet dog. Not very licky and gross, but somewhat friendlier than cats. It's a good compromise. (The trouble is, most small dogs are yappy and nervous, and I don't know how to get a good likelihood that one isn't without getting a purebred that has all sorts of health problems. The dog I grew up with had a bad liver and died at 7 years old.)
the best reason to get a dog is to improve oneself ethically. the goodness of sentient animals can be rated as follows:
dogs > people > cats
so one gets a dog to lead oneself by example of good behavior. for instance, dogs are incapable of holding grudges and want to hump everyone.
my dog is a weimaraner/boxer mutt. he looks like an english pointer, except that he's black. we have a lot in common.
I feel sorry for people who dont get to experience the human/dog connection in ways other than poorly behaved labs. "he's just being friendly" is not an adequate response from owners whose dogs are behaving badly. That said, they are dogs.
The dog I grew up with had a bad liver and died at 7 years old
I think the proper expression here is "up and died"
My 8 year old nephew wants a god something fierce. Unfortunately, divorced parents with joint custody make it impossible.
Yes, there is no place for god in that situation.
6.last god, dog, same damn thing.
Lots of crotch sniffing and wanting to be fed all the time in both situations.
We had terrible dogs when I was growing up. Half-whippet, half-terrier. Whippets with matted rat-like hair. They got senile when they were about 6 and lost whatever tenuous understanding of being housebroken that they had, and then lived to be 15.
I'm glad to see I'm not alone in being dog-negative. They are born authoritarian followers and they slobber. Neither their personalities nor their bodies are appealing. You beat a dog and then show it some minor kindness and it will worship you. Try that shit with a cat and you'll bleed.
Cats rule, dogs drool.
My mother has a Shih Tzu, the second of her old age. He is small and quiet but almost completely untrained so will leap onto people's laps, nose them in delicate areas, and on and on. If properly trained I think Shih Tzus would be great dogs for urban/suburbanites.
My daughter, who lives near farmland, takes care of a Husky/Dalmatian cross named "Blue," who is beautifully trained and also has cool blue eyes. But Blue needs to run/walk five+ miles a day to be really happy. Blue coexists well enough with Penelope the bird.
I grew up with cats but am allergic, worse luck.
My aunt has a dog that bites people. That's fun.
14: not even. That dog spends his life basically distrustful and suspicious and unhappy. He's like a dog prepper.
He's devoted to my aunt, though, which is great because it means we have to wait for the stupid thing to die to hang out with my aunt once we have babby.
It made our lifeso much easier when the violent cat died, despite how sweet and devoted he was when there weren't any strangers with eyes asking to be scratched out.
Cats rule, dogs drool.
yes, I find this convincing. please more of your cogent analysis.
I grew up with a small, quiet dog.
I have been known to say that a small dog is the next best thing to no dog at all.
You can't argue that dogs' saliva is well-contained.
I dunno, text, it seems to be about as cogent as your use of greater-than signs.
I call small dogs "dogs for people who won't admit that they want a cat".
I'm slightly fond of those dogs that look like the fabric softener teddy bear.
You can't argue that dogs' saliva is well-contained.
I can argue that most dog breeds don't actually drool, that the behavior is so uncommon that, by choosing such a dog -- which I cannot disparage, many drooling dogs are lovely -- one has made an affirmative choice of drool. Saying that a drooling dog drools more than a cat is like saying warm climates are warm, shedding no light on the desirability of that trait.
Most dogs do lick, but that's different.
neb, I explained those signs with further cogent analysis.
Licking is a saliva-spreading vehicle, is it not? I agree that drooling dogs are the grossest, though.
I don't know who you're agreeing with that drooling dogs are grossest, certainly not with me.
Kissing is also a saliva-spreading activity, but it's not the same as drooling, as the girls I knew in college can attest.
And those giant frothing dogs are the very grossest of all. Comity!
somewhat friendlier than cats
There's a range of friendliness with cats, of course. Anecdotally, some are rotten little beasts to strangers and adoring fluffmoppets to their owners.
I was 100% cat person as a kid and now am still a cat person but one who is very fond of dogs that belong to other people. I suppose I'd love to have one someday if I lived unlikelily rurally but for the moment I would never own something wherein I have to carry around little bags and pick up its excrement.
And of course comment 1 is, mutatis mutandis, how I feel about kids.
I'm also fond of cats, it's just that, of the sentient creatures, they are the least good. People who think cats are smarter than dogs also think that bad people are smarter than good people. And that's rarely the case, by most measurements.
It's actually roughly how I feel about kids, too.
My dog only drools when I'm eating, but he is a prodigious licker. This annoyed me at first but I eventually got used to it. It had never occurred to me in my pre-dog days that many dog owners are perpetually covered in dried saliva.
I detest the mouth-smacking sound that dogs make almost as much as the licking.
And how your hand smells like dog after you pet them.
I call small dogs "dogs for people who won't admit that they want a cat". don't want toxoplasma taking over their brain"
Toxoplasma is the best. I don't have to scoop th kitty litter for nine months!
35: See, I never notice this anymore, presumably because I now always smell like that. On the other hand, I never used to notice dog people smelling like dogs.
That Atlantic article with the photo of the Czech toxoplasma guy looking like a mad scientist was the best.
Our dog would never think of drooling, and he only ever licks, other than his own self, when food residue remains on the hand of a lickee. That said, I've long since given up on bringing the word of dog to the unwashed. Also, cats, good cats at least, are wonderful creatures. Really, I'm nearly agnostic when it comes to mammalian pets, though I'm not really a fan of the rodents and varmints that some people fancy.
Be a dear and ignore one of the "really"s in that last sentence, please.
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OK, that's me for this year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New B'ak'tun, everybody.
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I want one of those dogs that lives 6 years. That'd be perfect.
And while I think it's reasonable to argue that it's nice for kids to grow up with dogs, I think such an argument falls apart if one of the parents in the house doesn't want a dog. There's really nothing worse than people who don't like their dogs and spend years being annoyed by them while waiting for them to die.
Cats are perfectly fine*. Perhaps something wrong with us for keeping so many of them that people are now urging for all cats be indoor cats (which itself is ridiculously inhumane), but there's nothing wrong with them. Cats in and of themselves are useful mammals. If you've ever lived in a building that's prone to mouse and other rodent infestation, you get to really appreciate cats right quick.
That said, I've discovered that I quite like dogs. I spent a couple of weeks sitting my sister's black lab, who is energetic and feisty and emotionally needy, and by the end of that two weeks we were best friends. The thing to understand about labs (I learned when I questioned a more knowledgeable friend) is that they're working animals, with energy to burn; they're really farm dogs, at loose ends when they have to fit into a sedentary human routine. You're supposed to (first) set clear boundaries with them so that they get an understand of when it's not okay to come nosing around, and (second) make sure they get plenty of exercise, or at least have access to some large open space where they can run and play. Once I got the hang of those things, she was easy to live with and kept me active, too; I lost like ten pounds in those two weeks.
* Yes, they hunt recreationally and ain't particularly empathetic to their prey, but humans are hardly in a position to cast stones about that.
45.2 is wise. Many dogs that are kept as pets in this country are working animals. Deprived of their vocation, they go a bit nuts and act out. For example, we have to find things for our herding dog to do (or he herds the children). But if we keep him appropriately occupied, he's perfectly happy to spend his time indoors sleeping and trotting over to us when called to clean up some cheerios or whatever.
toxoplasmosis has some very beneficial effects.
Deprived of their vocation, they go a bit nuts and act out.
Like white guys, sort of.
Deprived of their vocation, white men will cling to their guns and religion. Or so I'm told.
Mark me down in the 'dogs make you a better person' camp. I've never wanted a lab, though, and really liked having a husky, which didn't bark much, and never drooled or licked. Cat-like in disinterest in human approval.
Current dog cares more about people, but doesn't drool and rarely licks.
45: Perhaps something wrong with us for keeping so many of them that people are now urging for all cats be indoor cats
Because of all the poor birds they kill, I gather. We've had that argument here before, if I remember correctly. Just as many people call for cats to be indoors in an infantilizing spirit: if you have indoor-outdoor cats, it's not unusual to receive disapproving looks. Don't you know that your cat, when outdoors, can contract diseases/bring home ticks/get into fights?!? So irresponsible to let the cat outside!
Bah, as Witt might say.
45.2 gets it right. I've developed quite a bit of respect for working dogs. My family's miniature collies (Shelties) were on the face of it silly, like vanity dogs -- miniature, pretty, prone to health issues -- but man were they a beauty to behold when herding.
Cats are the best. Dogs are horrible and slobbery and gross smelling. Even the very best ones are fairly trying, most of the time. In the alternate reality where I am king of the skinheads, I do have a bulldog named Rex. And I suppose if you lived waaaaay the fuck out in the country, it would be good to have a big, barky dog around to alert you to the presence of bears and catamounts. The best pet would be if you could get a domesticated Pallas' Cat and have it be your barn cat.
Dogs are horrible and slobbery and gross smelling. Even the very best ones are fairly trying, most of the time.
No wonder so many dogs think they are people.
My dog's job is to make us exercise.
56: Precisely! Why would you want to have a member of a species that resembles you at your worst when you could have one that resembles you at your best?
Mine does wear me out, especially if none of his friends are around or it's too cold to swim. I've thought of putting him to work, but it's so hard to find a bear pit around here.
Text is showing such extreme defensiveness here on behalf of dogs, while claiming to be a human, that he might be disproving Peter Steiner's famous maxim.
Speaking of dogs being licky and gross, when my ex-wife was around ten or so she walked in on her sister naked on her bed and the family's great dane going down on her. One of several events that scarred her for life.
Crassus: Do you enjoy living with cats?
Antoninus: When I have them, master.
Crassus: Do you enjoy living with dogs?
Antoninus: No, master.
Crassus: Do you consider the keeping of cats to be moral, and the keeping of dogs to be immoral?
Antoninus: No, master.
Crassus: Of course not. It is all a matter of taste, isn't it?
Antoninus: Yes, master.
Crassus: And enjoyment is not the same as goodness, and therefore not a question of morals, hmm?
Antoninus: It could be argued so, master.
Crassus: My rleash, Antoninus. My taste includes both dogs and cats.
It's so tricky gracefully removing a robe, sometimes.
Why do dogs smell like that? The Shelties I lived with weren't slobbery, and were well-trained enough that they didn't nose into people's private parts -- though they did sit under the table during dinner, politely resting their head against your calf, and they did rush at and gobble any foodstuffs that fell on the floor, to comical effect at times .. and the barking when outdoors was uncontrollable, due to the birds which obviously needed to be herded.
But there was that dog smell. My mom's car didn't smell so great, and the back seat was yucky.
Some neighbors down the block have a Portuguese water dog, and I want one SO MUCH. All through my childhood I had a black poodle, and any time I see a dog with that kind of fur and that particular kind of walk, my heart jumps out of my body and I just want to run up to the dog and take in my arms.
I also think I have developed an allergy to some kinds of dogs in my adulthood (didn't have it as a kid). My in-laws' stabyhoun makes me crazy sneezy, and Tweety's aunt's bitey mongrel seems to make me sneezy too, though I don't get close enough to pet him.
66: you should totally get a PWD, Blume! They're excellent dogs in almost every way (the exception is that they're apparently now a tad overbred -- because of Bo, of course, thought it's not his fault directly).
Can I bitch that my brother-in-law has both John Mayer and the NFL on and making noise? Too much noise.
I'm actually in a very good mood, although you wouldn't know it from my ceaseless complaining.
At this point we'll probably wait until our own spawn is a bit older. Puppy + newborn might be a bit much at one time.
This brother in law also chewed out my mother inlaw for failing to tell him what she hadn't bought him off his wish list, so that he could go ahead and buy it for himself. I of course love adding to my arsenal of times Jammie's brothers acted half their age.
71: it is! Really pretty here, although it was hailing earlier. You?
Oh, yeah! First time in a week, maybe. It's 50 on my back porch, 30 on the front porch.
70: yes, a puppy + a newborn = a ridiculous amount of energy under one roof. On the other hand, neither will be able to turn on John Mayer for years and years.
(From the radar it looks like you will be clouded up soon. Go outside.)
My all-time favorite story about them is when they threw a giant tantrum because they were mid-movie when Jammie's mom wanted to serve Xmas dinner. Keep in mind that they were 23 and 25 years old. Keep in mind that the movie was 8 seconds starring Luke perry, circa 1994. The compromise was that they could watch the rest of it with the sound off, from the dinner table. I was flabbergasted and delighted in equal measure.
Delighted because I teased them relentlessly for the rest of the trip and because I could tell the story forever and ever.
Maybe dogs don't make everyone better.
To be fair, the dogs hadn't yet been acquired when 78 occurred.
OT: "The Aristocats" sounds a great deal like the title of a movie not appropriate for small children.
OT but slightly OnT for previous comment: I am watching Barbarella because...I don't know why. It was under "Classics" on Netflix. It is terribler than expected, but I guess I know where the name of Duran Duran comes from now?
The Aristocats isn't very good either. I'm trying to guess which Gabor sister is voicing the rich mama cat.
Turns out not to be the kind of problem where introspection helps.
and really liked having a husky, which didn't bark much, and never drooled or licked. Cat-like in disinterest in human approval.
That was my family's experience with a husky as well. She didn't mind attention, but she wasn't always trying to get us to do things with her - just as long as we walked her and let her in and out of the yard.
I am watching Barbarella because...I don't know why.
Reparative therapy is bad news no matter what, but the cheaper kinds don't seem to be that big of a problem.
If you've ever lived in a building that's prone to mouse and other rodent infestation, you get to really appreciate cats right quick
Our old neighbour's cat. Cute, and a stone killer. But dogs are fantastic, too. There's your unity of opposites.
The thing is, no one has said to me "based on what you don't like, breed X would be perfect." (A husky in Texas would be cruel.)
I'm really not a dog person, but our/Lee's dog is a 45-lb hound mix, a Hurricane Katrina rescue. Once she got over being totally traumatized and eating everything she could, which happend when we brought in a kitten she decided was a puppy and carrid around in her mouth, she's been a sweet and loving dog. She's wonderful with the girls, but I don't know that they're really getting the child-with-dog experience. Having a fenced back yard and a dog park a few blocks away have helped very much.
I'm trying to find a page of characteristics. They have no odor, breath or body...a hunting feature.
They are medium-length fur, but handle Texas well enough, at least as well as the rest of us in summer. Lots of breaks and water.
Good with kids? Pretty much run away from hassles, but possibly not as safe as Labs. I'm careful, but I trust them with toddlers when I'm around.
The name of the breed is "at point Isabel"?
As cliched as it is to compare dogs to children, I always thought there was an equal level of annoying-plus-adorable involved. They entertain you, but they also require that you get up early and clean up poo regularly. They love you more than you'd think possible, but they also break your things and require constant attention. Dogs are just for those of us who lack commitment, as the time span is generally shorter and no college fund is ever required.
My 14 year old lab now produces epic drool -- such that he routinely brings back dead leaves from the yard after a walk, attached to a long string of disgusting drool. He is also incontinent. I need an AM/PM pill minder to keep track of his meds. I still make up new nicknames for him regularly, and he still gets so excited when I get home, it's like I'm his whole reason for living.
Of course the emotional connection isn't equal to that you have with your children, I realize. I will mourn when he dies, but it won't be like losing a child. I just mean the daily grind is like having a kid, with both rewards and downsides. And lots of bodily fluids.
|:)
Doggies!!
Watched Hachiko Monogatari this week. I cried at the happy parts.
1) Shochiku after the movie biz declined, moved into television production. Japan has for decades had an annual historical miniseries partly paid for by the gov't. By the late 80s Shochiku just got freaking amazing at period production, like Merchant Ivory with dirt.
2) Nakadai Tatsuya just got weird, affected or ironic, after around 1970.
3) Shindo Kaneto was the house scriptwriter/script doctor for Shochiku for 5 decades, with 161 screenplay credits. He wrote the shooting script so his bosses didn't have to worry about who directed.
What is fascinating about this movie, top box office by far for its year, is how much darker and more tragic it is than the actual history, known by every Japanese schoolkid. A strange decision, which might say something about Shindo.
Hachiko at Wiki. Scroll down thru the pictures, Hachiko was not a starving stray who died alone in the snow.
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It seems like the breed is called Carolina dogs?
95:You followed the link! Search on.
I could get into my very slight worries about my dogs and kids. A few weeks ago a three-yr-old try to play horsey with the alpha male without trouble.
They are just protective of the pack and tend to discipline the other members. I get barked at for saying "Fuck" and I think if one kid was beating on another the dogs would get in the way, bark or growl and maybe even snap or nip.
And they are sniffers and lickers, but dogspit is the magical healing elixir closing wounds and keeping skin soft and unwrinkled. It's true.
You had me at "no breath, odor, or body".
I am sincerely interested in figuring out which breed would be most palatable, even if it's still a couple years out.
I've really liked getting a puppy this summer. The house is messier than it had been, but he's the reason we now go to the river every day. Before the dog, I barely went at all. So that's an extra hour of walking and nature every day. The cuddling is nice too. Thumbs up! Would do again.
Getting a rescue dog is a good way to let your dog's breed be selected by the irresponsible and/or cruel.
We got a rescue dog (as a little puppy). It was a whole lot of work getting a dog that isn't a pit or a chihuahua. But since then I've watched their site and they do seem to have a lot of different breeds. I think they skim the most promising dogs from shelters in the Valley.
97,98:They are terrific dogs. They do need a lot of exercise, but not a lot of attention. We leave the patio door open all year covered by several layers of heavy drapes the dogs can get around, and they leave me alone all day. Only alerting me to strangers or tattling on each other and asking for a walk without persisting.
They do not cuddle. They like to receive and give affection, but never ever rest touching us or each other
When we break on walks they always face opposite directions, to cover all possible dangers. I am constantly complimented on how mellow and quiet they are. I once sat with them at an airport for an hour and a half with constant noise and traffic. They were alert but didn't move.
But they play energetically when given permission.
They cost $800 a puppy.
More tales of brother in laws! One sits stoically for about an hour amidst commotion, and breaks silence to exclaim "She is so ugly!" about a normal-looking woman on TV.
The other is mad at the mother because he is worried the chicken will dry out while we wait for people to arrive from the airport.
This is so much fun! Why haven't I been documenting them for the past five years?
104: Because Jammies knows about Unfogged?
104.1: 7: Here's a book to read/not read before a long visit with extended family: This Is Where I Leave You: A Novel by Jonathan Tropper. Not sure I like it per se, but it mines that vein pretty damn hard. I had insomnia last night and read half of it between 1:30 & 5 AM at the beginning of a longish period of visitation and interaction with extended family. I find that I am either not choosing my words as carefully as I used to in such settings, or maybe I'm choosing them with much more care, but something's different.
I bought A Coffin for Dimitrios in case I get bored while visiting in-laws. I also got Hume's History of England but that was free so I won't complain to the recommender (Nworb?) if I don't like it.
Jammies defends them somewhat, as being late bloomers (which is true, one of them has matured about ten years from age 25 to 27) but Jammies would not be surprised or hurt to see me dishing excitedly about the ridiculous things they do.
There are dogs who aren't stupid humping lickers. I don't know why so many men view stupid gimping lickers as the ultimate dogs, but sweet, smart, dry-mouthed dogs are out there.
There are dogs who aren't stupid humping lickers. I don't know why so many men view stupid gimping lickers as the ultimate dogs, but sweet, smart, dry-mouthed dogs are out there.
sweet, smart, dry-mouthed dogs are out there.
But do they have enough mental whateverness?
Not enough for particle physics. Maybe economics.
Or the kind of urologist who is always getting sued for leaving his watch in somebody's bladder.
Further to 44, anyone want a dog?
You have an ethos to uphold. Eat it.
120: Say what you will about the tenets of the paleo diet, but at least it's an ethos.
Our current and late dogs both look[ed] like smaller versions of CCarp's, but their breed is unclear. Husky-looking but smaller; the current one has a spot on his back like an Alsatian, and fur that's not nearly as luxurious as a husky's. People at the pound called them shepherd/husky, but I think that's just a generic claim about pointy-nosed, triangle-eared, curly-tailed dogs.
Personality-wise, not unlike what Bob describes, except somewhat less mellow.
None of my dogs have ever begged, nor are they voracious gobblers of kibble; they've all felt, quite rightly IMO, that kibble is a necessity rather than a treat.
(The whole goddam internet has seen my current dog, but I've added a pick to the pool of husky ('91-'02), who lived in DC and liked it well enough).
My current dog seems to handle the heat fine, but he definitely perks up when the weather turns.
Cats are the best. Dogs are horrible and slobbery and gross smelling. Even the very best ones are fairly trying, most of the time.
Preach it, brother.
My wife is keen on something like a couple miniature pigs but from googling around it appears that miniature still only means relative to commercial hogs. Although if it got too big eating it would be a lot more appealing than eating an oversized dog.