Yes, there is a new dog in the White House. No, he did not come from a shelter or a rescue. While I believe it is best to lead by example (this is miss-step as I see it) there are still plenty of other opportunities to do the right thing (training, socialization, neutering, etc).
*edit* It seems that Bo is already neutered. "Stern worries that puppy mills will try to capitalize on the Obamas' dog choice and start churning out PWDs for an eager public. It's the responsibility of good Portuguese water dog breeders to try to prevent that, she said. As for Bo, he has already been neutered, Mrs. Obama's spokeswoman said."
What am I pointing a wagging finger at?
1) not adopting a dog after saying they would adopt
2) insisting that these dogs are hypoallergenic
3) LEANING OVER A DOG, STARING AT THE DOG, REACHING FOR THE DOG'S HEAD (This is the recipe for how not to greet a dog, how to get yourself bitten if the dog is so inclined. Do not put your face in the dog's face!)
How to meet a dog:
Stand tall but with loose body language, pivot sideways shoulder to the dog, make a "soft-paw" with your fingers and thumbs tucked in and your palm down, raise that "soft-paw" slightly, avert your eyes and lower them a bit, and wait for the dog to approach you. With a cautious dog, kneeling down but keeping your upper body vertical is an option.
Doggone Safe teaches how to read canine body language, how to understand what the dogs are trying to tell us before they are forced to bite.
"Despite 12,000 years of living with dogs, they remain largely misunderstood by humans. When a dog bites we interpret this in human terms. In most cases the bite is a normal dog behavior. The dog that bites is not necessarily a mean dog or a bad dog - he is just a dog. To prevent dog bites we need to understand what motivates the dog to bite and reduce risk through modification of both human and dog behavior"
HSUS tries by offering Stay Dog Bite Free and has a number of links to related products and programs for teaching children dog safety.
5 comments:
If I could be candid. I love your style and your topics, but you are the last person I thought would be trying to tell the adopter what to adopt. What is this stuff of minding someone's business on where they get their dog ? Don't mean to blow on your blog, but after a week of it I am ready to scream.
A person has a right to get the pet they want, where they want. This stuff of making people feel guilty if the they don't pick up someone else's mess is nuts ! It is turning off people from adopting, they don't want it rammed down their throats. If the yo- yo down the street breeds a pit litter every six month's ( and he does ) I am under no obligation to co-sign his mental illness by taking one of his dogs from the pound. If I want a pit and the pound has what I want, fine, but if I don't it's my business, not some rescue in Churchill County.
We must curtail this judgemental attitude. I could tell you 40 folks who had the intention of adopting til they went to the pound and saw what was there. I have one friend who has gone to NHS every day for 11 weeks looking for a dog, every dog is a rehab, this person whats a pet. That isn't a sin and we need to stop acting like it is. I have 7 people who have adopted tell me if they knew what they were getting into they would never have adopted. Sorry, but we need to change how we get these animals placed and not force people into taking a dog they don't want to be politically correct. ! Thanks for listening. Pah
I did not mean to say they ought to get dog in one way or the other. I'm sorry if it came across that way.
Everyone certainly does have that choice and it matters a lot who you are, who you need and why - it took three fosters before I found the right dog to be my new AAA/AAT canine partner (I got a lot of flack about that while I was doing it). As long as a person chooses with care and am all for it. I was just saying that they ought to follow through with what they said the would do (get a mutt). My other irritation was the whole "hypoallergenic" idea; there simply isn't any such dog.
Not every good dog comes from a shelter or a rescue, many very difficult dogs come from those sources (like my poor crazy Rio). There are wonderful responsible breeders out there and I support their efforts and thank them for their knowledge, care and dedication.
I understand you are frustrated. We all get that way, anyone who is paying any attention and who still care does anyhow. Please feel most free to speak you mind here. I will listen and respond respectfully.
I agree all dogs carry dander, I didn't know the PWD was like the Poodle, but if you are allergic I think you should just give the dog a skip. I can sure tell ya one thing....Newfies are potent. I have no problems and sometimes they make my eyes water.... so lets just hope for their sake and the dogs it works out. Oreo sure is an example of not all purebreds are healthy, but she does have the temperment we needed and that is what keeps a dog in the home. In our shelter right now we are at about 90 % pits if we follow a truth in labeling concept. The rest seem to be Chi's. Not a large choice and I am sure that is pretty much true across the country.
Both my husband and I have allergies and we adore our pets. It takes work to live in the same house with them: a lot of brushing, some washing, daily sweeping, etc but to us it is well worth it. I know there are folks out there with much more serious reactions and for those, sadly, a pet-less like is the most likely. I react severely to some cats and not to others though why I couldn't tell you.
The population of shelters varies greatly depending on the area of the county, is it is rural or urban, if they seek out transfer animals, and are open or limited admission. There are certainly far too many pit-mixes and teenager labs in the shelters though I agree there seem to be tiny dogs there as well (mostly showing poor breeding in behavioral or physical issues).
I started reading SOS Dog and can't find my copy. Have you heard of the book yet? It seemed to be going to cover the concern about what breeding for certain breed types might be doing to the over all gene pool and to the individual dogs. It is written by folks from Holland orginally, breed fanciers themselves for decades. The dog fancy world is not one that I know a lot about yet.
I haven't heard of that book, but i will check it out. The transfer business is pretty delicate. The tranfer Oreo refers to is about two miles apart, same client base, so no gain at all really for the animals. Pet Network on the other hand is up the mountain and not near any urban areas. The only issue we have here is the No Kill transfering dogs to a place that doesn't offer any different traffic base. Same people hit both shelters, hence I see why our commenter see it as a numbers game.
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