What a life "not"

[HollyDolly]

Have just read the following:-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1pNzfULVj


It just beggars belief that this woman can claim she is a dog lover.
No wonder the pet owning public think badly of Show People.
For a dog to live a life like that is just shameful.

Nanette

[Soushiruiuma]

That's terrible. What a deprived life all of their dogs live.

[Kate H]

Don't we need to keep a sense of proportion? Yes, I'm sure the dogs would enjoy a walk in the fields, but my two Cavaliers (like most dogs, except the hyper breeds like some Border Collies) spend most of their day dozing on the settee, doing nothing. And though they love their daily walk, if they don't get it they don't wreck the place. And a lot of people don't let their dogs roam freely round the house when they're away - not least because if someone broke in, they might run out of the door and get lost or run over. Yes, the Andersons are extreme and perhaps need to get a life, but they're not actually burning their dogs with cigarettes, letting them lie in their own excrement, making them have two litters a year, tying them up in a shed until the chain rubs their neck raw, kicking them when they misbehave, training them with electric collars, or any of the other terrible things that our so-called nation of dog lovers do to their animals. And for a Lhasa Apso, Elizabeth seems to have an excellent temperament and be pretty laid back - a lot of the ones you meet with 'the pet owning public' are yappy, bad-tempered and spoilt (and clipped very short because the owners can't cope with even an ordinary coat).

And in my experience, except for the annual bandwagon of newspaper coverage of Crufts, most people simply aren't interested in the world of dog shows - they know nothing about it, would find it pretty boring, and they don't think about it.

Kate, Oliver and Aled

[Jay]

hmmm....my dogs stay in crates when we are not home.

[Pat]

I suspect that this dog is very happy and has a very good life. She spends a lot of time interacting with her owners, and time with their people is probably what makes dogs the most happy.

There are two things that surprise me a bit - one is that it says they use Pantene products - does Pantene make dog products as well as human products? The other is that it sounds as if she will be bred for the first time at age 7, and that sounds a bit frightening to me. But I presume they know what they are doing and have good vet care.

Pat

[Karlin]

I think it sounds a pretty depressing life for a dog. No walks? A back garden alone is pretty dull for a dog -- same scents, same sights. It would be hard to find a dog trainer who wouldn't think this is pretty sad, I think, though totally agree that safely confining a dog when out etc is fine.

Sad too that the dog cannot be a dog but has to be constantly shampoo'd and oiled (oiled!) just for the owner -- but then, that particular breed kept in that show coat is the epitome of how an active breed with a fit for purpose coat has been turned into a show scene freak (I mean really -- that dog is all about the coat and the coat overrides every possible other consideration and removes any chance of a life -- a normal active dog would, as she notes, ruin the coat. So let the dog have a limited enclosed life ... does anything represent better why too much of the show scene, once you look beyond the surface entertainment we naturally get from seeing so many types of dogs in one place, is all about PEOPLE not DOGS). Fortunately most apso owners do not keep the coat in that state and the little dogs can thus be *dogs*.

Take this:

‘Anyway, she’s a bit of a diva and very lazy. A trot around the field at a dog show and she’s bored and wants to come back. If ever I throw a ball for her, she just looks as me as if to say, “So, are you going to fetch that back, or what?” ’

That sounds like a classic institutionalised animal, not a 'lazy' 'diva' (the owner is totally anthropomorphising there. A dog that is never allowed to interact normally with dogs in the real world -- only a subset of the same household dogs every day -- that never leaves the house and garden except for a brief visit to a show, has little idea how to be anything else but a dullard with few interests. The same thing happens to insitutionalised kids and zoo animals. I bet that dog would be anything but lazy and a diva if that coat was cut to allow for a normal life and she got to interact with other dogs, an interesting outside world waiting to be explored, and more people).

This is not too much different from outdoor kennel life, though the lack of noise is just plain weird. There's something really sad about dogs that do not even bark in play -- that would be like a room of children playing silently. Barking is a key way dogs communicate.

[Mindysmom]

While I personally think it's sad I suspect there are a LOT of pet dogs who never get out of their backyard either. I think of our local shelter who won't allow adoptions by people that aren't home all day but will adopt to elderly people who can't really get out to walk the dog. I have a neighbour with an older sheltie that I have seen a total of twice in the three years they have lived here. It goes outside to do it's business and that is all. Who is to say it's not happy. My Mindy would never ever play with toys even though we had her from eight months old. She loved to run and happily chased birds and squirrels but throw a ball for her and she'd look at you like you had two heads. Rylie is a natural ball player but I had to teach Max to play ball. He does play with toys but it took me a year of effort and I don't know how many different toys to get him interested. Show him a squirrel and he'll be gone like a flash though while Rylie is more interested in his ball or stick. Just like people I think that dogs have different personalities.

[murphy's mum]

My two would go stir crazy without their walks, and they are true couch potatoes as well. They can sleep 23 hours a day, but come walk time, Murphy's there, with his partner in crime, reminding me that it's walk time. They have access to the back garden when ever they want to go out, in good weather Murphy loves to snooze in the sun, and we have play sessions a night when ever they want. However, nothing is a substitute for a nice walk, with new sights, sounds and smells

[Nicki]

Yes, the Andersons are extreme and perhaps need to get a life, but they're not actually burning their dogs with cigarettes, letting them lie in their own excrement, making them have two litters a year, tying them up in a shed until the chain rubs their neck raw, kicking them when they misbehave, training them with electric collars, or any of the other terrible things that our so-called nation of dog lovers do to their animals.

Kate


Yes that is true and is absolutely tragic, but most of them aren't actually going public with what they are doing...which may lead many people to think that that is an acceptable quality of life for a dog [or to excuse their own behaviour] The Andersons will be assumed by many people to be very knowledgeable about dogs - setting a role model. Would she sell one of her puppies to a pet owner who planned to keep the dog only in the house and garden? [it has often been heard before that many breeders will not sell puppies to people who don't keep their dogs in the house - and these are the same breeders whose dogs live outside...]

It also seems to contravene the Animal Welfare Act - Animal Welfare Codes of Practice April 6th 2010

Animal welfare organisations and vets helped Defra draw up the codes of practice for dogs, cats and equines, designed to give people information about pet care including diet and exercise, and to explain owners’ and keepers’ legal duties to their animals.
The new codes cover:
The Welfare of Dogs
The welfare of cats
The welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and their Hybrids
and also the Welfare of Privately Kept Non-Human Primates
The codes are applicable in England only (Wales and Scotland have their own equivalent codes).


you can access the codes from http://www.freshfieldsrescue.org.uk/index.php/advice



The codes expand on existing legislation set out in the Animal Welfare Act. The advice falls into the following sections:
·The need for a suitable environment
.The need for a suitable diet
[I]·The need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns[/I]
·The need to be housed with, or apart form, other animals
·The need to be protected from pain, suffering injury and disease.


Specifically it states:
Give your dog the exercise it needs, at least daily unless your vet recommends otherwise, to keep your dog fit, active and stimulated.

[Karlin]

It is amazing how many people rarely walk their dogs. I live in a small urban neighbourhood and am out with mine 3-4 times a day (when not at my partners, who has lots land for them all to run around, so a single walk is more the norm). I know everyone who has a dog in my own area, that is out regularly -- there's no way you can not cross paths. But there are dogs I have hardly ever seen, some of them very large, living in small cottages and houses. I also hear some regularly yap yapping from out in a small side yard, even on really cold nights. You do wonder why some people get dogs.

I just can't imagine never walking a dog and limiting it to a life in a garden and house alone.

For elderly neighbours with dogs -- one idea is to organise dog-owning neighbours into a dog walking team. A couple of us do that for one house-bound neighbour.