Are Fish Next??

[skjl47]

Hello; Interesting how this thread migrated over to dogs. I live near a college, LMU located in Harrogate TN. A house next to my property is become a rental for college students. With few exceptions the college students now have dogs. I say dogs because some have more than one. In fact the girl renting the house next door had three for a while this year. She is a veterinary medicine student and plans to neuter the youngest male dog. The older dogs are already fixed.

The two older dogs are really old. Thirteen or more years old. One is doing OK. The other is near blind and has bad hips. That one is suffering all the time. Now I am old school and from a background as a child where we could not afford Vet bills. We did not quickly put a dog down when it was hurt or sick, but at some point when it became clear things were not going to get better such was done. Anyway she is now down to two dogs.
After watching the hurting dog for a few weeks last summer I asked her if she ever considered putting the dog out of misery. She made up as to how the dog was not so bad. I dropped the topic understanding there was an emotional bent to the story.

I must not have been paying attention because having a dog in college did not happen back in my day. I stayed in rental houses and in a dorm. Dogs were not allowed. Now they are allowed in the campus housing it seems. I also never saw dogs in the supermarket the way i do now. My take is having a dog must be, in part, some sort of a fad. Not exactly like having the right sneakers as a dog presents ethical & emotional issues.
The fun side I understand as I have had a couple of dogs. The complicating side i also understand. Lots of problems having a dog. lots of liability with some dogs. So reading this thread and learning lots of folks turn in dogs to shelters before a holiday was news to me but after some thought made sense. What to do with a dog when a vacation or holiday trip was coming?

 

[PhishMon84]

The initial post of the thread mentions the ban of puppies and kittens in pet stores.

It’s a continuation of that.

It’s never an easy decision, I lost my setter to cancer 3.1.24- still hurts but I know I did the right thing putting her to sleep as she could not even stand up and was suffering. I selfishly kept her alive for a month or more as I wrestled with the idea- and coming up on 1 year I still say “come on girls” when I go to walk my mix- even though I just have the one now

 

[skjl47]

My take is having a dog must be, in part, some sort of a fad. Not exactly like having the right sneakers as a dog presents ethical & emotional issues.

still hurts but I know I did the right thing putting her to sleep as she could not even stand up and was suffering.

Hello; Been a long time since I had to put a dog down myself. Such is not fun.

 

[jjohnwm]

The problem with puppy mills and similar things is real, not imaginary. Animals are kept in abysmal conditions, maintained and bred strictly for profit. The people who do this are not animal lovers, but they recognize that animal lovers exist and present an opportunity, a market, which they fully intend to exploit. Should the government step in and exert some form of control? A case can certainly be made for that idea, but that is a slippery slope. Once they get their toe inside the door, you are likely going to see them drive their entire car right into your living room shortly afterwards.

Lawmakers love making new laws, new regulations, new restrictions, new controls. It's the death of a thousand cuts...a little here, a little more there, then some more a bit later, until they have completely sliced you to ribbons and there's no recovery from that. It's astonishing to me when a younger person expresses concern about something they want to do, because they can't find a law that says they can do it. They don't even understand that the law doesn't outline what they can do, but rather what they can't.

Do the things that give you enjoyment and satisfaction...but always remember that there are numerous people whose enjoyment and satisfaction stems from controlling you.

 

[skjl47]

The people who do this are not animal lovers, but they recognize that animal lovers exist and present an opportunity, a market, which they fully intend to exploit.

Hello; It is a business for profit.

.but always remember that there are numerous people whose enjoyment and satisfaction stems from controlling you.

Hello; Things are already changed too much in terms of outside influence over keeping a furry pet for my liking. Seems best for me to not have another dog.

 

[tlindsey]

Seems best for me to not have another dog.

That's very sad.

 

[jjohnwm]

Lol, in my previous home in Ontario, which like my current home was in a fairly rural location with no visible neighbours, I was bemused and angered to read that the Municipality had passed a new law (!!!) preventing me from owning more than 3 dogs! The Regional Municipality had recently been amalgamated out of a number of tiny villages and hamlets as well as a larger town of about 20,000 souls, and apparently was being governed by a troop of Squirrel Monkeys; lots of screaming and flinging of fecal matter, but very little constructive progress. I suppose that it might make some sense that someone living in town should not have a pack of unruly canines in a small urban yard...but I was 20 kilometers from town, on 100+ acres, fully fenced and with no nearby neighbours. I could have kept a herd of bison without causing anyone the slightest inconvenience.

I had three dogs at the time, all well-behaved, well-trained, friendly, confined to my property at all times...but two of them were very protective of their territory and their people (i.e. my wife and me). So when I saw the two big dogs suddenly perk up and charge around to the front of the house one day, I sashayed around front to check out what the excitement was. I got there in time to see a very earnest and fresh-faced young fellow climbing back up over my fence to where he was parked just outside my gate. He was being urged to continue this hasty exit by my two dogs, in a decidedly unfriendly manner. He landed in a disheveled heap in the gravel and was recombobulating himself as I walked up.

I asked him what part of the five foot wooden fence or the locked metal gate or the No Trespassing signs had confused him enough to make him climb inside in the first place. He sputtered that he was from the RM offices and had come to make sure my dogs were in compliance in terms of numbers and also were licenced. I asked him what dogs he meant, with one dog on each side of me, hackles raised and tails wagging in that stiff manner which some people confuse with friendliness. I told them to Sit and they did, but remained fixated on what they clearly hoped would be their new chew toy.

He was beside himself with righteous indignation; he knew he was in the right, that he was serving the holy mission of bringing order to the unwashed rural masses and that his Quest would not be thwarted. I intended to thwart it.

He pointed at the two dogs at my side and said "Your dogs are a menace!"

Me: "I don't have any dogs."

Him: "What do you call those?!?!?"

Me: "I call them dogs, but they don't belong to me."

Him: "Who do they belong to?"

Me: "How should I know? They like to visit sometimes, just to say Hi"

Him: "How about that one?", pointing to the third dog, a little 10-pound MinPin who was standing inside the living room picture window, yapping at the top of her lungs and practically levitating as she watched the tableau being enacted outside.

Me: "That one's visiting my wife."

To his credit, he realized he was being toyed with and simply turned on his heel, grabbed his clipboard and drove off. I later read in the local paper and heard at the the general store that he was only doing that job for a few more weeks, and after receiving more or less equally poor treatment at every farmhouse he visited the project was quietly cancelled by the Squirrel Monkeys. The new by-law was amended to exempt residences outside of the old town boundaries, so that the new Regional Municipality...which was well over 3000 square kilometers in area...was almost entirely left to its own devices...which was the way we liked it.

That little toadie looked like he was about 18, which would place him in his mid-30's today. He probably still works for the Municipality, and is likely drafting legislation to limit the water flow rate of private residential pumps operating on private residential wells supplying private residences with their domestic water. Power corrupts...and absolute power corrupts absolutely...

 

[PhishMon84]

In my town, which is nothing like the one i grew up in which was more similar to what you described above- except we had no leash laws, is only 5 sq miles and has about 10k ppl, making it the smallest and most densely populated town in the county just west of Boston.

I have a 6 foot fence around my entire property aprox half an acre, and we are limited to 4 dogs. to have more than 4 you need a kennel license, which they will not issue.

But this has nothing to do with preventing the sale of dogs and cats at pet stores-

 

[jjohnwm]

But this has nothing to do with preventing the sale of dogs and cats at pet stores-

Well, yes and no. It's not directly related...but it illustrates how many people feel they know best and want to protect you from yourself. You know...for your own good...