Yes, it has crossed my mind more than once that cats should be involved in my argument on the right to own a pet.
That is a staggering amount of wildlife that has met their doom at domestic cat’s paws. Do we want zillions of dogs and cats or do we need to consider more the impact they have on us humans and native wildlife?
By the way I am not afraid of dogs or dislike cats. I have owned both in my time. It never-the-less p****** me off, and a number of my friends, on the constant threat they pose to us. Who is more important here us or damn dogs (and cats)?
I would also question this highly improbable supposition that all dogs are perfectly wonderful creatures that apparently don’t have any nasty inborn nasty traits. What a load of hogwash. If you apply that to any living creature with half a brain it can be extended to include us. Are we then all born the same with none of our own characteristics and behaviour? How then can twins be totally different from each other yet brought up exactly the same in the same family environment?
I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine who has just got over a serious injury caused by - yes you guessed it - a dog. He told me that a friend of his had just put a dog down. Reason being it was utterly bonkers and nothing they did calmed it down. They had bought this animal as a very young pup but it had shown aggressive tendencies right from the off. The pup replaced the identical type of dog they had previously which was a very calm and placid animal. They treated it exactly the same. The owners had plenty of money and the dog wanted for nothing. Same breed - same upbringing - same treatment but the 2nd dog was a nasty piece of work.
To say that all dog attacks are to be blamed on the owner is just nonsense.
Some dogs IMO are predisposed to being more aggressive but it’s mostly how they are treated that can tame that, our old Katie was a corgi her mother rejected her and was a really human aggressive dog, we did wonder when we took her on what she would be like, but with love and gentleness and with us making sure all her human interactions were 100% positive she grew into a lovely dog. Loved people and other dogs, only thing we would have been nervous about was he becoming a mother as she had such a bad start with her own mother so we just ensured that could never happen.
Duncan was a Yorkshire terrier he was also a hunter he had a horrible start in life 8 months in a dark shed, cigarette burns on his back, we think he was between 1 and 18 months when we took him on. No amount of gentleness and love would change him, he loved us and would never have hurt us but he remained human aggressive all his life. Only other person he would trust was my grand niece he was besotted with her from the day she was born. But his start in life made him scared of humans for his entire life.
Dogs are only a small part what they are born and a huge part how they are treated in the first few months IMO.
I think the whole issue throws up more philosophical questions than answers to be honest. Nobody has yet been able to answer definitively the nature/nurture debate and it continues to rage. We are swamped with anecdotal evidence for both sides incidentally.
Do we as humans and allegedly the most intelligent species have a right to uninterrupted space on this planet over and above animals etc… A debate I shy away mostly as I am more than happy to share my space with animals and make allowances for their different characters. You on the other hand would probably argue something quite different.
That’s true my philosophy is we have to all rub along together and sharing common spaces is one of those things we have to share. Keep my dogs on leads (long ones) they don’t interfere with other people or dogs unless invited to do so. It’s not all one sided though as we have been run at by runners, nearly run over by cyclists and mobbed by other peoples dogs. So everyone has to behave just a little more unselfishly and not interfere with each others pleasures. That includes humans and animals IMO
I blame capitalism myself (that should get them all wound up :-D), the unalienable right to territory over and above animals and the natural world generally.
Thankfully my dog is not bothered by runners, scooters or bikes. I decide on his interaction with other people and dogs too.
I do object however to having to jump into hedges to avoid arrogant car drivers in quiet country lanes who see the national speed limit as compulsory whatever the road conditions. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Unless you have strong religious convictions, why would you assume that humans take priority over any animals? Doesn’t everything (apart from flies and wasps) have as much right to be on the planet as the next living thing?
I remember going to the post office to get our last dog licence as they were being phased out here and they didn’t half have a laugh, apparently we were the only ones in our village at that time with licenced dogs no one else had bought a licence in the past 4 years ! And I can promise we were not the only dog owners.
Licences won’t help anything it’s only the responsible people who don’t cause any problems who buy them.
That is one of my pet gripes - I live in a rural area with some very narrow lanes in the countryside and I choose to go for a stroll down those lanes with my dogs. I will always stand to the side and pull my dogs right in so that cars can get past easily. Most drivers slow right down even though we are already in the ‘safe’ position for them to pass and a friendly ‘thank you’ and nod passes between us. Other drivers barely give me time to get the dogs out of the way and a fair few have been happy to drive straight at them. Now, I walk in the middle of the road - they may get off with just a wigging for hitting my dogs but they won’t get off so lightly for hitting me. All that angst because drivers think no-one should be on those lanes but them. It’s about time the same consideration given to cyclists and horses on that type of lane is given to dog walkers; most of us like to stroll down country lanes.
[quote=“ben-varrey, post: 332029”]
Other drivers barely give me time to get the dogs out of the way and a fair few have been happy to drive straight at them. QUOTE]
You can search for whatever. View the image first (click on it) and then copy the image location (right click and copy image location or similar depending on your browser) to paste here. Job done…
Well the image innit? Cat driving a car. Cat sees dog and attempts to run it over. You are def a right brain user today as you are lacking logic big time :shock:.
