We've only ever owned 1 dog - a sort of Labrador which we acquired as a rescuee from my local police kennels in 1968. He travelled thruout Europe with us, came back to the UK and did 6 months quarrantine - luckily in a local kennels so we could visit every day. It was expensive but whilst friends of my parents thought we were completely mad ( Why not just leave the dog in Calais ? ), we wouldn't have even considered it. Take an animal of whatever species into your life and you remain responsible for it for as long as it lives. So many people just have to have a "pet" now without the slightest clue as to what it means. Look at all the various species ( birds/reptiles/mammals ) which are just dumped when the owner realises that they aren't just the toys they thought they were but living creatures which require time and attention.
@Thevictorian Lockdown certainly has a lot to answer for. Idiots with big, badly trained dogs everywhere. My niece and her husband got a Staffie during lockdown. He's a lovely natured dog but until comparatively recently, went nuts everytime he met anybody. Jumping up, charging around and basically being totally out of control. He is improving as he gets older, now 5 years old. The big problem is that the only people who can look after him are her parents, which means she has to plan holidays etc to coordinate with when they are available.
Its amazing how expensive some of the designer mongrels are these days. I'm not keen on pedigree dogs either, I like ones that are just dogs, nothing fancy. They usually dont come with all the health problems that a lot of dogs seem to have these days either.
Had my two GSD, separately. Both got obedience titles. I truly could take them anywhere and they be socially appropriate. New York Hotels, Bed and Breakfasts Inns, shops, restaurants, nursing homes, post office, hardware stores. etc. Miss my boys. But its work to get them like that, every evening, weekends, hours, and obedience classes with other dogs, etc. on and on. but for a 130 lb dog they have got to be good.
I'm guessing gsd is German shepherd @redstar ? If so I bet the secret service would have loved if Biden's shepherds had that much training. By all accounts there were fending the dogs off frequently.
yes they are Shephard. I was heartbroken by what I had heard about Biden's dog. Seems the dog had never been socialized well, to bite like they said. It would have taken a lot for either of my boys to give a bite. One time, at a party at my house, about 10 people, one of the men was walking close behind me to get to the kitchen for ice, Thompson let out a low growl, like to say, you are too close to mom, that particular man stopped still and let the distance take care of itself. That was the closest thing I had to a "seemly" aggressive action from my guy. I have a feeling the mans walk was too assertive for the dog also toward my person, but could not see that. Many times he and I would be in the post office getting our mail, with people rushing in and out etc. he would just sit still and wait. At hardware stores with all the rows of merchandise it was the perfect area to practice heeling with distractions. So as people walked up and down the rows looking for stuff, he'd remain focused on being at heel with me, no turning to sniff at anyone etc. Recently I saw on TV. a congressman being interviewed outside in front of the white house, or the side area of the white house, in the distance near the white house was a dog. Just looked too skinny to be a GSD, so looked it up, it was one of those Belgian Mailou's, it said there are two that patrol the white house area. Yes there was a handler with it.
Speaking of dogs and cats. Over here there of course is commercials, with those sad eyes, adopt me , I am stuck in a kennel, no one wants me. Or send money. Truly with the same passion would be to Fix them all. Wish Vets would offer a major discount monthly, or something. One time I am in a Vets office, and the 20 year old kid is saying he wants his Beagle to "experience" having puppies, I said to him WHY. she truly does not spend sleepless nights wanting to be a mother. Unless she is a prize champion of great quality for the breed, get her fixed. there are enough fur babies out there as it is. Humans, SMH.
@redstar it sounds as if your commercials are very similar to those here - the Animal charities are little different to the Children's charities - enormous sad eyes and the usual Give Money Now. The use of the word Rescue dominates and seems guaranteed to produce the cash.
I would be more inclined to give to animal charities if they didn't put on the OTT sad eyes and mournful piano music.
I pay monthly into a horse charity. A couple of years ago they said, thankyou for your continued donation of £10 a month, please let us know if you want to continue, I sent a reply saying I only donate £7.50 a month and if this is your way of increasing my Direct Debit and getting me to pay more I will stop the DD immediately. They wrote back and said it was an error and it had been rectified.
@pete I had problems with Guide Dogs. Our monthly donation was considerably higher than the minimum suggested, but we got almost monthly phone calls asking us if we would increase it. It got so bad that I warned them that if I was called again I would cancel the subscription completely, and asked them to note that fact. About a month later I received yet another call. Rather than carry out my threat I asked the caller if they had read the note about our subscription. To be fair to them they did apologise and I have never had another phone call from them.
I'm totally convinced animals exist. But I think you mean check the money goes to the correct place. As with nearly all the big ones they have large salaries paid to all the executives etc. I had a mate who did jobs at the local RSPCA branch weekends for cash in hand, he always referred to it jokingly as charity work.
I also make a monthly donation via DD to the BHWT and did once receive a request to "make a donation". I contacted them and informed them that I had been donating on a regular basis for a number of years. All credit to them that they apologised and I've had no more requests along those lines since then. I suspect most charities fall into the trap of asking for more whether by intent or simple human error. Some of the bigger charities don't always deserve their status but are run more in the manner of big business.
