No Cut Ears

Normal

There are some basic common sense things that people sometimes get too into conforming to what everybody else is doing to bother to notice. Like:

Dogs communicate with each other with their ears & tails. Dogs need their ears & tails. Do not hack off your puppy's body parts. How would you like it if you couldn't speak to other people?

Besides that, we people rely on being able to read a dog's body language.

I knew one person who liked bobbed tail dogs so she could see their "target" as she called it. It took me a moment to figure out what she meant. She made hand motions. I understood.

Not my thing. I like a dog to have a normal tail and for the dog to be able to cover up that part with his tail.

I knew a guy who raised dogs whose tails went over their backs. He asked me if I liked the way his dogs looked. I said: Yes, but I'd like them better if they carried their tails normally, so their @$$?0// wasn't so obvious.

He said that was his favorite part of the dog, he thought it was cute, and he liked to look at it.

Ever since then, I wonder about the people who post that they just can't stand the idea that cruelty laws might prevent them from lopping off their dogs tails.

What's so great about having a dog with no tail?

It's not because you like looking at the dog's uncovered @$$?)// is it?

Sometimes you just have to laugh at people.
Permission to cross post.

Mama!

Is this where your puppy really came from?

The bigger image shows it better: - note that these dogs are just one pen in a line of adjoining pens - see another pen on the right side?
photo source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Puppy_mill_01.JPG

This is a puppy mill.

5 Gen Gap

Animal Rights are becoming more & more popular, it is a cultural movement. It has spread from Europe to America.

But their have always been some people, even way back in time, who have been for Animal Rights or Animal Welfare.

Each era has it's own way to help animals.

Readers of the book "Black Beauty" remember the cause to end the use of the bearing rein - a strap of leather that made the horse keep his head up so he would look happy and not over-burdened.

As I understand it:
When a horse pulls a heavy load, it is often helpful to the horse, to be able to get his head & neck down towards the ground, to change the center of gravity in this body, so he can more efficiently use his weight to help him pull.

But when the horse does this, then people watching the horse pulling the wagon, will say "Look at that man, he over-loads his poor horse".

People cheat. By strapping the horse's head up, the horse doesn't appear to be over-burdened.

Also, you can look at a healthy, well fed, happy horse, and see his sparkle in his step, the twinkle in his eyes, the aliveness in his actions and how he stands.

People cheat. It is easier to strap the horses head up into the angle used by healthy, happy horses, than to rest, feed, worm, shoe, and shelter a horse so that he really is happy & healthy.

The bearing rein made the horse appear to be a better cared for animal, it made the carriage appear more valuable like:

"I can afford a to have enough horses that they share the work, and I can afford to feed them grain, not just grass".

But it made it all the worse for the poor horse, who was still was over-worked, and now had to work while holding his head & neck un-naturally for the type of heavy hauling he was doing.

Have you ever seen dog shows where the exhibitors put the thin choke chain right under the dog's head, and then trot the dog around while pulling the dog's head upward by the choke chain so the dog trots with his head held un-naturally high?

I have seen it. Not occasionally, but so often, that I would call it the norm for dog shows that I have been to.

Like the abuse of carriage horses stopped when horses weren't used for transportation muscle, the abuse of show dogs is best stopped by ending dog shows.

One of the real issues with dog shows is not what happens in the ring, it is with what happens to the losers, and the breeding of puppies for a competitive sport, but their sale as pets.

Is this nice?

Look at the calf. The fluid shooting out of his little nose. What is happening to his back? In a few frames he will be yanked off his feet. Is this nice?

Rodeos aren't about skills real cowboys use. No sane rancher would ruin the health of his calves by roping them like this, at high speed. (If at all.)

There are other issues about animals. One of those issues is about dog breeding, and breeding dogs to be used in competitions.

On the surface it might not seem as bad as calf roping. But multiplied across the county by so many people, the problems multiply too.

If nobody speaks up about the problems, or if nobody listens, then the problems will just get worse, and all the improvements that could have been made, will never happen.

steer roping

Not fun 4 calf

The crowd hears her scream, they see her suffering, do they care?
What kind of monsters haave we become?

Please don't use animals in sports.