this is a board that talks about issues concerning animals...your own pets as well as animal rights,alerts,bills before congress that need our attention.This is a family board but as abuse cases may be posted it may not always be for the sensitive readers.Please be kind to each other,thanks!
A handout picture shows a polar bear cub born by polar bear Vera at the zoo in Nuremberg January 11, 2008. The zoo in southern Germany, under fire for letting a mother polar bear eat its five-week old cub, has bowed to media and public pressure and decided to hand rear its last surviving baby.
anastasia: I was just imagining if I was that polar bear! She probably has mental problems anyway with being in a zoo. When I visited Sea World in Florida (not my choice cos I dont pay to see animals in zoos) the polar bears looked extremely traumatised! Pacing back & forth manically, loads of people staring at them, no privacy, kids banging on the glass etc etc etc....enough to send anyone mad!!
件名: Re:Don't animals usually eat there young only when they know there is a problem with it?
anastasia: Some years ago, a neighbor/friend brought me a "domestic" rabbit that she found in the park, it was the dead of winter, and I took her in. She pretty much had free range of the house and the yard (knew what the litterbox was for, and for some odd reason, female bunnies know better - my experience anyway) plus I had a really old big doggie that loved bunnies, so he protected her. Turned out she was pregnant, and even tho she made a "nest" in a box behind the TV with towels, etc., when they were born, she ignored them, and we watched them pass on one by one, hoping that she'd come around and care for her babies, but she didn't. I still wish I had not taken her in, maybe they would've lived if left outdoors where I guess she wanted to be...never again...maybe sometimes humans get involved when they just shouldn't, true?
件名: Re:Don't animals usually eat there young only when they know there is a problem with it?
srnity: Well,I think it was a wonderful thing you did,taking in the bunny,how cool that your doggy loved it...I think D would try to kill it
I think to some point humans probably DO intervene on stuff like that to much..I don't think we do it with any other intentions but to help tho.BUT..if you think about it...you never see a disfigured animal out in the wild,you don't see ANY "handicapped" animal out in the wild because in nature...that kind of creature COULD NOT exsist.So,I suppose it is better if the mother "takes care" of that part of the life cycle.For whatever reason, that Mama Bunny knew that the offspring would be better the way she handled it.Some things maybe we just aren't meant to understand.Nature takes care of it own...it has a wonderful balance of life and death.
Does the March of Dimes really fund horrific animal experiments? Sadly, yes, though the charity is tight-lipped about it! The March of Dimes has funneled millions of dollars into animal experiments. March of Dimes-funded experimenters have: sewn shut newborn kittens’ eyes, left them blind for a year, and then killed them; cut organs from pigs and stitched them into primates; and addicted pregnant animals to alcohol, nicotine and cocaine. In one study (results published in 1998), experimenters cut into the abdomens of pregnant sheep and destroyed the ear drums of the unborn lambs. Just before birth, the mother sheep and lambs were killed, and the brains were cut from the lambs to be examined
srnity: ohhh,you asked for it!!! lol...j/k..really tho,they are both doing great!! Niki is up to 60 pounds now,she is truely a Mama's girl!! EVERYWHERE I go,she is RIGHT THERE.she lays on my feet,she sits so close to me while I am making dinner that she leans into me,she sleeps with me.She has to be touching me always!! If I roll over in bed,she rolls with me,then if I want to roll back,I have to slide her over,lol.She's my babygirl!!
Damien is getting more affectionate with me since I have stoppped working.He was always a Daddy's boy.Mine on the training field but Daddy's at home.Well,now Dad is working and MOM is at home....
We haven't been training as hard because it is so stinkin cold outside,you can't be out there to long.I had planned on trialing Damien this spring,but he won't be ready so we will shot for fall...no biggie..I won't pressure my dog to do something he is not ready for
anastasia: Awww, glad to hear that they are both doing so well Amazing how dogs (and other pets too) are like little ones that never, ever grow up - always miss you when your not there, always happy to have you back, and always (even tho they are snoring away when you get up) taking over the spot you just left in the bed
Well..I wanted to wait until everything was said and done before I made this post about Niki....she has been "popping" in her hips for a couple months now and for my piece if mind,got her x-rayed...the Dr had said he thought it would be something muscular that she would outgrow but we would know for sure after the x-rays were done.
Her x-rays came back showing severe hip dysplacia,and the end of her leg bones that seat into the hip joints are not formed corectly..they have flat spots on them both.They are only about 1/3 of the way seated into the joint itself.She will never be able to compete at a high level of Schutzhund because her joints will not stand the stress of the jumping and climbing that they have to do.She will never be able to breed..she is in, as I type this recovering from being spayed.
So,I just wanted to share this with everyone,so you knew why I haven't posted about them in a while.I love her no less and she is still my lil jellybelly and her big Brother Damien's tormentor,lol..I am however very sad that she will not be able to work out on the feild.I suppose Schutzhund was not the reason the God brought her into my life,and now I have to figure out why she was..besides for me to spoil,lol!!
Jim Dandy: well,there kind of is tho,just in the fact that she is a working breed and for her to be truly happy..she has to work..that is her nature...it is up to me to find the job she was meant to do...again,BESIDES getting spoiled,lol.
I would LOVE to see her do something in therapy..I think she would be wonderful at it,she sooo loves people,espeacially lil kids...how cool would it be to be able to take her places and make people happy,just by her being there...that would be awesome!!
anastasia: That would be noble,some dogs just aren't happy sitting around all day watching Oprah and eating popcorn
I visited with a client on Tuesday,he brings his 13 month old Great Dane to the office a few days a week,I think I've found a new favorite breed,I was nuts about him
anastasia: sorry to hear about Nikis hips. How about getting in touch with some special needs schools, pet petting can be great therapy for kids, so Niki may be great for that?
anastasia: Having grown up in Nursing Homes (and having worked at a couple), if you go the Pet Therapy route, I hope you will also consider Nursing Homes.
I saw pets brightening up their days MANY times. Sometimes, some Alzheimer's patients who don't respond to anything, responded with JOY at seeing a dog.
rod03801: Ya know...just when I take her into Petsmart with me and the people ask if they can pet her,I tell them sure..I always show little ones how to meet a doggy for the first time,and Niki just sits right down for them and lets them maul her....same with elderly people....I honeslty have not found a person that she has not warmed up too.It's weird,she is 7 1/2 months old and she still hasn't gotten that famous "aloofness" that most GSD's have..I have ALWAYS said thats she would be good at therapy....maybe I always knew she was here for another reason..other then competing.
Damien is REALLY good with old people....old women to be precises,he will just let them hug him till his peepers look like they will pop,lol...I would never trust him tho as a therpy dog..he is TO aloof with stragers.
I will let Niki lead me into what she is meant to do...she will tell me.I do plan on keeping her in the tracking and obidieance part of Schutzhund tho ;)
Jim Dandy: I did hear that one!! I saw that story..I can't remeber what channel but it was fairly recently that I saw it,because they put that story along with the story of the dog that can detect cancer in people by sniffing them.
anastasia: Awww, poor Niki I hope she is recouping well & I do believe that everything happens for a reason - there's something very special that she's meant to do & maybe, just maybe, she needs to be young to get started on her way, so that's why now instead of later Dogs have the ability to be SO much to SO many, it would be great if "therapy" was her calling, I wish her (and Damien, of course) ALL the best that a dog's life has to offer
Thanks everyone!! She is doing well today..was a bit rough yesterday after I got her home..she wouldn;t eat,she got sick to her lil tummy,she was a bit cranky to Damien,which he couldn't figure for the life of him,lol.He was very gentle with her tho,nuzzled her tummy a bit.When they would go outside,she couldn't run with him..so he had the toy in his mouth,would run around her 2 or 3 times,stop and let her take the toy from him,then he would run around again,lol.This morning he was DESPERATE to get her to chase him,he was play bowing and everything to her,but she still couldn't run to well.By tonight,she is trying to run and keep up with him..she gets half way through the yard and has to stop and sit down....if he runs to close to her tho she will try to bite his head,lol!!
anastasia: I actually just read something about dogs sniffing people with cancer and here is what it said: something in the cancer cells emit a scent that dogs can smell. The woman had asked why her dog had suddenly fixated on a mole on her arm was sniffing licking nipping at it. I can't find the article about it but that blew me away.
It's fascinating stuff, and not too surprising when you consider their abilities to detect some chemicals in parts per millions quantities. Early results suggest their detecting abilities not only for melanomas (skin), but also for bladder cancers (urine), and possibly lung cancers (breath).
wetware: I believe they have known for years about dogs capabilities. I recall reading a Stephen King novel in the early 80s (Talisman) A dog character could smell death on an old man in the story (the guy was riddled with cancer) Unreal how intelligent not only dogs but dolphins and other animals are when you think about it!
Rose: and to think of the animals that are kept in cages their entire lives...how sick and how unbelieveably sad!! Everything that they are capible of doing and their they sit,having expieriments ran on them,or living in puppy mills,just sick.
anastasia: Absolutely! I've read articles and seen images that just make me ill. How can humans be so cruel I wonder? I guess Im just glad every one isnt like that and there are groups that are trying to stop animals abuse all over the world! We can all do our part by supporting these groups, support the organizations that want to stop cruelty to animals.
Rose: So very true!! If everyone would take the time to do SOMETHING...even if it seems small to you,it could make a world of difference for some animal...like sign a petition...have some old towels that you were going to throw away? Donate them to a shelter.At a garage sale and see some dog toys or brushes? Buy them and donate them.Little things do add up!!
Ewe: I'm torn on this one.Humans are humans,but I do support humane practices in the eating of animals,though some may think there are none.
anastasia:I would fill out the form,but I feel I'll probably just get put on their mailing list.Stating it on an online pledge won't change anything if I do it already.
件名: I need to call on your experience and knowledge
I may be moving to a home located on a street with many areas for a dog to enjoy.I previosly was against adopting a dog due to already having two cats,they have sqautters rights,and I didn't want to have a dog couped up in an apt.I need some advice in regards to what dog breeds tend to get along well with cats,it will be a puppy,and it must be a smaller breed.I refuse to have the dog diminish my girls enjoyment of their home,hopefully I can find a breed that will co-exist and compliment our family.