People 'babying' pets.

[biggs682]

Daughter has just got a puppy , my phone now has more puppy pictures than bikes

 

[newfhouse]

Bedlington Whippet crosses are common and are again lovely animals.

There’s a Whiplington here that would be upset at being described as common if he had human emotions.

 

[Saluki]

I must be a terrible dog owner.I have 2 Lurchers who are spoiled. They have coats as they feel the cold and a jumper each as I am not putting my heating on 24 hours a day for them. They are walked two or three times a day, plus garden time, but I take up invitations to socialise with friends without expecting an invitation for the hounds. I go shopping without them, never put them on a table or carry them.
yes, they sleep on the sofa, it’s a hound thing. They also do not beg at the table and do as they are told. They don’t pull on the lead, snatch things from you or generally behave like bratty dogs that I have seen.
That said, it’s been a long time since I have had a shower in peace. One of them will come and check that there isn’t a magic door that I have managed to sneak out of, in the bathroom.
They don’t have a dog crate, but I have used them, in the past, with other dogs, who adored their crate.

 

[classic33]

I think that statement can be true of almost any of the domestic animals most closely associated with humans, given the 'right' situation - although nowadays it usually applies mainly to dogs, and somewhat less-commonly to cats and horses.

I remember reading a book (not fiction) about three children orphaned on the Oregon Trail, who were eventually left with just one of the draught oxen - the sole female - of the four which had drawn their parent's wagon, and who set off walking together. The story had been written down by the son of the settler and wife to whose cabin the children finally made their way; even the rather dry and unsympathetic-sounding 'Victorian' description of the bond between the children and this - literally - faithful cow who helped them to survive during the many weeks they had spent lost in the mountains in terrible weather was tear-jerking. I've often looked for the book but never found it again; I'd bought it secondhand when I lived in Australia.

Possible!

View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Oregon-Trail-Puffin-Books/dp/0140301720

 

[Time Waster]

Bedlington terriers are apparently from the same sort of stock as border terriers, which we have, even though they don't look like it. BTs are a great breed being highly intelligent, apparently among the most trainable terrier breeds. Double coat that copes with most that uk can throw at them. Ours was happy in minus 10C when 2 months old without even grown into its first full double coat. Low allergic too but not quite hypoallergenic. Ours walked off lead, close to heel on its first walk outside at 10 weeks old iirc! Been good ever since, with the odd rare incident of full independence at adolescence.

Clothing? If your dog is highly bred for a particular use that makes it less able to cope in bad weather then a weatherproof coat makes sense. However I've no time for anyone putting fashion dog clothing on their dogs. Do they like it or just put up with it to be with their hooman food giver? IMHO the worst examples of such dog owners should be made to wear the most embarrassing and humiliating getups every time they put such things on their pet. No time for those with the worst excesses if "doggy" clothing.

There's a breed or sub breed of cat called ragdolls that go limp when handled. If that's the type of cat owned by that poster who said their cat gets dressed up by the neighbourhood kids then I can see how they get v away with it. The cats I've known would fight a bit if anyone tried that. BTW are they really happy being handled like that the ragdolls or is that just an in bred coping strategy that's hardwired into them by selective breeding?

I'm afraid I hold the view humans have overbred a lot of our pets and that's created animal cruelty. I believe the kennel club breed standards make compelling evidence that the KC should be prosecuted for animal cruelty. British bulldog, King Charles spaniel, any flat nosed breed, etc. All with health issues effectively promoted by the KC breed standards. I am also biased here because I really only like the more instinctive breeds of working dogs which tend to be bred to be healthier. Mongrels too. I fear that since iirc 2016 when the jack Russell terrier got accepted as a pedigree show breed by the KC we may be on the way to ruin the breed.

Incidentally if you like the British bulldog then seek out a breeder of olde Englishes bulldogge. It's a cross between English bulldog and a few other breeds like bull mastiff and American bulldog. It was a attempt to reverse the English bulldog into the healthy, less extreme and original breed standards for the English bulldog. It used to be much more like say a more powerful boxer dog able to keep out of the way of a hills horns in bull baiting. Can't see the KC breed standard shoe English bulldogs do that!

Anyway rant and ramble over!

 

[KnittyNorah]

Possible!

View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Children-Oregon-Trail-Puffin-Books/dp/0140301720

That does sound as if it's the same basic story, perhaps adapted to make it more child-friendly and with more modern language.

 

[Reynard]

There's a breed or sub breed of cat called ragdolls that go limp when handled. If that's the type of cat owned by that poster who said their cat gets dressed up by the neighbourhood kids then I can see how they get v away with it. The cats I've known would fight a bit if anyone tried that. BTW are they really happy being handled like that the ragdolls or is that just an in bred coping strategy that's hardwired into them by selective breeding?

As a cat show judge and someone with ragdoll breeder friends, I can categorically say that Ragdolls (and their non-pointed cousins Ragamuffins) do NOT go limp when handled. It's an urban myth.

A Ragdoll is quite a large semi-longhaired cat that has quite a bit of Persian in its ancestry, although they should have a balanced conformation, not extreme in any way. But they were originally bred for a calm and unflustered temperament, which is why they do make a good family pet. The ones I know are all soppy cuddlebugs. They're not the smartest cats though...

Mind you, every cat, regardless of its breeding - Ragdoll or otherwise, has that point in its temperament beyond which you don't want to push. I can go so far with my own two (both non-pedigree), but then Poppy will biff and Lexi will bite. You learn to read their body language and then back off - a cat is an incredibly good communicator.

As for doing stuff with your cat, that's just down to building trust and understanding their individual personalities. Like anything, it's a two-way process...

 

[Fab Foodie]

There’s a Whiplington here that would be upset at being described as common if he had human emotions.

View attachment 668095

That's a fine looking dog!
I hope he accepts my unreserved apologies.

 

[Fab Foodie]

@Saluki makes an important point. Dogs differ widely in their needs.
Sighthounds/most lurchers for example have little or no undercoat so felt the cold and wet more than other breeds, hence Whippets, Greyhounds, Saluki's etc. All need fleeces and raincoats in the winter.
Sighthounds are very deep chested, lack body fat and find it difficult to lie on hard surfaces - we have to take sheepskins or a mattress into a pub so the Whips cab lie down. This is not cosseting, it's caring. Also, if they can't lie down and sleep it will be a miserable evening.
Sighthounds hunt by eyesight, it sounds obvious, but because of this they naturally like to be high-up, hence they automatically climb into any chair, bed, or top of stairs - it's in their nature to seek the best view.
Whippets were also called bedwarmer dogs, because they would be put into kids beds to keep them warm. Many Whippets end-up on or in their owners beds.

Each breed has its own foibles....

 

[Reynard]

Each breed has its own foibles....

Same with cats - as a household pet judge, I get to handle almost every breed going as well as non-pedigrees, and they've all got their own characteristics. Non-peds tend to be pot luck, but then that's part of the fun. All the cats I've had, have all been distinct personalities each with their own likes, dislikes and opinions.

 

[KnittyNorah]

If that's the type of cat owned by that poster who said their cat gets dressed up by the neighbourhood kids then I can see how they get v away with it.

That was my cat Poppy - a homeless moggy who'd had six kittens (all died) by the time she was 20 weeks old ... not a ragdoll or anything like it. She'd been dragged up as a sort of 'living toy' by a couple of little girls in a very large and 'socially problematic' family (which did that old-fashioned thing, a 'moonlight flit'). And left this heavily-pregnant still-a-kitten-herself behind ...
Two colleagues of a friend of mine, who lived near this family, took her in but, never having had a cat before, couldn't cope. I was on a course in Oxford and got a text message from my friend saying 'can you look after a 19-week-old kitten for a bit when you get back?'
And the rest was history ...

When she got tired of being dressed up, Poppy'd just jump up, free herself from her clothes and stalk off. But she just adored children and went out actively to find them and play with/be played with by them. She didn't go at all limp when picked up (btw I believe that some people suspect the docility of ragdoll cats to be a genetic abnormality or deficit of some sort) but she clearly liked being held, fussed, cuddled and rocked like a 'pretend baby' - as a couple of the local mums said to me, she's much better than a doll because she's alive and reacts to the children - but safer than a real baby animal because she can protect herself. I then found out that she'd hissed, bottlebrushed her tail and threatened a scratch when one young madam tried to put a nappy on her and caught her fur on the self-adhesive strip!

I don't think she especially liked being dressed up - rather she tolerated it in return for the attention it gained her from the children. She did, though, actively enjoy being pushed about in a dolly's pram - or a basket for that matter, or a small rucksack she could see out of - and being cuddled, and held on her back like a babe-in-arms.

Mind you, seventy years ago my parents had a cat who I used to wheel about in my doll's pram - he was already middle-aged by the time I came along and although according to my mother, I tried to dress him up, he never tried to scratch me but just shook off the bonnets I put on him and jumped out of the dolls pram I'd put him in, if I took it more than a few feet from the back door. So I don't think silly-soft cats are so very unusual!

 

[Reynard]

Hah! My Poppy *hates* being carried like a baby, and will wallop anyone in the chops who dares to try... Mind you, she's a tortoiseshell, and torties have this reputation for being... opinionated. OTOH she loves me blowing raspberries on her belly and will dribble with delight when I do that. She also steals crisps, but that's another story...

Whereas Lexi loves being carried around like a baby, but much prefers perching on my shoulder like a parrot. She'll quite happily come out and about with me on her lead & harness, and I've got one of those "small dog shoulder bags" to carry her in.

A previous cat of mine, Toby, I trained to walk on a lead like a dog. He was an indoor cat at the time as I was a student in there that London, and we used to go to the local park for a constitutional of an afternoon. When we had to cross the road, he would sit on the kerb and wait till it was safe to cross.

 

[KnittyNorah]

Hah! My Poppy *hates* being carried like a baby, and will wallop anyone in the chops who dares to try... Mind you, she's a tortoiseshell, and torties have this reputation for being... opinionated. OTOH she loves me blowing raspberries on her belly and will dribble with delight when I do that. She also steals crisps, but that's another story...

Whereas Lexi loves being carried around like a baby, but much prefers perching on my shoulder like a parrot. She'll quite happily come out and about with me on her lead & harness, and I've got one of those "small dog shoulder bags" to carry her in.

A previous cat of mine, Toby, I trained to walk on a lead like a dog. He was an indoor cat at the time as I was a student in there that London, and we used to go to the local park for a constitutional of an afternoon. When we had to cross the road, he would sit on the kerb and wait till it was safe to cross.

My Poppy was black-and-white, and was happy to wear a harness and go for a walk - or even a bus ride, to a 'dog-friendly' cafe where she'd sit on my lap and survey her surroundings. She was perfectly content around dogs who 'knew their place' and, in fact, great friends with the next-door dog, Elliot the Patterdale. They looked, at first glance, to be sworn enemies, but Sharon (neighbour) and I knew the truth - that when Poppy and Elliot thought no-one was looking, Poppy got down off the top of the fence, and Elliot stopped barking and leaping, and they rubbed against each other, groomed each other, shared food and water and generally acted like friends-with-benefits. But then either Sharon or I would succumb to temptation, make our presence known and laugh like drains as the two of them would hurriedly restart their charade of hate!

 

[Mo1959]

I'm afraid I hold the view humans have overbred a lot of our pets and that's created animal cruelty.

Totally agree. I meet a lady in the park with one of these French bulldogs which seems to have an exceptionally squashed face. The poor thing snorts like a pig when it’s breathing. It’s horrible

 

[Saluki]

@Saluki makes an important point. Dogs differ widely in their needs.
Sighthounds/most lurchers for example have little or no undercoat so felt the cold and wet more than other breeds, hence Whippets, Greyhounds, Saluki's etc. All need fleeces and raincoats in the winter.
Sighthounds are very deep chested, lack body fat and find it difficult to lie on hard surfaces - we have to take sheepskins or a mattress into a pub so the Whips cab lie down. This is not cosseting, it's caring. Also, if they can't lie down and sleep it will be a miserable evening.
Sighthounds hunt by eyesight, it sounds obvious, but because of this they naturally like to be high-up, hence they automatically climb into any chair, bed, or top of stairs - it's in their nature to seek the best view.
Whippets were also called bedwarmer dogs, because they would be put into kids beds to keep them warm. Many Whippets end-up on or in their owners beds.

Each breed has its own foibles....

My two sleep down the bed. They think that I don’t know. About 5 minutes before my alarm goes off, they sqiggle out of bed and curl in their baskets. Then make a massive fuss with stretching and yawning when I get up. As if to say ‘we’ve been in our baskets all night’. There is a bit more dog size in my Lurchers. I fondly remember having some space in the bed when I had my Whippet, Feargal.