Truly, I think I've had enough

[Roadrider48]

absolutely. What a jumped up species are we to think we have any rights over animals at all, to keep as pets or farm? It was never intended like that I'm sure but alas, now we have domesticated them we have sentenced them to a life of misery without us, and sometimes with us.
I'm quite into nature and love looking at stars, planets and stuff, not that i know much, just like to look at the big picture. I feel very sad that we, as humans, just mess up this very unique planet, maybe one of its kind. I do feel this planet would way more beautiful without us. And if animals could describe the devil... He would definitely be in human form.

Oh dear!

 

[Saluki]

We've had 3 'dumped' Irish dogs, A Lurcher, a Greyhound and a Whippet. One was old, one was slow, one had no prey drive. All 3 had been starved and then put on the motorway. They were too weak to run away from the traffic. Its a pikey trick is that. All 3 lived happy lives with us and we fattened them up to a proper sighthound weight.
Animal cruelty makes me sick. Dogs are generally loyal animals and being dumped by their previous owners is upsetting for them. Dogs will often stay close to where they are dumped so they are close by for when their 'owners' return for them (not that they ever do). We have found a fair few dumped dogs, over the years. Its never nice. I am not wild about taking them to the RSPCA either, not with their 7 day policy. I try and get them into independent, no kill, shelters. I've even kept a couple myself.

 

[buggi]

Did this dog suffer?

i would say yes. I took on a dog that was 12 years old. Her owner didn't want her anymore . She is quite obviously traumatised by it. It took months for her to settle, she cried and cried and 18 months on she never leaves my side, even if i leave the room she frets. She is also is extremely protective/jealous. The dog behaviour specialist at the vet said its a result of being left by her owner. Right now as i type this she is curled up next to me and she will stay there all night unless i get up to go to the loo... And then she will follow me and sit at my feet while i wee! I know i could be tougher with her and put her in her bed but i figure she's had enough rejection. If i can make her feel secure for her last few remaining years then so be it. She breaks my heart when i look at her, sometimes she looks proper fed up and far away but those moments are getting fewer and further apart and she wags her tail more now.

 

[400bhp]

Child substitute.

 

[buggi]

naaa hate kids lol

 

[400bhp]

 

[Lanzecki]

Think about what you're saying and what other have said about putting animals first.

Do you still think that?

I'm not sure what you are getting at. The point I was trying to make is that humans have the opportunity to help themselves. Animals don't.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I'm not so sure we've domsticated dogs to the point of helpless imbecility that is implied in this thread but what we have done is tear down and build over the sort of habitat and eradicate the abundance of food sources they'd need to thrive as a feral entity, either by domestication as pets too or extermination as vermin. We have street cleaners, penalties for littering and even make the bins damn near impossible to get into for them to thrive as scavengers. I've no doubt there is a Greyfriars Bobby element to abandoned pets waiting for the leader to come back for them but there's also going to be a hardwired archaic bit of hindbrain that looks around and wonders how it is supposed to be a high level territorial predator in a sanitised urban environment engineered to the absolute opposite of what it needs to have to revert to the wild.

We've taken the landscape out of the dogs reach just as much as taking the wolf out of the dog. For me that means we either owe it to them to house and feed them to compensate for taking away much of their opportunity to do it for themselves or we remove the notion of pets and annihilate any creature that we can't use or won't eat.

I'll leave my avatar to give you an idea of which course I favour. He is a rescued Galgo (Spanish greyhound) & if you want a view of the cruel disdain of some societies and humans towards dogs, have a google of Galgo.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I'm not sure what you are getting at. The point I was trying to make is that humans have the opportunity to help themselves. Animals don't.

I think the rather curt and cryptic point being made to you is that a lot of the homeless humans aren't 'functional' as you or I or the rest on here, but are people profoundly damaged by their experiences in life or victims of the notion of care in the community for the vulnerable or mentally ill. People with issues of trust or feeling safe enough to ask for the help of strangers or perceived authority figures & people who don't 'get' how to access what the system may be able to offer them.

 

[Lanzecki]

I think the rather curt and cryptic point being made to you is that a lot of the homeless humans aren't 'functional' as you or I or the rest on here, but are people profoundly damaged by their experiences in life or victims of the notion of care in the community for the vulnerable or mentally ill. People with issues of trust or feeling safe enough to ask for the help of strangers or perceived authority figures & people who don't 'get' how to access what the system may be able to offer them.

A good point, well made. Maybe 400bhp could have made his point instead of leaving his comment open ended.

While this isn't an answer there are active groups often funded in some way by government (Ahh now I see your point about trust ). I'm not aware of any animal protection groups in a similar system in Ireland. Mental health is as big an issue here as is animal welfare.

Don't get me wrong, I support a local housing trust that operates as a halfway house for people with mental issues by fixing their IT issues for free. I truly admire the efforts they have put in. But I also do the same for a animal refuge. It's worth recognising that many people are left behind in this fast world of money, instant gratification and ignoring peoples issues.

 

[400bhp]

I'm not sure what you are getting at. The point I was trying to make is that humans have the opportunity to help themselves. Animals don't.

Humans can only be helped if someone will help them. Some (quite a few people) would put animnals before humans.

 

[Col5632]

i would say yes. I took on a dog that was 12 years old. Her owner didn't want her anymore . She is quite obviously traumatised by it. It took months for her to settle, she cried and cried and 18 months on she never leaves my side, even if i leave the room she frets. She is also is extremely protective/jealous. The dog behaviour specialist at the vet said its a result of being left by her owner. Right now as i type this she is curled up next to me and she will stay there all night unless i get up to go to the loo... And then she will follow me and sit at my feet while i wee! I know i could be tougher with her and put her in her bed but i figure she's had enough rejection. If i can make her feel secure for her last few remaining years then so be it. She breaks my heart when i look at her, sometimes she looks proper fed up and far away but those moments are getting fewer and further apart and she wags her tail more now.

That's so great that you took her on, im glad she is in a happier place now

 

[gbb]

Humans can only be helped if someone will help them. Some (quite a few people) would put animnals before humans.

While this is true, it's also true that a reasonable proportion would resent any interference in their 'chosen' lifestyle.
The difficulty is knowing which are which. I won't generally give to beggars, but if a down and out approached me (when i did smoke) and ask for a ciggie, i'd happily oblige...on one such occasion last year, i gave him a fiver to buy a pack. I realise it would probably not be used appropriately, but you can't attach strings.
On a different level, there are beggars in Peterborough i will not give any time to, they're there week in, week out, year in....its obvious they've probably shunned any help...or its a chosen lifestyle.

 

[Roadrider48]

No, it's because some people are stupidly insane and treat a pet better than members of their own family.
I for one can't get my head around people that put animals before humans. Then there are those fools who put dogs in their handbags or walk their dog in a wooly jumper or a custom made coat.
Dog hotels!, don't even get me started on that.
I am not an animal hater, but at the end of the day they are pets.
The earlier post saying that they would walk past a homeless human but stop to help a dog is absolutely crazy to me.
These extreme people obviously use animals as substitutes for human friends or children. It isn't normal to treat an animal like some people do.

 

[JayMac]

No, it's because some people are stupidly insane and treat a pet better than members of their own family.
I for one can't get my head around people that put animals before humans. Then there are those fools who put dogs in their handbags or walk their dog in a wooly jumper or a custom made coat.
Dog hotels!, don't even get me started on that.
I am not an animal hater, but at the end of the day they are pets.
The earlier post saying that they would walk past a homeless human but stop to help a dog is absolutely crazy to me.
These extreme people obviously use animals as substitutes for human friends or children. It isn't normal to treat an animal like some people do.

I can understand your point entirely, and it's not that I'm a horrible person.

But I know that a human understands his or her predicament, where as an animal will stay and wait wherever they have been dumped until a passing stranger helps them or they die alone in the woods.

That's the difference, if I'm dumped in the woods, I'll find my way home. If you dump an animal in the woods, then they don't stand a chance.