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Wednesday, August 29. 2012

Labradoodle vs. Mutt: The Real Cost of Owning a Dog

Teenage marijuana use may permanently reduce IQ

Why Humans Give Birth to Helpless Babies

Chris Christie: The Statesman

Mia Love Rocks the House at RNC Convention

Shameful Media Spins, Shills and Race-Baits the GOP Convention

Knish:

The essential 21st Century conflict is between the rationers and the producers. This is not a class conflict, that is the fallacy that the left has fallen into for over a century. It is a conflict between a system of bureaucratic collectivism and a society of individuals. It is not a conflict between the rich and the poor, the majority of the rationers are either rich or close enough to it. Their charges may be poor, but the representatives of their victim groups invariably become rich. The rationer camp is funded by some of the wealthiest men and companies in America who agree with its premise that we need to ration everything from children to jobs to food to carbon emissions.

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 05:56 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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The cost of keeping a dog depends on how much the owner can or will spend.
When I was raising my kids on a low income my dogs did not wear coats or eat out of designer doggy dishes. They ate out of an old pot. The cats shared the water dish with them, which was just a big mixing bowl. We called it the watering hole.
One of my dogs was purchased pre- divorce and the other I found abandoned, tied up to a lamppost.
It is not easy to adopt a dog. The only reason I was able to rescue one was because I found her myself. No shelter would let me adopt because I was renting and I do understand their point of view.
Some home owners have decided to buy rather than adopt a dog because the rescue agency was intrusive and required a home inspection.
I was almost stopped from adopting a cat from an overflowing city shelter which put down most of the animals. Had the manager been in that day she would not have allowed us to bring home the kitten because we were renters.
My dogs and cats were healthy and lived long lives on a budget.

#1 Daphne on 2012-08-29 09:56 (Reply)

The dog stats are totally bogus. Basically because people nowadays keep dogs who should not: people who are at work 12 hours a day and do not have a spouse or children at home to walk the dog and keep it company.

Dogs are highly social, not accessories for urban yuppies. Doggie Day Care is outrageously expensive.

We have had dogs in the city and in the suburbs, both pedigreed and now a mutt, and the main expense has been (rip off) veterinary care when one is tried to give unnecessary shots beyond first puppy ones and rabies regularly. Also, when dogs get old, vets charge one thousands if they can get away with it, to prolong a dog's agony. We had a retriever given six months with cancer and we're told to begin immediate invasive treatment. We refused as we had human children to educate, and took beloved doggie home to die in peace. He lived happily, vigorously and pain free for two more years at home, finally dying two days after a romp on the beach w his friends.

The main expense of a dog is unnecessary services. And unnecessary day care. We almost leave our dogs but schedule vacations around times when kids can dog and house sit.

Also, dogs are healthier with regular scraps of human meat and vegetables supplementing their Science Diet, plus bacon and chicken fat and regular fish oil. Vets tell you not to feed human food because they are told to do so by pet food manufacturers. But pet food costs more per pound than human food, and has lower quality standards. Go figure...

#2 Retriever on 2012-08-29 10:07 (Reply)

re "Also, dogs are healthier with regular scraps of human meat and vegetables supplementing their Science Diet, plus bacon and chicken fat and regular fish oil. Vets tell you not to feed human food because they are told to do so by pet food manufacturers."

That opinion is bullshit.

#2.1 feeblemind on 2012-08-29 10:54 (Reply)

Retriever - Despite feeb's PhD in doggie nutritionics, I agree with you.

#2.2 BillH on 2012-08-29 11:06 (Reply)

I didn't mean meat from humans but meat from human dinner leftovers....

#3 Retriever on 2012-08-29 10:50 (Reply)

Wheeew. That's a relief. I know that dogs love to serve man, but you had me worried there for a second.

#3.1 Agent Cooper on 2012-08-29 14:18 (Reply)

I notice feeb did not rebut your statements.

As for the meat from humans, if I had a dog, and had human remains to conceal, I wouldn't let it bury the bones outside. Pigs might be better for gobbling up the meat and innards. It works on "Hell On Wheels", but who trusts TV for advice on getting away with murder. Not I.

#4 Sam L. on 2012-08-29 12:34 (Reply)

Loved the link to the doggy expense site. My experience, after lots of pets, is that THE big expense is vet care at end of life. It is very hard to say no.

As for table scraps: I think they're good for dogs (what do you think dogs lived on until 75 years ago?), but some of my dogs just would not eat them. Feeding dogs adds up, but it's spread out over a lifetime, so it doesn't hit you the way the vet bills do.

#5 Park Slope Pubby on 2012-08-29 12:44 (Reply)

That dog cost slideshow is not relevant to me. My dog costs a lot more than that shows.

I moved to a farmhouse to give my German Shorthaired Pointer a proper life hunting every day in the fields. The house needed a lot of expensive renovation, and then the property crash caused its market value to plunge. There's six figures right there. Our old house has actually gone up in value a bit. I haven't taken on some profitable work because I would rather spend several hours a day in the field with this incredibly handsome and sweet fellow. No doggy daycare, he needs his Dad.

Then there were the scratches and injuries typical of a highly athletic and active sporting dog, regular heartworm and flea and tick medication, lots of yummy kibble, and finally two shoulder surgeries when he wore them out.

New leather collars each time he got sprayed by a skunk, and bottles of de-skunk solution, a harness and seat cover to go along in the car, a couple of comfy beds, toys, rawhide chew bones (US content only, hard to find and expensive), dental chews like Greenies.

He's been worth every penny, I adore him completely, but even the vet's office staff raise their eyebrows when they look at our account's cumulative total. The clock is ticking, he has a liver tumor that we are not going to treat. He's continuing to live a great, happy life and continue to bless my life as long as his time with me will last. None of my investments can offer anything like the return of seeing that tail in motion during his joyous hunts in the fields.

#6 Seppo on 2012-08-29 13:24 (Reply)

The media race- and rape-baits the GOP

Brian Williams inadvertently went off script when he forgot to pose the question of how Mitt Romney would feel if his wife had been raped. Well, Brian, there's still plenty of time left in this campaign for you to get that question out there for the important block of Dem supporters who are into rape rape these days. No doubt Whoopi Goldberg is anxious for you to ask the Big Question of Campaign 2012.

#7 Agent Cooper on 2012-08-29 15:04 (Reply)

I didn't see it mentioned but you could spend a little more on the breed that you want and then treat'em like a mutt--my corgis don't mind roughing it a little in fact they like it.

#8 Linda s on 2012-08-29 15:37 (Reply)

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Wednesday, August 29. 2012

Weds. morning links