Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Sunday, June 24. 2007

Blood on the pillow

Took one of my smaller male Labs for a long walk this afternoon. He decided to hump a large male Lab, and, on his third try, the big homophobic one got truly pissed and gave him serious, deep bites just above the eye and on the nose. When we got home, he ran straight upstairs to our bed, curled up, and bled on our pillow. It is amateur vet time. I don't think the dog is exclusively gay - he just doesn't seem to discriminate, like a monkey: when he's in the mood, he doesn't care. This dog is supposedly spayed - wrong word - I mean castrated, or neutered, so maybe that explains it.

Reminds me of the great Tex Ritter song, Blood on the Saddle.

Posted by The Barrister at 17:05 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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Poor ole dog--bites are rough around the face area. Maybe now he's 'scared straight' --?

Anyhoo, "spayed" down here is always the female fix, while "neutered" is the word for the male fix. Ah, you provincials and your quaint ways.

:-D
#1 buddy larsen on 2007-06-24 18:22 (Reply)
OK, I guess I don't discriminate about what it's called. You are right, Buddy. Neutered, like many humans these days.

Cleaned it all up, and antibiotic ointment with analgesic stuff in it from the medicine cabinet. It will heal, but he is not feeling all that bold at the moment.
#2 The B. on 2007-06-24 18:30 (Reply)
Humping another male dog is a dominance thing. It's their way of saying: "I'm top dog and you're just a bitch". My dog fight radar goes to red alert when I see it.

My parents' boxer tried to hump our bullmastiff - the boxer got a lung punctured in two places for his troubles.
#3 NJSoldier on 2007-06-24 19:02 (Reply)
...settles that old argument about a boxer vs a puncher, tho--

(groan)
#4 buddy larsen on 2007-06-24 19:30 (Reply)
Growing up with several, our black labradors were often in similar trouble for this behavior. As the NJS says, it's usually about dominance, not sex.

In our case, living in a city where dogs only got to run free in the park (in a country where people preferred dogs to people, so city life was more bearable for a dog than in, say, NYC), our male dogs literally never got the chance to roam out of our sight. So, although they aggressively leaped on other male dogs, they were pretty clueless around females. The only conclusion we could draw from it is that if they see more of their male competitors than potential mates, they get better at asserting their dominance over other males than mating.

Years later, working on Capitol HIll, I observed the same phenomenon...
#5 retriever on 2007-06-24 21:23 (Reply)
Ha, the grand insight R. Even when it leads to the end of the line, they are compelled to do what they do. Though dogs do have an excuse I think. Not so our leaders.
#6 Luther McLeod on 2007-06-24 21:37 (Reply)
From dogs to war... our Sunday evening family bonding time is watching the Military Channel, pretty awesome looking corner shot gun...can even fit a grenade launcher...Awesome goes the most martial kid.. http://www.cornershot.com/
#7 retriever on 2007-06-24 22:15 (Reply)
Yes, the Israeli weapon is quite something.

Curious that in World War II the Germans had a rifle with a curved barrel and a sight that could peek around corners. It is now in the British Imperial War Museum:

http://collections.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.988
#8 Skookumchuk on 2007-06-24 22:52 (Reply)
There was also that U-shaped barrel that, due to a conceptual flaw, never went into production.
#9 buddy larsen on 2007-06-25 05:03 (Reply)
Had a great dane once. Got him from the lbreeder too young, he peed like a girl. Tried to teach him to lift his leg by propping him up against a step, or a tree. We lived in Laguna Beach--close to the gay beach. Taking him for a walk in that neighborhood was always worth a good laugh!
#10 anonymous also on 2007-06-25 14:06 (Reply)
Talked to my ex (vet), and he said dogs hump 90% of the time because they get horny. A neutered male will still hump but not as much as an intact male. Females will hump females, spayed or not. He basically said it feels good and the urge is common often brought on by another dog's scent.

The dominance part comes in when the humpee doesn't like being humped. He naturally tries to get out of it - not necessarily with biting unless the humper continues.

It's not like a case of establishing pecker-order. Some dogs like a particular toy or pillow. I had a wire-haired terrier that used to hump our cat. The cat didn't care at all and stood patiently waiting.

Dogs aren't gay. They just get horny.

I hope your little fellow is doing fine. Labs are too sweet and it's sad he ran into a grouch.
.
#11 Phoenix on 2007-06-25 14:33 (Reply)

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