[John Fields]

Thousands of people, mainly children, are killed by household dogs
every year, and hundreds of thousands, mainly children, are badly
injured.

 

[Bob Stephens]

I'll bet there aren't as many children harmed by dogs as there are
harmed by adults.


Bob

 

[John Devereux]

I'll bet there aren't as many children harmed by dogs as there are
harmed by adults.

Or by lightning. I find that "thousands per year killed" figure
suspect too. It seems there are in fact < 20 per year for the USA. I
am not particularly a dog lover, but I know they can give pleasure to
lots of kids. Just like even more dangerous things like bicycles, tree
climbing, swimming etc.

 

[Keith Williams]

Or by lightning. I find that "thousands per year killed" figure
suspect too. It seems there are in fact < 20 per year for the USA. I
am not particularly a dog lover, but I know they can give pleasure to
lots of kids. Just like even more dangerous things like bicycles, tree
climbing, swimming etc.

Gotta ban five-gallon buckets, for the children!

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Or by lightning. I find that "thousands per year killed" figure
suspect too. It seems there are in fact < 20 per year for the USA. I
am not particularly a dog lover, but I know they can give pleasure to
lots of kids.

Not just pleasure-- large dogs especially can deter a subset of the
creeps who would do kids harm, and even small dogs can warn of fire
while they are sleeping, prowlers etc. 100+ lbs. of fearlessly loyal
teeth, muscle and sinew is not to be sniffed at.

Just like even more dangerous things like bicycles, tree
climbing, swimming etc.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Roger Johansson]

Or by lightning. I find that "thousands per year killed" figure
suspect too. It seems there are in fact < 20 per year for the USA.

My numbers are for the whole world.

 

[John Fields]

My numbers are for the whole world.

---
My question still stands: "So what?".

If you have a problem with that, what do you propose? Killing all the
dogs in the world? Preventing people with children from owning dogs?
Restricting children from pet stores?

Yer a nut case...

 

[Joerg]

Hello Roger,

Thousands of people, mainly children, are killed by household dogs
every year, and hundreds of thousands, mainly children, are badly
injured.

And tens of thousands are saved by them when evil people took a hike
after encountering some bared teeth and growls. Talk to your local
police. One of the best protections against burglary and child abducters
is a large loyal dog.

Then there is the psychlogical benefit. You should see how happy people
are when we visit a nursing home with our big dogs. It makes their day.
When we have kids over and they meet the dogs, they somehow forget their
initial complaints about us not even having cable TV.

Regards, Joerg

 

[Joerg]

Hello Tony,

Out Rottie is now about 8, and starting to get
joint troubles, which is not good news for any
large breed. At the turn on the century, the
Rottweiler was actually a lighter leggier dog,
but subsequent 'breeding to type' has resulted
in a dog that is really too heavy, and with a
consequently shorter life.

Ours developed "joint mice", spiky irregularities in the right shoulder
joint. This causes the bone surfaces to rub against each other in the
joint. He was limping badly and I had to use my fall gear belt to hold
his chest up when he went down a couple steps to the "pee area". The vet
said it's either a medication with possible bad side effects or he just
would have to live with it. And that he should lose weight.

So we put him on r/d diet, later kept him on w/d. Not exactly his
favorite manna but he still eats it. He went from around 125 pounds to
about 85. Also, he gets glucosamine pills every day. Now his limp is
gone and he is one happy dog again.

Well, we also took in a Shepherd mix to rescue her from a not so
favorable situation. She is much more agile and keeps him on his toes.
That must help, too. Else he'd sleep 15+ hours a day.

Regards, Joerg

 

[Joerg]

Hello Keith,

Is a Queensland Healer anything like a Blue Healer? If so that's some
mix! Yikes!

Not sure, I think the Blue has black, white and brown coat while
Queenslands are black and white. Anyway, our mix looks almost like a
Rottweiler except for a longer snout. With tail, of course, as we would
never change what nature presented. Most people say he still has a puppy
face at his advanced age. Anyway, it's a pretty dog. But when some sales
folks come up the road and he stands there just looking they usually
decide to forego their sales pitch ;-)

Regards, Joerg

 

[Joerg]

Hello John,

Are you actually proposing that we went out and hunted dogs down for
the purpose of domesticating them instead of eating them? You've
obviously either never read or have chosen to ignore the ancient
stories about dogs befriending humans for scraps of food and
eventually wound up hanging out with us voluntarily.

It still happens. Not that we feed the wild foxes around here anything
but one family returns every year to give birth and provide their kits a
few months of a safe home. They must feel secure and welcome around us.

They even show off their newborn to us. The vixen often nurses next to
the garage. I can start the car and drive away without them getting into
a panic. As long as it's our cars, not with any others. In the evenings
the adults take turns resting on a rock about 20ft from where we sit,
listening to our conversations and then slowly dozing off.

Regards, Joerg

 

[Jim Thompson]

Hello Keith,


Not sure, I think the Blue has black, white and brown coat while
Queenslands are black and white. Anyway, our mix looks almost like a
Rottweiler except for a longer snout. With tail, of course, as we would
never change what nature presented. Most people say he still has a puppy
face at his advanced age. Anyway, it's a pretty dog. But when some sales
folks come up the road and he stands there just looking they usually
decide to forego their sales pitch ;-)

Regards, Joerg

Amazing how many people are afraid of dogs... door bell rings, the
three Dachshunds start barking... I open the door, they rush out...
the "target" jumps backward three paces.

My automatic response to anyone I don't recognize is, "I'm not
interested", so they beat it, grateful ;-)

But I did have one gal who tried the bit, "You're threatening me", to
which I responded, "I'll do more than that, I'll arrest your ass and
call the cops. You don't have a solicitation license do you?"

She ran.

...Jim Thompson

 

[Jim Thompson]

Hello John,


It still happens. Not that we feed the wild foxes around here anything
but one family returns every year to give birth and provide their kits a
few months of a safe home. They must feel secure and welcome around us.

They even show off their newborn to us. The vixen often nurses next to
the garage. I can start the car and drive away without them getting into
a panic. As long as it's our cars, not with any others. In the evenings
the adults take turns resting on a rock about 20ft from where we sit,
listening to our conversations and then slowly dozing off.

Regards, Joerg

That big owl on the hill, that I've posted pictures of, scares me a
bit.

He sat there and looked hungrily at the puppy, so I climbed up on the
fireplace and waved my arms wildly at it.

He finally flew off.

So I sat back down at the umbrella table and continued sipping my
wine.

A few minutes later he buzzed the deck so close I could feel the wind
of the flap of his wings on my face :-(

...Jim Thompson

 

[Mike Monett]

Jim Thompson wrote:

[...]

That big owl on the hill, that I've posted pictures of, scares me a
bit.

He sat there and looked hungrily at the puppy, so I climbed up on the
fireplace and waved my arms wildly at it.

He finally flew off.

So I sat back down at the umbrella table and continued sipping my
wine.

A few minutes later he buzzed the deck so close I could feel the wind
of the flap of his wings on my face :-(

...Jim Thompson

You are right to be concerned. An owl attacked a friend of mine and
shredded his face pretty badly. Luckily he didn't lose his eyesight.

Mike Monett

 

[Terry Given]

Amazing how many people are afraid of dogs... door bell rings, the
three Dachshunds start barking... I open the door, they rush out...
the "target" jumps backward three paces.

My automatic response to anyone I don't recognize is, "I'm not
interested", so they beat it, grateful ;-)

But I did have one gal who tried the bit, "You're threatening me", to
which I responded, "I'll do more than that, I'll arrest your ass and
call the cops. You don't have a solicitation license do you?"

She ran.

...Jim Thompson

ROTFLMAO!

I got my first religious junk male on the weekend, which is not bad
seeing as I've been here 18 months. The long driveway scares them off.
Holly the over-friendly German Shephard just licked them. They went away
when I said no thanks.

Cheers
Terry

 

[Joerg]

Hello Jim,

That big owl on the hill, that I've posted pictures of, scares me a
bit.

He sat there and looked hungrily at the puppy, so I climbed up on the
fireplace and waved my arms wildly at it.

He finally flew off.

So I sat back down at the umbrella table and continued sipping my
wine.

A few minutes later he buzzed the deck so close I could feel the wind
of the flap of his wings on my face :-(

They can become dangerous. We have few owls but a family of turkey
vultures with 6ft wing spans. When we moved here they buzzed my wife
until one of them looked back, probably to see if he put a good scare
into her. I yelled at him, not to scold but to tell him to watch out.
Didn't work, he hit the TV antenna mast full bore. How embarrassing that
must have been for the bird. Tumbled to the ground but before I was up
at the driveway he took off again. No more buzzing since that event...

Regards, Joerg

 

[Jim Thompson]

[snip]

I got my first religious junk male on the weekend, which is not bad
seeing as I've been here 18 months. The long driveway scares them off.
Holly the over-friendly German Shephard just licked them. They went away
when I said no thanks.

Cheers
Terry

I get a very occasional "junk male"... love that phrase ;-)

But I NEVER see a Jehovah's Witness.

Must be about 30 years ago now... when I was young I would sleep late
on weekends... now I'm up at dawn.

Three female JW's show up at about 8AM on Sunday morning and ring the
door bell, waking me up.

I jump out of bed, thinking, "What the hell?"

Grab a towel and wrap around me (since I sleep in the nude), then
answer the door.

There they stand.

As soon as I see their pamphlets I say, "Get off my property!"

Though I say it again, they don't budge.

So I drop the towel.

Watch 'em run!

What fun ;-)

They must maintain a national list... I've never seen another
Jehovah's Witness, even though I haven't lived at the old address for
eleven years ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Terry Given]

[snip]

I got my first religious junk male on the weekend, which is not bad
seeing as I've been here 18 months. The long driveway scares them off.
Holly the over-friendly German Shephard just licked them. They went away
when I said no thanks.

Cheers
Terry

I get a very occasional "junk male"... love that phrase ;-)

But I NEVER see a Jehovah's Witness.

Must be about 30 years ago now... when I was young I would sleep late
on weekends... now I'm up at dawn.

Three female JW's show up at about 8AM on Sunday morning and ring the
door bell, waking me up.

I jump out of bed, thinking, "What the hell?"

Grab a towel and wrap around me (since I sleep in the nude), then
answer the door.

There they stand.

As soon as I see their pamphlets I say, "Get off my property!"

Though I say it again, they don't budge.

So I drop the towel.

Watch 'em run!

What fun ;-)

They must maintain a national list... I've never seen another
Jehovah's Witness, even though I haven't lived at the old address for
eleven years ;-)

...Jim Thompson

ROTFLMAO! Beautiful.....

At one flat at Uni we used to have "Religious Salespeople Please ****
Off" written in 4" high letters on the front door. That worked.

One holidays I, too, was rudely awakened by a Jehovah's Witless at the
door. I said "no thankyou" and closed the door, at which point he stuck
his foot in the doorway and started to argue. So I opened the door,
kicked him hard in the knee, then closed it. He went away, limping.

My all-time favourite was the woman with 2 small kids (5-6yo) in tow. I
had nothing better to do, so argued with her for 15 minutes or so. We
got onto free choice, an she got upset when I suggested her kids didnt
have any choice in the matter of their religion. When I asked her what
she would do if tomorrow her daughter said "mummy, I dont believe in
Jesus" she had a temper tantrum, started screaming obscenities and ran
off down the driveway, dragging her 2 kids. A thoroughly enjoyable
mornings entertainment.

One lunchtime at work, one of the production techs came into the R&D
smoko room, and started a religious argument. He had been the Christian
Heritage Party candidate in the elections the year earlier. We tied him
in knots, and via the ten commandments, old & new testaments forced him
into admitting that either
a) god made a mistake, or
b) god was malevolent

at which point he burst into tears and fled the department, never to
return (at lunchtime, anyway).

Last week the former head of the CHP, Graham Capill, was jailed for
child abuse. The same Graham Capill who had been a vocal opponent of lax
censorship, homosexual law reform, sale of condoms etc. It has been
hilarious to watch the CHP purge him from their website, almost FTL.

Cheers
Terry



Cheers
Terry

 

[keith]

Hello Keith,


Not sure, I think the Blue has black, white and brown coat while
Queenslands are black and white.

A Blue Healer is also known as an "Australian Cattle Dog". They're a
small breed, perhaps 30lbs and maybe 15" at the shoulders. A friend had
one and it was quite some handfull. They *run* until they're
two-and-a-half. I can't imagine a Rottie with that kind of energy. ;-)

Anyway, our mix looks almost like a
Rottweiler except for a longer snout. With tail, of course, as we would
never change what nature presented. Most people say he still has a puppy
face at his advanced age. Anyway, it's a pretty dog. But when some sales
folks come up the road and he stands there just looking they usually
decide to forego their sales pitch ;-)

Good plan. I've never been afraid of a large dog, unless the poor thing
was trained to hate people. If a big dog doesn't want me, I leave
(withouth turning). ...not an issue. The little ankle-biters piss me off
though. ...can't trust 'em. Napoleon complex, and all.

 

[keith]

Amazing how many people are afraid of dogs... door bell rings, the
three Dachshunds start barking... I open the door, they rush out...
the "target" jumps backward three paces.

I'm certainly not afraid of dogs. My first move would be to kneel and
turn the back of my hand to them to sniff. If they react as expected we'd
have a great time. OTOH, the only time I've been bitten was when the
dingbat dog (a toy poodle) was in the arms of its mistress. The damned
thing took a hunk outta my right arm as she let me in the house.

My automatic response to anyone I don't recognize is, "I'm not
interested", so they beat it, grateful ;-)

Ah, cute puppy! Wanna play?

But I did have one gal who tried the bit, "You're threatening me", to
which I responded, "I'll do more than that, I'll arrest your ass and
call the cops. You don't have a solicitation license do you?"

We had a Springer whan I was a kid. That thing *hated* anyone in uniform,
or was carrying a bag. Needless to say, it hated our regular mailman. We
had no leash-law back then, so the dog wandered around, but normally
stayed within a few hundred feet of our yard. One day my mother was at
teh kitchen sink looking our over the front yard when the hated mailman
came up. The dog was sleeping in the sun with its legs in the air. The
stupid bastard walked off our sidewalk and kicked the dog in the ribs. He
was surprised when she turned around and bit him. My mother called the
postmaster and filed a complaint aginas the mailman. Interestingly the
alternate mailman loved the dog. She'd tear-ass after him, he'd reach out
and talk to her, and she'd excort him down the block playing.

Let sleeping dogs lie!