Ears & Tails
Posted in Animal, Cat, Dog, Oregon, Pets, Portland, dog walking, pet sitting on July 30th, 2009 by Bark – Be the first to commentWelcome to BarkSpot from Bark PDX, a blog dedicated to our pets and our lives and adventures with them. Here we will share ideas, information, news, links, fun stories, anecdotes and basically everything pet and animal related.
Ears & Tails
I have 2 German Shorhaired Pointers, both with docked tails (surgical removal of the majority of the tail within the first few days of the puppy’s life). The tail docking occured before they came into my life and was done by their respective breeders. They both have long floppy ears though and were at least spared from having their ears cropped (not t0o common for GSP’s to have their ears cropped, but their tails docked- yes). People have often asked me about these procedures, wondering if it’s something I specifically requested, performed myself, etc- and often with a look of disapproval.
I never really understood why it was necessary or desireable to perform things to these poor animals, but supposedly there are reasons out there. Well, “Banfield, The Pet Hospital, the nation’s largest network of animal hospitals, has announced it will no longer do tail docking, ear cropping or devocalization on dogs.” I read this story on USA Today, check it out here: Ears & Tails
bad dog murderer has been released from prison. Vick was imprisoned for 1 year and 8 months for his role in the organization and operation of a multi-state dog fighting ring that left many dogs either dead or badly injured. This is another moment when I wish animals could speak and could have testified against Vick in an attempt to increase his sentence. Anyway, Vick is set to speak next week and address the public regarding the inhumane treatment to animals (or he’ll hire some writers to help him say the right thing). I can only hope that he’s learned something at the expense of all those poor, victimized animals that suffered as a result of his sick, twisted and deadly hobby. I would love to hear your thoughts about Vick, his inhumane treatment to animals and whether or not you believe he should be reinstated to the NFL.
When someone asks you if the cat has got your tongue, they want to know why you are not speaking when they think you should. If this cat is available, I’m looking to hire someone with this very unique skill set. As much as I’m aware of this commonly used idiom, I admit that I have no idea where it comes froms from. Curiosity killed the cat, that much we know, but in spite of that I thought I’d look into it a bit. What seems to be agreed upon with respect to the origin of “cat got your tongue”, is that nobody agrees where it comes from. If you do a little research you will find countless stories and explanations that only further convolute the truth of the phrase’s origin. Here is a link that shares a few interesting theories and I would love to hear your ideas or review any interesting links that might point me in the right direction. 
different personalities, and truly cares for them in a way that makes it more difficult when having to part with them. After all, he needs to make a living and this means parting with them from time to time. I was thinking about being on his farm, watching his cattle graze and live so peacefully when I was watching some footage of the “Running of the Bulls” today. None of my Uncle’s cattle seem to exhibit the same fierce and angry intensity than that of the bulls running through the streets of Spain. But then again, they don’t have to navigate through crowded streets of screaming people beating them with sticks and pulling on their tails only to end up in an arena where they will be stabbed repeatedly until inevitably finding a slow and painful death.
Dogs like to get their mouths around most things and we like to give them things to put in their mouths. As I may have mentioned in an earlier post, my Mother is in town and every time I arrive at the kitchen, treats in one form or another are being distributed to my dogs despite specifically asking her to curb her generosity with them in this form. I don’t give my dogs any table scraps or anything like that at all. They are more than happy eating their own dry, crunchy food with the occasional dry, crunchy treat or piece of ice. If you think depriving dogs of human food is cruel, you should review some of the dental work necessitated by dog’s being spoiled by their owners.