Paul Domski sent me to this wonderful blog. It is the best working dog blog I have yet seen, and is not just for fans of "earthdogs"; Patrick Burns writes gracefully and knowledgeably about dogs, nature, politics,and conservation. For instance, his post on genetics, inbreeding and closed studbooks should be required reading by not only every dog breeder but by every concerned dog buyer, and would in a just world utterly destroy the credibility of the AKC.
And on a lighter note, his most recent post is a celebration of the wolf, with a link to our cyber- friends the McGehees and their borzois in Idaho. Enjoy!
5 comments:
"It’s very difficult to describe the type of death these dogs were handed. It was easy to see that the wolves want to cripple their prey, torture it and then kill it. I have never seen a worse way for any animal or person to die."
This quote was from the fellow in Idaho whose 2005 editorial (describing an attack on his hunting dogs by wolves) was linked in Patrick's post.
It's no stretch to imagine the hunter's anguish over this---I've seem my hawks chased, caught and killed by other hawks. Having a dog killed by a wolf (or more likely down here, an alligator) would be a literally visceral blow.
Seeing an animal you know and love reduced to meat is shocking (though I guess most farm kids get over it!). Somehow, in this context, it seems worse than losing a dog to a snakebite or a car.
But how many birds and rabbits have my own hawks killed and reduced to meat in exactly the same way? Can I really pretend that what my dog would do to a rat or squirrel is so different that what a wolf does to its prey? One man's playful dog is another man's "remorseless, sadistic killer." You need only read one AR polemic to see that!
I get that wolves are bad-asses and always have been. But I find it frankly amazing that a man who spent 30 years hunting large predators (bears and big cats) with his dogs could possibly accuse a wolf of willful torture or wanton slaughter. You can't have it both ways! What would he accuse a bear of that whipped his dogs in a box canyon? Foul play?
What about a cougar taking out one of his pups on an early morning run? A senseless killing?
This hunter's call for the public to keep their dogs indoors and stay away from the woods is unbelievably shortsighted. Our legislators and their anti-friends need no such help. They want to force our pets indoors and on leashes. Better yet, to ban hunting, if not all unsupervised access to wilderness! If he thinks a pack of wild wolves can end his hunting career, wait till he meets a pack of urban legislators.
Hunters ought to know better than most: sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you.
"Terrierman" is fascinating. Never was a terrier person, mostly because they're so high energy and loud...sure, if they're living in houses and getting one 30m walk a day. When reading up on dogs for the last few years I learned that terriers were farm dogs originally-what an eye opener for a farm kid who grew up with German Shepherd type mutts. Suddenly the high energy and shrill barking made sense. New respect.
When I was a kid, everybody wanted a Quarter Horse of the Impressive line, and in my late teens, these horses were suddenly a big problem. They had a bizarre paralysis problem linked to a potassium deficiency, which could be traced directly to a gorgeous stallion named Impressive.
I didn't know about Darwin's family. Chillling.
Had to chuckle at the comparison with the idiot king and the flat faced dog. As a pug owner I'm well aware of how artificial the breed is. However I have no doubt the little pecker could kill his own dinner if he was hungry enough. He has no problem eating! (And no line breeding!)
I also spent ten years on and off in small time saddle club competition. It's all about us humans. The horse doens't care about the ribbons. He wants something interesting to do and a nice big bale of hay when he gets home.
Also, Matt talked about an animal you love being reduced to meat: The trick is to not love the critter that's destined to be your dinner. You can care deeply, but save the love for your dog and your pony. Many people have a hard time with this idea that some critters are more worthy of our love than others. I don't have an answer to that, other than, that's just the way it is.
Heidi, a funny story from my hawking friend Jimmy in Amarillo, Texas:
His daughter as a kid was into 4H (do you know this org?) and raised a brood of chickens for competition. They grew into big, beautiful birds, much loved by the little girl and well cared for. They won some prize or another at the end of the season and all was well.
Next day, Dad took them out back to lop their heads off. Little girl, horrified, pleaded "No!" but Dad reminded her that she knew this was coming and that the chickens were, ultimately, raised for eating. She ran around the front of the house crying.
A few minutes later, the girl peeked out from behind the house to watch. Dad killed the first one. She got closer then and peered at him from behind a tree. Dad killed another.
Finally she stood next to him, tears dry on her cheek, and asked, "Dad, can I kill the next one?"
Also from Patrick, who is obviously learned on a wide range of topics, this good and doubtless controversial speech:
http://www.terrierman.com/winnablewarspeech.htm
Matt- first I felt her pain...then I laughed out loud! You ain't lived til you're seen a chicken with a head cut off.
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