Dog lovers aren’t animal lovers

I just like to think most owners are doing their best and don't need a stranger to butt in and give them unwanted advice about their dogs' health and well-being.

My beagle often limps dramatically when he gets grass on his paws - if someone told me they thought he was suffering because of a tiny snapshot I would think they were bonkers - but I'd also be pretty offended that they thought I was stupid enough to walk a suffering dog in the first place.

Our beagle buries himself under a blanket, toasts himself, then lies on the floor panting like someone forced him under there 😂

We have a 6 year old Staffy. Found him on pets4homes. Committed the ultimate sin of not even seeing his parents. 😱. We went to meet him in a horrible pub and it was obvious he had a belly full of worms. We know we should’ve walked away but we couldn’t. We just wanted to get him out of there.
Without insurance he would’ve bankrupted us due to having a bulging disc.
He’s a much loved member of our family and the vet said he was very lucky to have us as his owners as we seem so in tune with him and we meet his needs exceptionally well.
So, we may have a dog with issues that we probably( definitely) shouldn’t have bought but he could’ve ended up with owners that would’ve given up on him.
We tried to rescue first but they wouldn’t entertain us because we both work.

@LadyTangerine
I agree on the exercise; there are far too many fair weather dog walkers these days. Or people who just stand and fling a ball down the garden for 5 minutes and that's it for the day.

When it's cool and showery, if we go onto the local meadow we can have the whole big field to ourselves. Go at the same time on a warm, sunny day and we'll count 15-20 dogs.

I'm a vegetarian, but from what I see of friends who are vegan, they don't eat nearly as well as I do. My diet is focused on fresh fruit and vegetables but they seem to eat more soya, mushrooms and what I term fake meat but put less emphasis on actual veg...

You've totally missed the point, which is this: A lot of these so-called "rescue" dogs being imported are in fact from puppy farms. And a lot of people who take on these "street dogs" are not doing enough research and have no idea what they are getting. And a lot of the time it ends in tears.

Because they take Vitamin B12 supplements and have to watch their diets very carefully.

You also said,
How about we invest in technology to develop a better alternative. Imagine how far we'd have come if we hadn't ploughed all that money into dogs.
'Better' by whose metric? Working dogs love what they do, or they wouldn't be doing it with such enthusiasm.
And what machinery do you propose to replace the adaptability of, say, a guide dog who can work on a vast range of surfaces, up and down steps, over rough ground and so on.
A LOT of money has been ploughed into AI. And yet, armies and police forces and so on still rely on canine olfaction to find explosives, drugs and so on.

I also follow Galgos de Sol on Facebook. I adopted two dogs from Spain - not galgos though; a Brittany and a Pointer.

Never met them until they turned up in the van either.

I've currently got 2 cats and 2 dogs plus snakes, fish, a tortoise and a bird.

Should we automatically start euthanising people as soon as they get old and poo the bed?

Puppy farmers provide these too, if they KC reg their puppies. KC registration and a generational pedigree does not mean the breeder is reputable.

I am not coming at you @YeOldeGreyhound but you keep insisting that I say things that I do not say. Please stop that.

I am not trying to upset anyone @tumblingdowntherabbithole and I have never said I know best!

But if we see an animal who is suffering, I think we have a duty to see if we can help. I've only said something a few of times. I try to be diplomatic, open up a conversation... some people are defensive but others have been grateful that someone is helping them face up to things. I would be glad if someone said something to me if they noticed anything. We can all miss things especially when we see our dogs every day and the decline is gradual.

Thanks. She has just come in from the garden after baking herself. Will cool down and go out to do it again 😆

As an actual dog lover, I completely agree. There really aren't very many dog owners who have used reputable breeders. None of them know what endorsements are. None of them know what health tests their potential puppy's dam and sire should have had. Don't get me started on the ones who deliberately buy mongrels because they have a ridiculous name.

If dog owners only ever bought dogs from reputable breeders, who all have return to breeder clauses in their puppy contracts, there would be no dogs in rescue. Zero. Nada. Imagine that.

People like doodle owners, or those who buy puppies from sites like Pets 4 Homes, are quite literally the reason so many dogs are suffering.

Don't let PP upset you - it's easy to think you know best from behind a computer screen.

Your dog sounds very lucky to have you

I know, the street Galgos get treated like shit there. So many pregnant mums too.
I l like seeing the posts from Sunday and Hank too. I proper cried when Grannypants crossed the bridge, and when they got that huge olive tree planted in her memory.
If I had a passport, and was not so pathetic in hot weather, I would go volunteer there for a bit.

Yes galgos del sol. The stories make me cry when they come in covered in burns, the sheer cruelty is unbelievable. They do a wonderful job looking after those dogs. I would definitely consider adopting from there in the future.

Actually, I nearly had her PTS to because i got bad advice online and well meaning family. Was told she was dying etc. Turns out she had a gastro bug. Took her to the vets and she was put on meds. Cost me £150 just to cancel her PTS appointment (I was using a home vet service). She is very old, and I was just told it was "her time". If you had met us in the park, you would probably would have been one of those people.

I have not said I would get violent. I would however have got really upset and taken it out on myslef,. and be too scared to leave the house for weeks after. I am autistic, before you come at me about me not being resilient etc.

I cannot get behind any owner who buys from a breeder. Full stop. Those poor bitches kept for breeding, not to mention the hundreds of strays put in shelters waiting desperately to be adopted. I’ve had dogs most of my life and I always get from a shelter, and rarely puppies. Our current girl was adopted age 4 from the most terrible circumstances and she would have been put down eventually as she was very reactive. She’s the most beautiful dog, she deserved a loving home. If we stop buying from breeders then they won’t have a business and shelter dogs will become the norm.

Galgos del Sol?
They are an amazing rescue. They will keep a dog for years to make sure they are ready for rehoming. I love the pics of the dogs with shower caps on... having a bath before they go off to the sweet life. Always lifts my spirits.
I had a friend in Spain who sadly took his own life, and his dog was rehomed through them (ended up living in the same UK town my friend moved to Spain from).

Saying that, there used to be a tiny rescue where I lived who ran out of local dogs to foster/adopt out, so started getting dogs from Romania. They were coming from there and going straight into homes. No meeting the dog, no fostering or assessment etc. I think that was dangerous tbh. They no longer operate now.

Join the cult then!

So would you be happy for all these purpose-bred working dogs to never exist, or to be killed?

Vegans don't look 'bloody ill' at all. I'm vegetarian and I'm 100% healthier than when i used to eat meat. Lower cholesterol, more energy, better skin.
We most certainly don't need meat inside us to be healthy, quite the opposite.

Great response!
Parroting my words back to me.
Thinking you know what I might or might not say.
Telling MN you'd get violent.
Accusing me of showing faux concern.
And not answering the one question I asked!

I hope that your dog is "fine now" but I'm sorry, given what you've already posted, I wouldn't trust your judgement.

'Posters not exercising their dog sufficiently or not giving it mental stimulation and then wondering why its badly behaved'

Totally agree. We see it on here all the time. Bit of ice and it's 'is anyone walking their dog in this it's too dangerous surely' then in summer 'oo it's over 15c my dog may get ill if I take it out'.

In summer walk your dog at 7am it is never hot and in winter wear appropriate footwear.

If you cba to exercise your dog in all weather you shouldn't have one.

I have not casitgated anyone! My dog is a purebred kc whippet from a breeder! This is because I couldn't get a rescue from the UK as we had a toddler. I didn't want a puppy, they are hard work and I would have preferred to give a dog in need a home but the circumstances didn't work out. I have nothing against anyone getting a puppy as long as they are getting a suitable breed for thier circumstances. The rescues from abroad are not puppy farms they are street dogs. My friends was a 3 Yr old Romanian street dog. Theres a lovely galgo charity in Spain that adopts out ex racers abroad and in Spain. They have a fb page you can follow the progress of the dogs. These dogs are abused by their owners after racing and left to die on the streets. There are lots of charity's like this abroad. Anyone adopting a dog needs to do research on where it's coming from. The same as people getting dogs as puppy's from breeders.