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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Why are there so many wankers on this board?

260 replies

Ocre373 · 25/04/2020 12:15

They’re on every thread. I’ve never known a board like it. People come on asking for advice and you can guarantee within a couple of replies someone will jump on something in the OP, often something completely irrelevant to what is being asked. They’re judgemental, condescending, rude and often just plain nasty.

It’s happened to me time and time again and it’s stopped me asking for advice which is such a shame because there’s so many people on here with so much knowledge and experience.

It’s made this a horrible place to be.

OP posts:
jinxpixie · 25/04/2020 21:43

There are a lot of regular posters who do see the same posts over and over again.

Need to rehome my puppy
Puppy is aggressive
How can I rehome my dog I have a toddler
Dog is not housetrained but I work full time
Dog bite the toddler when he was climbing on the dog
I hate my new dog etc etc

and at times it can seem there are people with very little research buying dogs and failing into the same situations time and time again.

MrsP2015 · 25/04/2020 21:45

Agree totally.
I used to be on another which my phone stopped getting on with so found this ages ago and notice so many negative comments which I've never seen tolerated by mods on other forums.

It's like some people want arguments / to make others feel shit.

There are polite, tactful ways to disagree with people which should be respectfully used and enforced.

RemotelessControl · 25/04/2020 21:46

@YgritteSnow agree totally and I have a retired greyhound Grin

PinkyAndTheBrian · 25/04/2020 21:47

The doghouse isn’t as extreme as it used to be.

I remember a poor woman struggling with a dog after her husband died leaving her and young children behind.
The posters back then must have had an empathy bypass, it was awful.

Having said that I still avoid it, because there is a prevailing attitude that a dog must be a rescue or must have been waited for for years and with a very specific reason for having that particular breed. I think it puts off posters who are genuinely seeking advice, and are probably scared off. It’s a shame.

tabulahrasa · 25/04/2020 21:50

“Everyone else just got a dog somehow according to their own situation and family requirements and nearly all the time it worked out just fine.”

The thing is, a lot of times people get dogs it works out fine, because dogs are great on the whole.

But I’d someone’s asking about how to get one, you give them the advice that gives them the best odds of it working out.

My last foster was on paper completely wrong for me, I like large, short coated active and trainable, I enjoy training and games and long walks. He was a small fluffy breed known for being fairly inactive and independent - he was fab because of his personality, I’d have happily kept him if he didn’t have an owner to go to tbh... but I’d not tell someone to get a breed that’s not suited to them and just hope that individual dog does, it’d be stupid and they’d both be miserable if it didn’t work out.

The same with breeders and getting puppies, loads of people do get lovely dogs from really dodgy breeders, but... if it goes wrong it can be horrible and I’d not wish that on anyone. My last actual dog (that I kept not just fostered) was bred by someone just breeding their pet, so not someone awful, just not particularly knowledgable ...he had a lifetime of medical issues, behavioural problems caused by that and I had to have him PTS at what should have been about the middle of his lifespan because we could no longer control his pain levels.

So you give the advice that gives the best odds of it working out.

LochJessMonster · 25/04/2020 21:56

There are a lot of regular posters who do see the same posts over and over again.
But each individual poster needs the advice. No point getting annoyed and aggressive at them for asking for help just because several other people have asked for the same help in the future.

RemotelessControl · 25/04/2020 21:56

Ok but even if you put to one side the acquisition of a puppy/dog there's still some really arch responses on topics that are completely uncalled for.

So when people discuss housetraining or recall there's still some really pissy posters giving rigid advice that's either unhelpful or rude. Why bother?

GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman · 25/04/2020 22:03

who were breeding for the right reasons
But what ARE the 'right reasons'?

Health? Yes, of course, but that doesn't mean that every dog being bred needs to have every health test going for the breed. A recessive is a recessive: great if the puppies are clear by descent, but a carrier of a simple recessive is going to be fine.

Temperament? Yes, of course, but that varies wildly with the purpose of the dogs being bred. One of my own dogs would be hell on legs in the wrong home, manic, loud and away over the horizon chasing anything that moved. In this home, she's just about perfect.

And beyond that?
'Betterment of the breed'? That way lies - if breeders are not exceptionally careful - an excessive focus on the breed standard and a dangerous narrowing of the gene pool (this is less of an issue in working dogs, where morphological extremes just bugger up a dog's ability to put in a day's work. Being bred for work doesn't save them from the inbreeding-related health issues, like rampant cancer, though: I'll never have a flatcoat for an assortment of reasons, but one of them is the cancer bomb tendency of the breed. When you've heard an about-to-be-bereaved owner talking, you don't forget it).

'To keep a puppy to continue their line'. What, every single litter? Even if they want their bitch to have her first litter now because she's already almost five, but aren't in a good position to keep a puppy and bring it on this year but should be in two year's time when they hope to breed the bitch again, and know that they'll have a queue for both litters, because they breed bloody good dogs... Or even if they already have two dogs (mother and daughter, and they had the grandmother) and want to wait a while before adding a third, but want that third to be of their own breeding because they very much like what they've got, and the bitch, as above, is already four, rising five...

IMHO, if your sole income is from breeding dogs, it is very, very, VERY unlikely that you are giving your dogs the sort of life I would want the dam of my puppy to have. You will have to have too many dogs to give them the attention they need. But if you net a few grand at the end of the intense and exhausting work of breeding and rearing a litter, I'm not expecting you to donate it to rescue, or sit on a spike, or feel terrible about it. I'm pretty sure the breeder of my younger dog banked a bit when he gave the last puppy to its new home, and good for him: he bred and raised a litter of healthy, fit for purpose and temperamentally solid puppies; he checked out the new owners; he let me check him out and didn't object to the 101 questions I asked him; he clearly loved his dogs; he's kept in touch. Was he an all-singing-all-dancing A* breeder? No. Did he breed some great little dogs? He did indeed. (And that's not just me saying that: I have had people who trial their dogs compliment me on mine.)

Also, if you crossbreed you are not the devil. Provided you consider temperament and do you utmost to ensure it's good, health test appropriately and account for wider health issues (are both breeds cancer bombs? Or riddled with allergy issues? Hm, perhaps not...), don't breed the bitch more than two or three times, give the bitch (and the stud) a good life, rear the puppies with love and care, screen your puppy buyers properly, and sell with a solid contract ('if you need to rehome this dog, it comes back to me'), what's the problem?

Wolfiefan · 25/04/2020 22:18

I truly hope our breeder did make some money. She dedicated so much time and attention to the litter. But it’s not her business. That’s the distinction. I agree.

tabulahrasa · 25/04/2020 22:19

“So when people discuss housetraining or recall there's still some really pissy posters giving rigid advice that's either unhelpful or rude. Why bother?”

Dunno... but I mean, there really aren’t that many ways to housetrain... so... it’s going to be fairly rigid?...

Stellaris22 · 25/04/2020 22:19

Posting a lot more eloquently and informative than I ever could grumpy

Wolfiefan · 25/04/2020 22:23

And also some of us are typing on a phone. So abrupt? Yep. Because it’s hard when you have two fingers to type with. Grin

VetOnCall · 25/04/2020 22:27

Also, if you crossbreed you are not the devil. Provided you consider temperament and do you utmost to ensure it's good, health test appropriately and account for wider health issues (are both breeds cancer bombs? Or riddled with allergy issues? Hm, perhaps not...), don't breed the bitch more than two or three times, give the bitch (and the stud) a good life, rear the puppies with love and care, screen your puppy buyers properly, and sell with a solid contract ('if you need to rehome this dog, it comes back to me'), what's the problem?

There is no problem if someone does all of that (beyond the issue of there being not enough good homes for all of the pet dogs being bred). I know I've posted this on previous threads. The problem is that very few people who breed, and particularly those who jump on the bandwagon of 'trendy' pedigrees or crosses, actually do do all of that.

RemotelessControl · 25/04/2020 22:27

Ok bad examples. But maybe crate training a new rescue or something? Where there's some discussion.

Tbf I know you actually did give me excellent advice on a reactive collie I had a few years ago so I know you know you're stuff.

VetOnCall · 25/04/2020 22:28

@BreastedBoobilyToTheStairs your post above is excellent 👍

GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman · 25/04/2020 22:35

Ah, yes, the 100% recall.
My older dog is genuinely very deaf these days. My younger dog has very good recall unless tennis balls are involved. Someone I know, who breeds fantastic working dogs and trains them to the highest possible standard (the list of awards her dogs have won just goes on and on) has a dog who took off after a hare during a field trial, a serious sin in the gundog world. We all stood around at training going, 'Really? Got up after a hare? Blimey!' It was very comforting: dogs aren't robots.

There's increasing research on the lifelong impacts poor puppy rearing environments have on dog behaviour.
There is indeed. All the more reason to make bloody sure that no one buys a puppy from a puppy farm or any sort of commercial facility. Perhaps there is a role for some sort of certification for people who want to breed their pet bitch once or maybe twice: What health tests have you done? You need to carry out these for those dogs. What puppy contract do you use? You have a choice of these three. Can you pass this test of basic dog-breeding know-how? Here's your certificate, thank you for your fee, and you have a 25% chance that our inspector will call...
No, it wouldn't be perfect, but anybody setting out to buy a puppy would see that certification and have at least some assurance that their puppy had had a decent start in life and they weren't buying their about-to-be-beloved fluffball from a house rented as a front by somebody shipping litters in by the dozen from Ireland or wherever ('Quick! These ones have come to buy a Cavalier! Hide the Cavachons upstairs!).

AlternativePerspective · 25/04/2020 22:38

Do a search for Valhala.This place is tame now compared to what it was when she was here. She was in fact banned because of her posts....

Annabegins7 · 25/04/2020 22:40

It’s hilarious how they very posters who are vicious to others on all the threads and therefore the point of the OP are posting here too.

fivedogstofeed · 25/04/2020 22:50

The issues around puppies that I generally see tend to be started by people getting defensive over the 'research' they've done rather than accepting some hard truths

@breastedboobilytothestairs sums it up

tabulahrasa · 25/04/2020 22:59

“It’s hilarious how they very posters who are vicious to others on all the threads and therefore the point of the OP are posting here too.“

Well I’m pretty sure I come across as a wanker sometimes... but like I said, it’s sometimes hard to be more nuanced online.

But people read threads differently, I quite often see people getting upset/angry at answers on here and have to go back up and try to work out what on earth they’re taking offence at because I read a question and some straightforward answers...

M0chaJoes · 25/04/2020 23:48

I'll never forget that insane Valhalla woman saying she'd save a dogs life over a child's life. Among all the other weird and militant views she held. And still holds - I know people who know her and she's just a weirdo.

OP - I agree with you. The usuals turn up on every thread but just ignore them.

frostedviolets · 26/04/2020 00:17

I don’t think it’s a doghouse board problem, I think it’s a general person problem.

Social media/Facebook groups/forums, they are the same.

That said, someone mentioned me on a different thread the other day, can’t remember what was said exactly now but the jist was to ignore me (and another poster) because we have form for being unkind so I suppose I’m probably perceived as one of those wankers too.

I certainly don’t mean to be mind, I try to put my views/arguments across respectfully, I think almost everyone on the dog board does have good intentions, they are concerned for the animals welfare ultimately though I do sometimes find the hypocrisy of certain subjects, like puppy buying irritating at times.
Bleating on about responsible breeders when choosing to buy horrifically unhealthy breeds and the like.

But overall I really don’t think it’s a board thing.

iVampire · 26/04/2020 07:18

I think there is s as hell of a lot of abrasive comment in this topic. To the point where it is unwelcoming (fair enough) but also counterproductive

I don’t post much about my puppy because I wouldn’t want to deal with posts about where she came from - because it feels wrong to have to justify oneself before getting and advice

I remember @GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman ‘a post about types of breeder, it was stand out because it showed so much more acceptance of the types of breeder. That was the time when I realised that there was at least one poster who would thoroughly approve of DPup’s start in life

Veterinari · 26/04/2020 07:41

I don’t post much about my puppy because I wouldn’t want to deal with posts about where she came from - because it feels wrong to have to justify oneself before getting and advice

But where a pup comes from and at what age can have significant impacts on health and behaviour - it's why I ask at least. A pup from a backyard breeder rehomed at 6 weeks will likely need much more rigorous socialisation and work on bite inhibition than a placid pup from a reputable breeder rehomed at 9 weeks. If you feel defensive over giving that information then you're clearly uncomfortable on some level with your own decision-making.

If posters on this board make someone think twice about getting a dog that's not a bad thing. There are way too many posts on the same avoidable problems over and over again as jinxpixie outlines below

And if @Ocre373 thinks that promoting dog welfare and makes us 'wankers' then I can live with that.
I'm pretty sure if reported, this thread would be removed as it's full of personal attacks/not in the spirit of MN. So perhaps those of you slagging is all off might want to reflect on how hypocritical you actually are? This thread itself is pretty unpleasant and juvenile - it's intended to do nothing but cause a bunfight, and attempt to bully regular posters, which I'm sure was @Ocre373 oh-so-noble intention.

Reginabambina · 26/04/2020 07:42

Dogs are a very emotive subject for Brits.