StarFox

[quote]quite humorous, imho. Purebred buyers seem to think they are privledged in a class of their own. Their reasons for purchasing seem to be ok for THEM - I so far have read basically "I bought a purebred because I WANT...". My opinion is that if you have bought a purebred then you have absolutely no right to express a negative opinion about anyone who buys a mixed.[/quote] [quote]I looked for a long time for a shelter dog that fit what I "wanted" for a pet - I don't give a flip if the dog is registered or not, but like you, there are certain characteristics I wanted for our family pet. [/quote] Seems like you have the same excuse, I WANT! And people who buy mixes have no right to express a negative opinion about people who buy purebreeds. [quote]We were both looking for particular characteristics, neither of us felt able to find such in a shelter (altho I looked for a long time), so, end of story? We both PURCHASED our pet from a breeder. [/quote] Then you didn't look hard enough, unless of course you wanted one of thoes rare mixes...oh..i mean "breeds". :roll: [quote]the breeder I purchased my mix from, altho I can't vouch for the genetic tests, did fulfill all the other guidelines you listed.[/quote] No, they did NOT fufill the guidlines i listed. Genetic testing is so important! How do you know your dog won't get HD or ED? Or have server allergies? Or luxating patellas (sp?)?! If they are breeding quality, healthy dogs and are responsible they will ALWAYS do helth tests. [quote]And your estimate of "hundreds" "thousands" of those 2 mixes you mentioned I believe is an exaggeration. I can't say for sure, because I wasn't looking for either of those. [/quote] Here you go : [url]http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?action=3&type=Dog[/url] Dogs-206 different breeds and 94021 dogs in total. And that's just a handfull, a sampling of what types of dogs are in shelters and roaming the streets. And how many of thoes are mixes? 20%? 50%? [quote] the poor quality breeders I am positive far out-number those breeders who honestly do genetic testing & careful mating.[/quote] Well we agree on one thing then. There are hundreds of people out there who breed just for money, or just because they want puppies, or because they want to show there kids the miracle of life. BYB and puppymills that breed mixed AND purebreds need to be stoped. Hobby breeders need to be stopped. People who breed without giving a rats behind about genetics need to be stopped. [quote]And again, "these new breeds don't serve any purpose" - well maybe not to you, but to some, they DO. I'm saying your reasons for choosing your dog serve you well; the reasons I, & other mixed owners use, serve me well. [/quote] I don't exactly know what you point is here. I DO own a mix breed. I adopted a GSD/golden mix almost 2 years ago. He is my little "German Retreiver" and he is the reason I am so against mixed breeding. Maybe you would feel differnet about BUYING mixes if you spent a week in a shelter and saw what rescuers had to go threw.

Ok I realy try to stay out of the major conflicts on this site, especally the ones that involve "rescue vs. purebreeds". But it seems that every few months all the people on this site who have purebred dogs that they got from a breeder and the people on this site who breed get bashed, allot. And time after time they have to stick up for themselves and what they believe. And time after time it's the "rescue" people (usually the newbies) who bash the breeders NOT the other way around. No one on this site has ever ONCE said anything bad about a mutt/mix or rescue dog. But it is a free for all for bashing thoes who don't adopt. Each person here has different needs, some want pure breeds for specific reasons, like Hillside and Black GSD. I will never bash them because they know there stuff inside and out. Some people want to know that there dog has been tested for genetic diseases, you can't get that in a shelter. Of all people I should know, with my adopted mutt with bad elbows and bad hips. I'm not saying that pure breeds don't have genetic problems but at a shelter you never know what your getting and I respect people who don't want to take the chance. Not everyone can spend 1, 5, 15 or 20 thousand dollars on a dog with health problems. People on this site don't "slam" mix breeds, the slam the unnecessary BYB of these new "fad" dogs. I dare you to find me one good breeder of a Labradoodle or any of these new fad breeds, who dosn't breed for profit, who does ALL genetic tests on the dogs, who is active in a rescue community, who promotes spay/neutering, who will take back one of there dogs when someone decided to get rid of it after they bought it. Not to many of thoes around huh? And how many Labradoodles and Cockapoos are in shelters right now? Hundreads? Thousands? These new breeds don't serve any purpose, hypoallergenic my arse! I can confidently say that everyone on this site, breeders, rescuers, and everyone in between is desgusted and horrified by the over population of dogs and cats. And Black GSD is 100% right what about thoes people who dump there dogs at the shelters becuse they are getting old or because they are too hyper? Or let there dog roam free not spayed or neutered? But it's all the responsible breeders fault that there are so many animals in shelters, right. :roll: Ok, I'm done with my rant now. By the way I am in NO way saying that rescuing is bad and that the people on this site who do rescue are bad. It just seems that this argument comes up allot and it is usually newbies that bring it up.

[quote name='KP'] Classes taken in college all the way as long as its not a mandatory class.[/quote] I totally agree with you on this KP. I realy do think some of H.S students are too immature to understand disection. I think if you can learn anatomy threw a video or computer program then that should be the way to do it. But I also think there should be an option for H.S students to disect if they have a desire for science/biology. Don't get me wrong, I'm not totaly against disection. In fact I enjoyed the learning experience and volenteered to disect on weekends for the schools open house. And realy the worm creeped me out more then anything. But the grasshoppers I did enjoy (i'm so weird I know). The disection of Rats, Cats and Rabbits seems kind of wrong to me. Especally for H.S students. I don't think there is anything wrong with disection in college if your major requires it or if your interested, but cats and rabbits for H.S students seems like a bit much.

Ok I was thinking about this last night when trying to go to bed (I know, perty morbit thouhts right before bed :oops: ). I thought about when I took Biology in High School and we had to disect animals and bugs. And I asked myself, If I had the chance now to disect a baby pig would I do it, knowing what I know now about animals and animal abuse. When I took Bio in H.S we disected worms, crickets and a baby pig. At our school we had the option of actually doing the disection, having our partner disect it or doing a "virtual" disection with a computer program. I choose to disect them myself. I have always loves science and Biology so at the time I had no real problems with it. But knowing now that thousands if not millions of bugs, frogs, baby pigs die so that students all across the country can fufill there science requierment, it bothers me a little. I did find the disections very interesting and fun but not many other people in the class did. I went to an all girls h.s and 75% of my class mates screamed and acted very childish when disecting the pig. And how many of thoes students will actually be intrested in science or major in science after h.s? Was the death of all thoes pigs neccessary to fufill a science requierment? I'm sure 90% of thoes kids in that class did not benifit any way by disection. So should disection of animals be done in college and not in h.s? Or should virtual discetion replace the disection of real animals? I'd especally like opinions from students in H.S who have done disection in the last few years or are about to do it.

A while back Zebra had a perty nasty ear infection and there was blood in his ear. The vet gave us a solution of Acetic Acid and Aloe. It works wonders and zebra felt better in two days. I know they sell it at the vets and I think I've seen it a Petsmart too. I don't know if you have tried it already but if you haven't it might be worth giving it a shot.

HF your doing such a good thing with rescuing and fostering, and it must be so hard when these BYB/loosers come out of the wood work at the worst possible time. But you know you can always come here to vent about things like that. Please give Pauly a hug for me, I feel for him. I have an ear infection that just won't go away, so I realy hope he starts to feel better soon. I'm so sorry to hear about your hubby, I realy hope that the doctors/specalists find out what's going on and are able to fix it. Lots of positive thoughts comming your way, for Pauly, Razzle, Hubby and You.

VOTED!!

SO glad to hear that it's not HD and that the Luxation isn't very serious. :D Keep us updated on his progress though. :wink:

Good Luck!! Have a great time! :P

It's always a good idea to get a second opinion, and especally from a specalist. Good Luck tomarrow! :P

Fingers and Paws crossed here for a speedy recovery.

[img]http://www.pawsruskennel.com/photo-caesar.jpg[/img] Umm on what planet is this a Saint Bernard?!?! :o I have never seen any Saint puppy look like that! Gee what dogs don't they breed?! Stupid *beep!* BYB! :evil: :x

:( I'm so so sorry. I know exactly how you feel. It's like the world is comming down around you. I think I cried for a good two weeks everytime I thought about it. But things do get better. A few questions: How old is Bentley? Did your vet only take x-rays or did he/she do a Palpation exam? What stage of HD does he have? Early/mild? Moderate/ Severe? You said that the vet said that the typical sergery wouldn't help, do you mean the TPO, Triple Pelvic Osteotmy? I think starting on a joint suppliment right away is the best idea. Natural Glucosamine (sp??) is wonderful and zebra gets it all the time. The water therapy also sounds wonderful, it's a way to exersize bentley but also lower the stress on his hips. You must must must get bentley to loose the excess weight, an overweight dog w/ HD is very bad. But like K said, no more zoomies and jumping up and down. Short walkes are good but nothing too strenuous. And Gooey is absolutly right, check around your local vet schools and see what they offer, sometimes they will do the operations for the classes or doctors for a very good price. *hugs* We are here for you and will help you with whatever descisions you need to make. And if you have any questions or just want to talk feel free to PM me.

[quote name='Crested'] - they have two pure breed dogs of diffirent breeds that they want puppies from, because the two are so good and adorable that the owners think it's good to get offspring from. [color=darkblue]And I could go down to the local shelter and find a dog that is the same mix as what they want to breed. So this isn't a good reason.[/color] - they say that x-breeds are more healthy then purebreeds [color=darkblue] Bah! Biggest Pile a bull doo that I've ever heard. usually people who just want to breed Labradoodles or any doodles don't do any medical test on the dogs before hand. Plus there is no real hard evidence of either pure breeds or x-breeds being heathier[/color] - people are breeding so many purebreeds, why not x-breeds? [color=darkblue]And so many pure breeds and x-breeds are ending up in shelters so why breed at all[/color]. - they feel sad for the x-breeds as they see that some people think they are "less worthy" then purebreeds [color=darkblue]Then why create more if people think less of them. That just dosn't make sense at all.[/color] - they just want puppies to care for [color=darkblue]Ok let me go down to the local shelter and pick up a couple of dozen puppies for them to take care of. If they want puppies so much then they can foster[/color]. - they are short with money and they need it fast. [color=darkblue]Sell stuff on ebay, have a yard sale. become a guinea pig for medical experiments. Get an extra job, if they have enough time to take care of a litter of pups they can get a part time job. Money is NEVER an excuse to breed.[/color] So... Is there an excuse for breeding x-breeds on purpouse? [color=darkblue]Yup there are many excuses for breeding but never any good reasons[/color]. [size=2](I hope this doesn't turn into a fight)[/size][/quote][color=#444444][/color][color=#444444][/color][color=#444444][/color]

[quote name='HazelNutMeg'] Do average birds often eat cats?? :o :o :lol: :wink: [/quote] Actually now that I think of it there use to be these little black kittens around the neighboirhood. I haven't seen them in a while. Wonder if the hawk got them too. :-?

[quote name='DeafAussieLover']LOL nice blame the poor cats.. what'd they ever do to you.. lol :)[/quote] :lol: Well in fact I've gotten hives from cats and I can't breath when I'm around the. I'm allergic. :(

Great news! WooHoo BK is in perfect health! :P :angel:

If there is one thing this dog deserves is to be HUMANELY put down. No not with Tylenol or shooting it. Or whatever lame ideas go threw your head. You or your aunt need to step up and do the RIGHT thing and put this poor suffering dog down. And I'm sorry but 50 miles to drive in a car with a smelly dog isn't that bad. It's not the dogs fault that it smells. The dog can't give it's self a bath now can it? So what, this poor dog has to suffer because of someone elses neglect. And no Vet can come to your aunts property? And there is no animal control or humane society that will put this dog down the right way? And what are you and your aunt going to do when this dog dies on her property? That dog is going to smell 100 times worse when it is dead and it will be horrible to have to bury a dog that smells and is leaking it's water and bodily fluids everywhere.

Oh I LOVE that show!! I get it here on BBC America. But seeing as you are watching a new episode that means we will probably see it in a year from now. :x :roll:

Voted!!!! Good luck! :P

Ok...so some of you may know that I have been having problems with finding bird bones all over the yard and Zebra getting ahold of them and trying to eat them. And I have been getting very very upset at the cats because that's who has been catching and eating the birds and leaving the bones all over the place.....or so I thought. So I go outside today with my brother and Zebra and we look across the street and I'm like...Hmm wow that is a realy big bird. My brother looks at me and goes "mel, is that what I think it is?!" .....I'm like "oh my god, It's a Hawk!!!".....and it had a bird in it's talons. :o ANd it flew away to the top of a telephone pole and just sat there for the longest time eating the bird it had caught. Now i know that some of you probably see hawks or birds of prey on common occurences. But this is very odd for a hawk to be so low down in the valley and especally in the neighborhood it's in. It's a very beutiful bird I just hope some moron dosn't see it and try to shoot it or something. :roll: So my mistake...the Bird eating Cat actually turned out to be a Bird eating Bird. :lol:

So sorry to hear about your dog. I hope everything goes ok. You might want to check out these sites. [url]http://www.avma.org/careforanimals/animatedjourneys/aboutvets/aboutvets.asp[/url] On this site you can see if your doctor is part of the AAHA. [url]http://www.healthypet.com/[/url]

Just my one Mutt. 1 West Highland Terrier 3 Mixed breed dogs 1 Akita 1 American Pit Bull Terrier

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw that pic. Too cute. :angel:

I use thoes huge 5 gallon buckets that your suppose to use for paint to store the dog food. It works great, it's airtight and can fit about 25 lbs in each. And they stack. Best 5 dollars I ever spent! :lol: