Sorry if this has been covered in another thread - I don't have time to read as thoroughly as I used to.
"The changes to the law that will be implemented in April 2016 state first and foremost that all dogs within England and Wales must be microchipped. A parliamentary debate over the issue is not considered to be necessary, and so it seems unlikely that the new scheme will face any opposition in the meantime.
The police and local authorities will be tasked with policing compliance with the scheme, and all local authorities and police forces will be issued with the appropriate number of microchip scanners to be able to execute their duties effectively. If the police or local authorities find a dog without a microchip after April 2016, assuming that the owner of the dog in question can be located, the owner will be given a further short window of opportunity to get their dog microchipped. If they still then fail to comply with the law, they will face a fine of up to £500 per dog."
(from tinyurl.com/hr2sote)
As the Fluffster would say - discuss!
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Any responsible dog owner will already have a dog chipped or now chipped to comply with the law.
Any non chipped dogs are therefore not cared for by responsible people and should have them taken away.
As far as the tribble goes, whats to discuss?
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Tribble?
I'd have used 'merkin'
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My Beauceron was chipped when I picked him up from the breeder. The Pointer isn't, and wont be.
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>> My Beauceron was chipped when I picked him up from the breeder. The Pointer isn't,
>> and wont be.
No reason not to be. Unless its just an excuse to be a stroppy git.
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A couple of evil, criminally-inclined lurchers I think.
'Ooooh, suits you sir!'
(Another rabbit Spike? Yeah, good dog, good dog... oh damn, I do believe it's a child...).
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>>. The Pointer isn't, and wont be.
Why not, out of interest?
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>>Why not, out of interest
No particular reason. He's got a tag on his collar with his name and telephone number on.
If I was breeding 'em, I'd make sure all the pups were chipped before being homed.
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Dog owners should be chipped or neutered. Horrible things...
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>> Dog owners should be chipped or neutered. Horrible things...
>>
Chipped AND neutered.
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madf, I realise that was probably a TIC comment so I'm not really aiming this at you:)
My life would certainly have been a lot emptier without animals, both cats and dogs, in it.
Over the years they've given me tremendous happiness and indeed any living creature does that.
I always think I'm privileged to be a small part of theirs.
I find it really hard to understand how anyone could not want a pet and love wildlife and nature....perhaps someone could explain it?
Pat
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My dog likes chips, but he's not keen on vinegar.
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>>
>> I find it really hard to understand how anyone could not want a pet and
>> love wildlife and nature....
That's two different things for a start. I am deeply interested in wildlife and the environment and volunteer for a a wildlife charity expending my time and sometimes money on both.
Not all that keen on pets though even though we did have a cat for years. Seems to me that ownership of a pet is to fulfil a human need for company or control over another living creature. Nothing wrong with that I suppose if human company is lacking but it can sometimes be cruel to subject an animal to a completely unnatural life like keeping a cat indoors for all its life just to fulfil human needs.
And then there's the effect on the enviroment. All those millions of birds killed by cats and all that dog crap bespoiling our pavements.
No, in my view the place for animals, with a few exceptions, is in the wild where they belong.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Wed 9 Mar 16 at 18:16
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Yes, I can understand that it is two different things, but I love having rescue cats with a troubled past and giving them homes for life, so maybe it does fulfil something in me!
Our five cat's have killed just two birds in 3 years though so I don't buy that argument:0
Mice...that's a different matter, at least two a day.
Pat
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My old cat killed loads. Some cats are better than others at catching birds. I think they learn the skill from their mothers. A lot never seem to get the knack of anticipating the flight direction.
To be honest most birds killed by cats are garden birds and there is no real evidence that the most caught birds such as blue tits and blackbirds are in decline. Change in environment has a far bigger impact than overfed moggie have on our wildlife.
I just wish the wretched things wouldn't crap in my garden.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Wed 9 Mar 16 at 18:52
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>> I just wish the wretched things wouldn't crap in my garden.
>>
>>
>>
Turn the hosepipe on them, worked a treat at our old place. A few good soakings and they won't be back anytime soon.
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>>I just wish the wretched things wouldn't crap in my garden<<
So do I CG:)
I send Ian on Poo Patrol each weekend, that cures it!
Pat
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>> I send Ian on Poo Patrol each weekend, that cures it!
>>
>> Pat
>>
You send Ian to poo in the owners gardens? :-)
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>>
>> I send Ian on Poo Patrol each weekend, t
"My life would certainly have been a lot emptier without animals, both cats and dogs, in it.
Over the years they've given me tremendous happiness"
Why does your second statement not surprise me.... :)
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Each to his own CG. I love our dogs. Whether they're company or not it doesn't worry me. They wouldn't exist if it wasn't for dog owners. And they get an immense amount of pleasure from life.
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>> Each to his own CG. I love our dogs. Whether they're company or not it
>> doesn't worry me. They wouldn't exist if it wasn't for dog owners. And they get
>> an immense amount of pleasure from life.
>>
Absolutely each to his own.
But you raise an interesting point which I genuinely don't understand. When pet owners say they love their dogs or cats what do they mean? Do you mean you love the animal like your children or do you mean simply that you like it in the way you might like your car?
When I owned the cat I can't say I ever felt anything I could describe as love. I found it interesting and would try to imagine its world and it was aesthetically pleasing sitting in front of the fire and I felt responsible for its welfare but I don't think those things qualify as love.
Must be something missing in me.
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>> Seems to me that ownership of a pet is to fulfil a human need
>> for company or control over another living creature.
Seems to me you are speaking from a position of ignorance.
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>>Seems to me you are speaking from a position of ignorance
Absolutely .. load of shoe repairers in my opinion. If anything our two dogs control us!!
8-)
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What is obedience training all about then? Not controlling a dog?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 9 Mar 16 at 19:28
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>> What is obedience training all about then? Not controlling a dog?
Its not about controlling a dog. Not in the sense you are implying.
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>> >> Seems to me that ownership of a pet is to fulfil a human need
>> >> for company or control over another living creature.
>>
>> Seems to me you are speaking from a position of ignorance.
>>
Almost certainly.
I have never owned a dog. Tell me what is the motivation for you in owning one?
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For me it's a burglar alarm. And a comfort for the missus when I'm away. The dog seems to enjoy its role and life. Also teaches children to respect animals. And a bit of discipline and responsibility. And it scares blimmin' cats away.
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LB
>> I have never owned a dog. Tell me what is the motivation for you
>> in owning one?
Bin there, done that, you ignored it last time, so I wont repeat myself.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 10 Mar 16 at 01:49
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Did I ? My apologies. I guess I will never know the answer to my question
I suspect you seee as some sort of dog hater but actually I am not
I can see the very real benefits of companionship and the attraction in training an animal but for me the disadvantages would far outweigh those benefits. I accept that others take the opposite view.
It' s intriguing isn' t it how differently we all respond to the world.
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I grew up in household where there were always dogs. My childhood memories are full of them, sharing family holidays, playing with them after school on the beach near where we lived, and later as a teenager being followed almost everywhere on my bike by my Retriever. Even as a young adult he would get in the car with me including the MG Midget which wasn't easy when it was necessary to have the roof up but he and I preferred it down whenever possible.
When eventually I started work and was living alone, travelling away a lot, I couldn't really cope with a dog and for many years didn't have one.
Five years ago though we got a little pup and he has been a joy. My wife was very ill for a long while and couldn't work and although he was only young, he was a great comfort to her in her long days alone. When she began to recover he was the catalyst for getting her moving again and they started to enjoy longer and longer walks together, building her confidence and her fitness.
Now that she is back to work part time he has latched onto me a bit more and if I'm around the house he's always just near somewhere. In fact he's sitting at my feet now.
He is a calming influence on me, no agenda from his side, unconditionally welcoming, always friendly and his simple little being in my house and life relaxes me more than anything.
He has also been a great companion to my son, who is now 16 but has had the pleasure of the past five years companionship. It's taught him the responsibility of looking after something and he has discovered that it's ok to go out for a bit of a walk on his own with the dog as it sort of validates that and has led to him making more friends as a result. ( this especially in recent times of the female variety ! )
I'd more or less forgotten how nice it is to have a dog around and what a joy they can be but I'd miss him now for sure. Yes, it involves a bit of work and expense but in my coloured view, it really does help to make a house a home.
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When at junior school I had a pet goose. We lived in a terraced house at Twickenham and the goose scared the wits out of school mates when it was released to hurtle down the street to meet us.
For the last 50 years we had three guinea pigs for their lifespan and since then an ancient ( 75 ish years old) three and a half legged 1kg randy tortoise and yes he is chipped !
The pigs were obtained for the children but guess who had to look after them ?
Due to SWMO having asthma no feathers of fur in the house but the pigs were allowed in and were OK.
IMO Guinea pigs make great pets with a reasonable lifespan.
They were housed outside all year round and were cheap and easiy to look after with many other attributes.
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>> When at junior school I had a pet goose. We lived in a terraced house
>> at Twickenham
Which school did you go to?
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>> >> When at junior school I had a pet goose. We lived in a terraced house at Twickenham
>>
>> Which school did you go to?
>>
My local in Isleworth
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>> but the pigs
>> were allowed in and were OK.
I'd draw the line at pigs, although I know people who raise orphaned lambs indoors. We've had hens that would wander in and peck around the kitchen looking for scraps, once one of the peacocks, and a shetland pony that worked out how to open the porch doors and had to be ejected from the sitting room.
On the whole cats seem the lowest maintenance.
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>>I'd draw the line at pigs, although I know people who raise orphaned lambs indoors.
I knew a bloke who was raised with pigs (seriously) he became a rat catcher (as we called him) 'pest control occifer'.
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>> validates that and has led to him making more friends as a result. ( this
>> especially in recent times of the female variety ! )
Yeah, dogs pull the birds, no doubt about it. And if you are so inclined, gay fellas as well.
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Do you have to inform your insurance company if your dog is chipped?
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>> Do you have to inform your insurance company if your dog is chipped?
Only if it's raced or rallied
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Brilliant Zed.
Wouldn't be without a dog and haven't been for perhaps fifty years. Expensive yes. A tie, yes. Immensely pleasurable, yes.
It's not only cats that catch birds. One of the Lab's caught a Woodpigeon in flight in our garden. It sailed across four feet above the lawn and wallop, pigeon no more. Respect.
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>> Voice of experience ?!
Hmm, while walking FiFi mk1 I can recount some interesting conversations I have had near what I now call Gay Mans Pond on Horsell common, and it wasn't about men from Mars.
Usually they have have rescue greyhounds or whippets.
On the other hand, FiFi Mk2 usually seems to attract dizzy blondes with big tits. Not complaining.
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SQ 4 LB
>> madf, I realise that was probably a TIC comment so I'm not really aiming this
>> at you:)
>> I find it really hard to understand how anyone could not want a pet and
>> love wildlife and nature....perhaps someone could explain it?
Pat
It was me being a grumpy old man.
I walk every day and talk to all the dogs I meet and also their owners - but they tend to have poop bags and clear up after their pets. The dogs are also well trained except for one terrier which can spot me at 200 meters and follows me barking furiously despite the protests of her "owner". Dog owners who don't use poop bags should be forced to live in their dogs' mess..
I have given up on warm blooded pets : the cats we had were great companions but killed too many birds. I now just keep hundreds of thousands of stinging insects in the garden :-)
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 10 Mar 16 at 09:47
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I have had a dog since I was a child and I now have two Cocker Spaniels. I wouldn't be without them. I had only one Cocker before I retired and he used to come to work with me.
Having a dog also gets you to exercise, and contribute to a healthy lifestyle. I probably wouldn't be bothered to walk if I didn't have them. They are great company and help to meet like-minded people.
These are my two, Henry and Jamie.
s177.photobucket.com/user/Robbie34_photo/media/IMG_2158.jpg.html?o=30
Last edited by: Robbie34 on Thu 10 Mar 16 at 12:39
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FiFi Mk2 usually seems to attract dizzy blondes with big tits. Not complaining.
Not a problem for me...in spite of being dogless now. Had dogs all our married life until the last one carked it a few years ago. Mostly Spaniels, last one was a Springer...lovely girl, really thought she was one of the family...as she was...and wanted to be involved with everything.
Last were a pair of Border Terrorists...boy and girl. Great little dogs to have around the place. The male, Harry was a bit of a runt and he was allergic to house dust, The insurers spent a fortune but in the end he was so distressed scratting all the time that I took him for the needle. The smell in the house was awful, notwithstanding joss stix, air freshoners and such. 100% better afterwards. Poor little beggar.
I walked home without him and cried my heart out. The girl, Poppy, followed a year or so later having multiple strokes and collapses. We decided not to have any more...to free us up a bit, although we can have the lend of daughter's Havanese Terror now and again.
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>> Last were a pair of Border Terrorists...
Heard somebody it Towcester this afternoon refer to a wee dog as Border Terrorist. Not normally a dog person but it was a charming near adolescent male specimen - very keen on anyone who'd pay it attention.
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>> s177.photobucket.com/user/Robbie34_photo/media/IMG_2158.jpg.html?o=30
>>
Are they laying upon some two legged creature that they have killed?
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Jist bin out with the two monsters 'over the tops' (as Leg Lad would say) Saw an old geezer (older than me!) with his 3 year old Springer bitch. I used to see him in another area near my cottage a few years back when I had Milo - sad-looking old sod with no teeth in his ed hardly - I always say a few words to him, I'll speak to anyone
except foreigners ... that Spaniel is his life!
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>> I'll speak to anyone except foreigners
Can't understand what they're on about, or is it pure xenophobia? Am I wrong in seeing you as a reasonably approachable sort of cove who enjoys a pleasantry or two Perro? I do hope not.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 10 Mar 16 at 16:42
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Four teen years in the mobile car tuning game meant I had to have the gift of the gab Sire. Plus the fact I genuinely feel for all sentient beings with an awareness of their/our own mortality.
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>> Plus the fact I genuinely feel for all sentient beings with an
What, even Tasmanian Devils Perro?
>> awareness of their/our own mortality.
Mortality is our saving grace. Try to imagine how unspeakable we would soon become if we were immortal.
Not that one wouldn't mind giving immortality a try. But it would soon pall I'm sure.
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>>Mortality is our saving grace. Try to imagine how unspeakable we would soon become if we were immortal.
My friend Lauri, the leather man, used to say something similar .. "It's good that we die"
I wouldn't mind living for a few hundred years or so if I could have the body of a young man ... I keep looking.
:}
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"I could have the body of a young man ... I keep looking."
Reminds me of that line in Return of the Jedi, "I need more men".
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Ok here's a topical example of what I mean by the pleasures of dog ownership.
Today, I was up at 04.30 and in the car by 05.00. Did a 300 mile round trip punctuated by a difficult meeting and some tough stuff coming through on the email during the day. Nothing insurmountable but enough to feel a bit stressed and wound up by this evening. Couple that with a very sore back due to an injury last weekend and a splitting headache and I was feeling a bit lived in.
I've just taken the dog with a ball, a stick, a torch and a bag of doggy treats for a brisk 3 mile walk along the canal towpath. Wrapped up warm in my favourite but prehistoric Barbour Bushman jacket ( the coat of copious pockets and unidentifiable stains ), an equally filthy and ancient fisherman's jersey, my comfiest boots and and an old pair of jeans, I've just returned.
Now I feel fine. The dog and I have had a bit of fresh air, my head has cleared and the back has eased off a bit due to some light excercise and the work problems have been mentally parked until the morning.
Head space I think the colonials call it. Or something like that.
Might have a gin, don't normally but...
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My kinda Guy. Waddya doin' Friday my dear? I quite like dressing up. :-)
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Sadly ( fortunately? ) I shall be about as far from Devon on Friday as it's possible to be without crossing any borders. Sorry to let you down and all...
;-)
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...but, it has stopped raining you know. For a while anyway.
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Too kind Martin, but, I really don't feel like driving to Devon just to see you dressed up as a dog. I know it may well be a local thing and indeed might be considered an honour by some, but...
;-)
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Ohhh... so THAT'S why you are called Dog...
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"Dog, as devil deified, lived as God."
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Dog chipping - change in the law - Zero
