Update: Caveat has a good post on the goings-on. Read it here.
I spent two days at Woofstock this weekend, watching people with their dogs. Makes me sad for the future of some of these dogs.
First, it was well over 80 degrees (possibly over 100) with full sun and high humidity. For those of you unfamiliar with Toronto in the summer, it's like living in a blast furnace. The breezes that blow are hot, like the Santa Ana winds.
The dogs were showing the effect of the heat. Black asphalt is darned hard on bare feet, I defy the owners to go barefoot on it for several hours. Combine the heat with inappropriate treatment (having their untrained or anxious dogs there in the first place; those haltis that people use fulltime because they're too lazy or stupid to train their dogs; clothes on an animal with a fur coat), dehydration, a heavy coat, flat face, age or infirmity, and these people are just looking to kill their dogs.
Some people had them dressed in outfits or t-shirts which keep the dog's body heat trapped around its body. For heaven's sake, if you want to bring your dog, come and leave early before the worst of the heat. Better, leave your dog at home in the air conditioning.
Next, why the %$#!@!!! would a person carry a dog in a snugli??? Carrying a dog in a snugli means the dog is parked on its rear end with all its internal organs compressing for hours. A dog is constructed to be four on the floor, not upright. What will that do to the dog long term?
I think the rescues will be getting a LOT of small dogs in the next few years. People acquire them on a whim (pet stores and backyard breeders are responsible for this), treat them like accessories, and will probably discard them when they're too much trouble. Here's a buck, buy a clue. THEY'RE DOGS. They should be allowed to be dogs, and owners should have their dog's welfare foremost, not their ego and image.
Meaningless sidenote: I have a sunburn on my right arm, but not the left. I look like a British truckdriver.
1 comment:
Great post, mate! Didn't know you were a lorry driver LMAO!
I was thinking today that the people who carry their dogs as purses, etc, should really just buy dolls. Same effect, much easier on those of us who actually love animals and believe that dogs, even itty bitty ones, are still dogs.
That means they shouldn't be mocked, humiliated or treated as if they were something else.
It's ignorant and cruel to insult and abuse our Only Friend that way.
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