३१ मार्च, २००८

Oppressing the dog.

I see so many big dogs in the city that are obviously built to run but who've had to adjust their gait to the trudge of the human. (Even the tiniest dogs, unleashed, take off and run, far outpacing their owners.) But what can you do? You walk at the speed you walk, and the dog is lucky to be loved by you. What bothers me is all the clothing. Like this:

City dog

That's uncalled for.

३४ टिप्पण्या:

Trooper York म्हणाले...

We left the door open to the shop yesterday to entice people in, and every single and I mean every single dog that walked by on Court St had a sweater on. Some of the dogs were better dressed than the kids that the parents also had in a leash in the other hand. People are freakin strange.

Trooper York म्हणाले...

And of course there was Marty with his ferret but that's a whole nother story.

Skyler म्हणाले...

It's so undignified. Dogs should not wear clothing.

I have a little cairn terrior mutt and she's about the gentlest dog I've ever seen. But she can't go very far on a walk, and not for lack of exercise. After a half mile at a liesurely pace she's ready to stop.

I wish I had a coursing dog so that the time I spend walking the dog every night can help me keep my running condition. But you get the dog you married into, not the one you want.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

We put a coat on our dog if it's below zero (Fahrenheit) and if he's just gotten a haircut.

Why on God's Green Earth would you bother to clothe a dog on a day above freezing? New Yorkers just have zero common sense.

Trooper York म्हणाले...

Skyler, get a Dalmatian. I had one when I was in shape, and all she wanted to do is run. Man it was unbelievable. Plus snap at little kids who thought she was a cartoon and tried to poke at her to get a reaction.

Trooper York म्हणाले...

"Why on God's Green Earth would you bother to clothe a dog on a day above freezing? New Yorkers just have zero common sense."

It's a fashion statement dude that the liberals compete with each other to have the smallest dog with the fanciest clothes. Normal people don't dress up the dog, and they usually walk em at night after work or early, early in the am not during the day.

Peter V. Bella म्हणाले...

Trooper York said...
It's a fashion statement dude that the liberals compete with each other to have the smallest dog with the fanciest clothes.


Hey, since some people's dogs are, ahem, a little on the hefty side, how about Spanks for dogs! Could be a whole new fashion trend.

Ron म्हणाले...

You wonder if New Yorkers make their Spitzerhounds keep their black socks on...

Peter V. Bella म्हणाले...

What really amuses me is seeing women wearing fur coats walking their little dogs who are wearing matching fur. I usually laugh.

That dog looks like a greyhound or whippet. I see them with those cloak things quite a bit, though I do not know why.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

It's a fashion statement

The person walking the dog should pay more attention to their own fashion. Look at those slacks and shoes!

Trooper York म्हणाले...

Theres a whole subculture that adopts greyhounds that can't race anymore so they won't be destroyed. A very admirable thing.
Of course no one wants to adopt any of the nags I bet on, they should be on a one way ticket to the glue factory.

ricpic म्हणाले...

Depends on how cold it is. Is it cruel to blanket the dog on a cold day? Seems to me it wouldn't be. Just asking since I don't know much about these things.

Trooper York म्हणाले...

Madison Man, you have no idea. The pretentious people usually have two fashion statements, an adopted greyhound and an adopted Chinese Baby! I kid you not. Although there has been a run on African babies lately ever since Madonna and Angelina made them fashionable. People are freakin' strange.

John Burgess म्हणाले...

Some dogs, by genetics, are better suited to cold or heat than others.

Greyhounds and whippets really aren't built to handle cold weather. Covering them up a bit doesn't seem like a major crime, even a major fashion crime.

St. Bernards, Newfies, and the like don't handle heat well. The kindest cut is a short one. They look (and probably feel) foolish, but they don't die of heat exhaustion, either.

Hoosier Daddy म्हणाले...

It's so undignified. Dogs should not wear clothing.

Especially when the collar and cuffs don't match.

bearbee म्हणाले...

Greyhounds have low body fat and get easily chilled. I don't undertsand people who bundle up to the eyeballs before stepping out from a warm house into the cold NOT putting appropriate covering on their short-haired dogs when taking them out for a walk in cold weather. I once saw a nitwit twit commanding his short-haired, bare underside dog to lay down on a frozen sidewalk while he went to the store. Moron!
I would gladly have seen his genitals frozen to the pavement.

Palladian म्हणाले...

I'm not a huge fan of "accessory dogs" nor do I like the cutesy clothes that women and homosexuals often like to put onto them. But some dogs do need that protection if it's cold, such as greyhounds who have almost no body fat and a negligible natural coat. My mother's boston terrier will shiver if it's taken out to walk or do its business in the cold without a coat. It actually likes to put on the coat. On a short-furred dog in the cold, the coat is absolutely acceptable (within the limits of taste of course). Clothes of any other kind on dogs, or on long-haired breeds is unacceptable.

Skyler म्हणाले...

Okay, protection for the cold would seem to be appropriate. I'm in Texas and I forgot about how cold it is in New York.

Trooper York म्हणाले...

I hope the it is still acceptable for rhhardin to dress up his dog like Jessica Simpson in the Dukes of Hazard movie. This is America after all. Just sayn'

Roger J. म्हणाले...

Where is Titus to weigh in on accoutrements for the rare clumbers. I am sure his remarks will set the standard.

Fred म्हणाले...

Great political commentary aside, this post is why I love reading this blog. Thanks :)

Hoosier Daddy म्हणाले...

Where is Titus to weigh in on accoutrements for the rare clumbers. I am sure his remarks will set the standard.

I'm betting nothing as he would not want them to one up him in fashion when he cruises the bark park.

former law student म्हणाले...

To add to the comments why greyhounds are not suited to the cold, consider that they were originally bred in Egypt.

Chip Ahoy म्हणाले...

The dog's thinking, "Thank God this guy got me out of the race track business. Chasing that stupid mechanical rabbit was insane"

The dog is heeling nicely. They're probably on the way to the dog park where it'll be able to cut loose. Otherwise, large dogs especially are surprisingly lazy.

My Belgians liked to run. They could always be trusted to keep an eye on me, and very responsive to return calls. They weren't about to let themselves get abandoned. Their timing was impeccable. They could cut a large loop and with no voice command from me at all time it so they appeared at the car door the exact moment it opened.

bill म्हणाले...

The other dogs still often wear the Prussian officers' uniforms or elaborate bustled skirts that they took from the closets of the humans in Rankstadt ten years ago. They are proud to have stolen the clothes of their oppressors; they don't realize how ridiculous they look walking around New York. They know that they are monsters, but I believe they do not really understand what that means to humans. They live like famous people, keeping away from the crowds and employing others to do their shopping, occasionally appearing on talk shows or writing autobiographies, and they are well received by fascinated audiences. But they aren't aware of the mixture of amusement and revulsion people feel at the sight of Pinschers and Rottweilers stepping from a limousine, dressed like nineteenth-century Prussians, with their monocles and parasols. They look like ugly parodies of humans, and their biographies read like social satire. They will never be seen as anything but caricatures of human beings. There is no place for monsters in this world. That is why I prefer not to live with them.

Lives of the Monster Dogs, Kirsten Bakis

bearbee म्हणाले...

Otherwise, large dogs especially are surprisingly lazy

Greyhounds are known to be notorious couch potatoes.

A greyhound who doesn't like the cold.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

Thomas Carlyle expressing revulsion at jackets on Dutch cows in the wet season :

[horror] almost as one feels at those Dutch Cows, which, during ghe wet season, you see grazing deliberately with jackets and petticoats (of striped sacking), in the meadows of Gouda.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

Vicki has been wearing jackets recently, in an effort to prevent licking the wound from a removed tumor (probably benign at her age) on her right front leg.

restricting collar
Elizabethan collar
sweatshirt

Only the E. collar is 100% effective. The restricting collar can be gotten around if she lies down and curves her body right. The sweatshirt gets a two-foot-long cut made in it with rear teeth, starting at the collar and ending at the wound, if she's left alone with it and is bored enough.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

cont.

Bitter apple, a horribly bitter solution that discourages chewing the sofa, doesn't work on wounds.

``Geez, this stuff tastes awful, I'd better lick it off me.''

As with women, you're always surprised what happens to your plan when an actual creature is brought in to participate.

Trooper York म्हणाले...

Sure he keeps the photo with the Daisy Dukes and the checked shirt knotted at the bare midriff to himself.

tituskisstodaygoodbyethesweetnewssandthesorrow म्हणाले...

Good afternoon fellow republicans.

I would never dress the rare clumbers in any clothes.

They tend to draw so much attention anyway and plus they are always hot.

All the other dogs in my building to have jackets. The two pugs weare little pink and blue nylon jackets; the the two Shih Tzu's wear cute little LL Bean jackets and the queens with the mutt have a Burberry (traitional brown plaid) on their dog.

I don't even notice anymore because everyone seems to wear them-except my rare clumbers whose beauty would be covered up by the clothes.

Trooper York म्हणाले...

But wouldn't leather chaps with the butt cut out be traditional?

Beth म्हणाले...

The dachshund is our first small dog, and our first short-haired dog. We had a rare snow here in Louisiana on its first Christmas (2004) and the next fall, were spending some evacuation time up north, where it got really, really cold. Both winters, I thought it would be good to protect the wee thing with a little sweater. Both times, after I put it on him, he bit me and went into a whirling dervish dance, during which he removed the sweater. His answer to snow was to run out, do his business, run in and burrow under a nice blanket. But no sweaters -- he's not a metrosexual weenie dog.

Our bigger, mixed breed has a thick undercoat and he spent the winter happily bounding in and out of snow drifts.

johncdn म्हणाले...

Ah duh, let's not assume the worst or judge something as ridiculous without all the facts. Fact is that greyhounds as a breed have little or no body fat therefore are very susceptable to the cold in more northern climates. That is the reason for the coat, not a fashion statement but warmth for an animal that was likely rescued from a racetrack. So before you think it is some pathetic poodle like bow, get the facts and don't assume the "stupid", it just backfires a bit eh?!