Dogs and cats

[J. S. Bach]

From another forum:
"Dogs can be a great help in hunting: Pointers, Flushers, Retrievers. They can be sight hounds, scent hounds. They can get game underground, in the brush and tree bears and cats. They can be police dogs, military dogs, bomb dogs. Dogs can fine people buried under rubble, snow as well as dead bodies. Hounds can track people or game. Dogs can be seeing eye dogs, therapy dogs and companion animals. Dogs can be guard dogs, pull carts , guard cattle sheep and other livestock.



Cats can be trained to crap in a box........ "

[MYmoo]

Cats are too intelligent to allow themselves to be 'trained' by us dumb hu-mans.

[Roy]

Dogs do what they know and like, and we make a great team, surviving together. Cats sleep in our Barcaloungers when we're not sleeping in them.

[sarge]

From another forum:
"Dogs can be a great help in hunting: Pointers, Flushers, Retrievers. They can be sight hounds, scent hounds. They can get game underground, in the brush and tree bears and cats. They can be police dogs, military dogs, bomb dogs. Dogs can fine people buried under rubble, snow as well as dead bodies. Hounds can track people or game. Dogs can be seeing eye dogs, therapy dogs and companion animals. Dogs can be guard dogs, pull carts , guard cattle sheep and other livestock.

Cats can be trained to crap in a box........ "

I didn't know dogs could fine people for being buried under rubble. Never even knew it was illegal.

You see, I don't do any of those things so the list is moot. I don't seek dead bodies under snow, and my bear hunting days are probably over.

On the other hand crapping in a box is indeed an advantage compared to getting up in the morning to something insufferable cheerful, walking from the bog to the kitchen to get my first cup, and suddenly a weird and odiferous play-dough thing happens between my toes.

I like the notion rodents and flea-borne diseases remain out of doors at my house (being bordered by working feedcorn and livestock farms), and a winter's evening with a book, a fire, and this example of feline aloofness and arrogance is mine to enjoy.

image.jpeg

As far as the wag from "another forum", thats all so very clever ahahaha. Mark Twain he ain't; that's like saying a hammer can pound nails, open beers, crack walnuts, pull sheetrock, break concrete, &c.

A Jag will fit in my garage....

I like both tools and cars, so a tough one. But I think, all things considered, I'd have the Jag if I'm honest.


Quoting Churchill, someone who actually had a modicum of intelligence and who loved both, "You live for a dog. You live with a cat."

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Cats can be trained to crap in a box........ "

No, no they can't. They agree to this if they want to..... We had 3 cats and no cat box -- 1 lived outside and refuse to enter the house; 2 went outside when need arose.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Hey Sarge, I liked you reply. You have a unique sense of humor and approach to things.

Regarding my own response to dogs and cats, if that is what is being invited, J.S., then I would confess the following:

I'm not too fond of dogs , though we had a collie-shepherd-mix when I was a boy, which got poisoned by a neighbor. I find dogs too bossy and too high-maintenance, too large a presence in a household, no matter the size of the dog, though I enjoy how folks love their dogs and need them, of course; just not I. My wife would like to have a dog, hinting every so often, but I have resisted that for 27 years, now. Our yard is not large enough to be practical for having a dog (though I realize some folks have them who live in urban hi-rise apartments, even,) but the day will never come when I find myself walking behind a dog's behind picking up his comments on life in suburbia. Never. I meet many of them on my early morning walks but have, somehow, manage to make friends with them or, at least, keep my distance.

After Buster, the dog from my childhood, died, we had a series of cats. I loved them all, and in those days we had a yard large enough for them to "do their business" outside. They seemed fond of excavating their little potties out among the flower beds around the yard. Nice and neat and almost zero maintenance.

We haven't had cats in our marital home since a decade ago, when my bachelor-days cat, Noel, which made the move to our new home comfortably, passed away. I buried her in the yard, wrapped in a sweatshirt of mine she liked best , and encased in a small suitcase. I miss her, but have no strong desire to be chosen by another one (which I believe is how it is actually accomplished.) Maybe, someday. A few years after Noel's passing, I did go to a pet store Upstate NY with the intention of, perhaps, getting a new cat, but every one of them ignored me as I looked through their cages at them and said "Hi." One even turned away fro me. Maybe it was my breath. At any rate, I got the message and left the store.

Here's the last cat we had when I was a teenager, just before I went away to college, Athena, a real kitten-factory and often stoned, it seemed to me.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

......to be chosen by another one (which I believe is how it is actually accomplished.)

It is so. Cats permit you to delude yourself into thinking that you are the owner, while it is actually the reverse.

......every one of them ignored me as I looked through their cages at them and said "Hi." One even turned away fro me. Maybe it was my breath. At any rate, I got the message and left the store.

Only the cats know why........

[MurphOnMillerAve]

......to be chosen by another one (which I believe is how it is actually accomplished.)

It is so. Cats permit you to delude yourself into thinking that you are the owner, while it is actually the reverse.

......every one of them ignored me as I looked through their cages at them and said "Hi." One even turned away fro me. Maybe it was my breath. At any rate, I got the message and left the store.

Only the cats know why........

Sage insight. You know stuff, man.

[sarge]

Cats can be trained to crap in a box........ "

No, no they can't. They agree to this if they want to..... We had 3 cats and no cat box -- 1 lived outside and refuse to enter the house; 2 went outside when need arose.

You are absolutely correct. I have never "trained" a cat to use the box. They choose to from kittenhood with no input from me.

I rather enjoy when dog owners get all sat up at attention and sniffy, like they know Oral Roberts personally, and hit me with, "At least I don't have to scoop the smelly box". To which I often reply, "So what are those baggies in your pocket? Off to the Golden Corrall are we?"

And, my lawn mower doesn't momentarily choke whilst cutting the grass...



To be honest, I very much enjoy a well-trained cheerful large dog, usually someone elses, of course, but have owned a few in my life. A real honest dog. Love 'em.

I absolutely cannot stand purse-dogs. I cannot stand them, their sappy little jumpers and rainsuits, the fawning, and the notion women clutch to their bosoms that its a bloody child and should be allowed in every public establishment. Nasty little things, large rats in cardigans more expensive than any item of apparel I own.

I believe it was Jeff Dunham that said anything that bounces when it barks is not a dog.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Cats can be trained to crap in a box........ "

No, no they can't. They agree to this if they want to..... We had 3 cats and no cat box -- 1 lived outside and refuse to enter the house; 2 went outside when need arose.

You are absolutely correct. I have never "trained" a cat to use the box. They choose to from kittenhood with no input from me.

I rather enjoy when dog owners get all sat up at attention and sniffy, like they know Oral Roberts personally, and hit me with, "At least I don't have to scoop the smelly box". To which I often reply, "So what are those baggies in your pocket? Off to the Golden Corrall are we?"

And, my lawn mower doesn't momentarily choke whilst cutting the grass...

My grandparents and my immediate family each also had a dog. The baggie phenomenon didn't exist then and the dogs were trained to make use of specific areas so the mower issue wasn't - you can, btw, train a dog......however, it seems that training dog owners is more challenging.

[sarge]

.....however, it seems that training dog owners is more challenging.

Sad but true. Animal owners of any stripe who neglect them should be jugged immediately, then left unfed sleeping in their own faeces in a cold damp cell to experience what they hath wrought upon those who cannot speak.

On a different tangent, I have threatened to call the health department down on restaraunts who refuse to tell Rich Mrs Haversham to remove her purseborne shitfactory from the premises whilst food is being prepared and served. Thankfully, there are the beginnings of a clarity about pursedogs. Many establishments now have signs stating service dogs or service dogs in training only are permitted. There are also enlightened establishments found in cities that say "companion animals are welcome" so I can choose to go elsewhere.

For the latter I am tempted to bring my pet mouse round for a nice sunflower seed salad, or the neighbour's cow for a sprout sandwich with kale. Mmmmmm, Lovely!

[MurphOnMillerAve]

... anything that bounces when it barks is not a dog.

A neighbor, two doors down, has one of those make-believe dogs that never ever stops yapping. His first move of every day is to step out onto his back-deck, stand still, face the world outside the front steps, and yap yap yip, at the whole world. There is nothing around him, not even other dogs. The way I figure it, he is a little mental case, angry at everything. I must admit, however, I am glad he is in the neighborhood: (1.) He gives his family joy. (2) His constant vigilance and need to yap gives signal to the any lurkers that he is on the job and ready to alert. So, it's like I get to benefit from the vigilance of a dog without having any of the responsibility of having him.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

.....however, it seems that training dog owners is more challenging.

Sad but true. Animal owners of any stripe who neglect them should be jugged immediately, then left unfed sleeping in their own faeces in a cold damp cell to experience what they hath wrought upon those who cannot speak.

On a different tangent, I have threatened to call the health department down on restaraunts who refuse to tell Rich Mrs Haversham to remove her purseborne shitfactory from the premises whilst food is being prepared and served. Thankfully, there are the beginnings of a clarity about pursedogs. Many establishments now have signs stating service dogs or service dogs in training only are permitted. There are also enlightened establishments found in cities that say "companion animals are welcome" so I can choose to go elsewhere.

For the latter I am tempted to bring my pet mouse round for a nice sunflower seed salad, or the neighbour's cow for a sprout sandwich with kale. Mmmmmm, Lovely!

I'll be getting one of these and shall name it, Eric.

one of those make-believe dogs that never ever stops yapping.

Bear bait

[sarge]

Murph, mate

I also have a neighbour who has several, those little chihuahua rats. The poor guy does all the work, whilst his empty nester wife coddles the wretched spoilt little rodents. Anger is I think pretty accurate. The tolerant and resigned husband even has to take the snowblower to the back garden else the "children" won't go out in the wintertime. Its bloody sad to hear her haranguing, his "Yes dear" followed by the snowblower firing up, and the pursedogs yapping at him to hurry it up.

Other neighbours around me have real dogs, Shepards, Labs, Goldens, lovely dogs who are at least tall enough to grab something precious on any burglar.

I actually asked about those signs previously mention regarding service dogs at several locations, and indeed the reason was because of the recent phenomenon of tourist empty nest women and their pursedogs. Very contentious and like a bear and her cub when told to get the "dog" out of the store or restaurant or off public transport. Even the National Park rules don't apply in their minds. The vet had to put signs up about requiring leashes after women got quite violent about how their precious Muffy couldn't possibly wear a collar.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

It all gets nauseating after a while, doesn't it. Pander. Pander. And pander, and pretty soon you have come full-circle and don't know who gets pandered to next.

Another trippy bit of BS is when some dog owner says, "Oh he wont bite," but they always do. My standard response has been, "Oh, but I sue. Keep your dog controlled and keep your house." They seem to have been getting the point.