Pet Parents (2 Viewers)

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Hehe. Maybe. But I don't call my pets my children.

Lol.. if we’re being honest, i dont either.. but i dont begrudge anyone who does; life is hard, if someone gets joy from calling themselves a ‘Dog Mom’ or having a ‘furbaby’, especially if they couldn’t have actual human kids of their own, or chose not to- i think it’s fairly harmless.. In the interest of full disclosure though, i did receive- as a gift- a tshirt that says ‘Dog Dad’ over the pocket.. i am selective about where i wear it though .

 

[faceman]

I love my dog,but never considered him a child. If you own one I will ask one favor. Feed them only dog food. There
are things we can eat like onions, avacados,and chesses that we tolerate easily, but can be deadly to a dog.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I love my dog,but never considered him a child. If you own one I will ask one favor. Feed them only dog food. There
are things we can eat like onions, avacados,and chesses that we tolerate easily, but can be deadly to a dog.

I’ve heard chocolate but not onions and avocados

 

[faceman]

I’ve heard chocolate but not onions and avocados

never feed your dog these items. I have a list on my refrigerator door. Follow it and you will keep them around much longer.

our vet said Xylitol is the deadliest. It's the artificial sweeter used in items like toothpaste. Keep these away from your dog
as far as possible.

Canine First Aid - Northwest Battle Buddies

www.northwestbattlebuddies.org

 

[gboudx]

I’ve heard chocolate but not onions and avocados

Yeah those 2 as well. Our oldest has a 4lb yorkie. He called one day saying the dog keeps, vomiting/dry heaving and scratching like crazy. I asked what she ate and he told me he fed her scrambled eggs with chorizo. I told him onions, onion powder and garlic are hazardous to dogs. And is in chorizo. Expensive vet bill later, the dog was doing better and he learned an expensive lesson. He’s lucky he didn’t kill the dog.

 

[Brennan77]

Lol.. if we’re being honest, i dont either.. but i dont begrudge anyone who does; life is hard, if someone gets joy from calling themselves a ‘Dog Mom’ or having a ‘furbaby’, especially if they couldn’t have actual human kids of their own, or chose not to- i think it’s fairly harmless.. In the interest of full disclosure though, i did receive- as a gift- a tshirt that says ‘Dog Dad’ over the pocket.. i am selective about where i wear it though .

I think if done in the right spirit, it's fine. There are some, however...

Let's just say I once witnessed a family member get upset that the grandparents weren't treating their children the same as the other grandkids. Their 'children' were dogs and the other grandkids were humans.

 

[FL_Saint]

Years ago, I worked with an older guy who loved dogs, had dogs his whole life, his parents had dogs before he was born

Several times a few of the women he was dating said to him to choose between her and the dogs and he chose the dogs

(That had to be a gut punch to the ego. HER: "It's me or the dogs" HIM-A split second later "Dogs. Have a nice life")

He hated people who hurt or mistreated dogs

When he was looking to rent an apartment, he didn't care how perfect the place was, how unbelievable the rent was, no dogs, no deal

He had dogs die. Some of old age, some of disease, one was hit by a car. He bawled his eyes out every time

This man LOVED his dogs

All that said, it would never occur to him to refer to his dogs as his children, or to himself as a 'Dog Dad'

If a friend asked him not to bring his dog to his dinner party he said okay, and didn't flip out and end the friendship

He thought that people who did so had a screw loose

And he thought that the people who threw birthday parties for their pet, complete with cake and presents, and even inviting people (with printed invitations!) were certifiable

Like I said this was years ago, when "Pet Parent" was just starting to gain traction. It's definitely a thing now

What are your thoughts on it?

I'm not in the full on hater camp, but I'm definitely in the 'it's weird camp"

I was having a conversation with a woman about her 'kids', and I swear it took 5 minutes before it became clear she wasn't talking about human children. I'm sure the look on my face was priceless

I completely agree with his views. I have loved every dog we've ever had. I consider them family, but not kids. I have kids. There is a difference.

I did get my wife a coffee cup that said Dog Mom, but we really do not believe they are equal to our kids.

 

[Goatman Saint]

We have a stocking for ours. I can't bring myself to throw out the one for our last dog. She was our first family dog and we had her for over 17 years.

I have initialed ones for my cats. When a couple died rather than buying new stockings for their catnip toys and treats I just named my new cat with the same initial.

I treat my two cats very well. They have their own bedroom, and all the good stuff. They enjoy their bottled water, their own deck chairs under an umbrella. I even made them their own shelves and steps on the office wall so they can lay in the sun and look out the window.

But it’s not like they are my kids….

 

[Optimus Prime]

Guess this can go here. Excellent article
=============
Everyone must take a summer break from the relentless negativity of the news, which unfortunately reflects the relentless negativity of reality. So let me introduce you to Jack.

Jack is a puppy I picked up last week, eight months after the death of my much-loved Havanese, Latte. As soon as I brought Jack home — a powder puff of black and white, curvetting in the grass, all fluff and playful fury — I was reminded of the quandary and question that greets dog owners: Why do we take new dogs into our lives, knowing we will be decimated by their deaths?

I grieved hard for my Latte, who was the dog equivalent of St. Francis of Assisi — a little hairy mammal (Latte, not Francis) who radiated universal benevolence. She was a consoling, healing presence during the worst of my struggles against depression and cancer.

In a very real sense, Latte was a better person than I am — a daily practitioner of the hardest parts of the Sermon on the Mount. She was meek, merciful (except to those godless squirrels), peaceable and pure of heart. At her departure, I was the one who mourned.

I can still feel the ache at night. Not long ago, my wife told me I had been crying in my sleep. I don’t usually recall my dreams. But in this case I remembered dreaming about the last time I saw Latte, after she was taken out of my arms to be euthanized at the veterinary hospital. She lifted her head and looked back me with her large, sad eyes.

And then one of the most steadfast, lavish, uncomplicated sources of affection in my life was gone. (Even now I can hardly write the words.) She died, aptly, of an enlarged heart.......

For most of my life, I lived in dogless ignorance and would have mocked such sentiments. (It is so typical of Homo sapiens to regard heaven as their own exclusive club.) I now hope that cross-species friendships of such intensity do not end in permanent partings. Everything truly good in life must leave some eternal imprint. Or pawprint.

When I am not crying in my sleep, I now feel such gratitude for an animal willing to comfort another animal during some of the most trying days of his life. All without expectation of reward — except the occasional dried pig’s ear.

In human relationships, the transforming presence of love is worth the inevitability of grief. Can dogs really love? Science might deny that the species possesses such complex emotions. But I know dogs can act in a loving fashion and provide love’s consolations. Which is all we really know about what hairless apes can manage in the love department as well.

So I — who once saw dogs as dirty and dangerous — am resolved to never live without one again. This led to the gift from my kind wife of Jack, the Havanese fuzz ball. After my dreary brushes with mortality, I needed new life in my life. And Jack is the bouncy incarnation of innocent joy. Waking up on the day of his arrival was like Christmas when I was 9............

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/04/why-i-will-never-live-without-dog-love-again/

 

[FLEA]

I would never ask my 2 year old children to go out is freezing cold water in the middle of winter to retrieve a duck, but I asked my dogs to do it for years on end; and they did it without one complaint. There's something to say about that!!

 

[HoustonSaint68]

never feed your dog these items. I have a list on my refrigerator door. Follow it and you will keep them around much longer.

our vet said Xylitol is the deadliest. It's the artificial sweeter used in items like toothpaste. Keep these away from your dog
as far as possible.

Canine First Aid - Northwest Battle Buddies

www.northwestbattlebuddies.org

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[Dago]

Guess this can go here. Excellent article
=============
Everyone must take a summer break from the relentless negativity of the news, which unfortunately reflects the relentless negativity of reality. So let me introduce you to Jack.

Jack is a puppy I picked up last week, eight months after the death of my much-loved Havanese, Latte. As soon as I brought Jack home — a powder puff of black and white, curvetting in the grass, all fluff and playful fury — I was reminded of the quandary and question that greets dog owners: Why do we take new dogs into our lives, knowing we will be decimated by their deaths?

I grieved hard for my Latte, who was the dog equivalent of St. Francis of Assisi — a little hairy mammal (Latte, not Francis) who radiated universal benevolence. She was a consoling, healing presence during the worst of my struggles against depression and cancer.

In a very real sense, Latte was a better person than I am — a daily practitioner of the hardest parts of the Sermon on the Mount. She was meek, merciful (except to those godless squirrels), peaceable and pure of heart. At her departure, I was the one who mourned.

I can still feel the ache at night. Not long ago, my wife told me I had been crying in my sleep. I don’t usually recall my dreams. But in this case I remembered dreaming about the last time I saw Latte, after she was taken out of my arms to be euthanized at the veterinary hospital. She lifted her head and looked back me with her large, sad eyes.

And then one of the most steadfast, lavish, uncomplicated sources of affection in my life was gone. (Even now I can hardly write the words.) She died, aptly, of an enlarged heart.......

For most of my life, I lived in dogless ignorance and would have mocked such sentiments. (It is so typical of Homo sapiens to regard heaven as their own exclusive club.) I now hope that cross-species friendships of such intensity do not end in permanent partings. Everything truly good in life must leave some eternal imprint. Or pawprint.

When I am not crying in my sleep, I now feel such gratitude for an animal willing to comfort another animal during some of the most trying days of his life. All without expectation of reward — except the occasional dried pig’s ear.

In human relationships, the transforming presence of love is worth the inevitability of grief. Can dogs really love? Science might deny that the species possesses such complex emotions. But I know dogs can act in a loving fashion and provide love’s consolations. Which is all we really know about what hairless apes can manage in the love department as well.

So I — who once saw dogs as dirty and dangerous — am resolved to never live without one again. This led to the gift from my kind wife of Jack, the Havanese fuzz ball. After my dreary brushes with mortality, I needed new life in my life. And Jack is the bouncy incarnation of innocent joy. Waking up on the day of his arrival was like Christmas when I was 9............

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/04/why-i-will-never-live-without-dog-love-again/

Me reading this

 

[faceman]

I would never ask my 2 year old children to go out is freezing cold water in the middle of winter to retrieve a duck, but I asked my dogs to do it for years on end; and they did it without one complaint. There's something to say about that!!

I mentioned this in another thread. Poodles are one of the best hunting dogs. That haircut was designed by hunters
to protect vital organs.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I know a few parents I’d like to pet
In fact PILTP might be a useful acronym for …science

 

[Optimus Prime]

It looked like a scene from Lady and the Tramp.

The dogs reclined along the leather-lined booths or sat at the bistro tables. They stood on hind legs to assess the pastel-hued pastries behind the counter, and delved into immaculately plated dishes.

Dogue – pronounced like vogue – is a new San Francisco cafe just for dogs. And on Sundays, it offers a $75 tasting menu.

Since its debut in March, the prix fixe for pups instantly attracted a fair bit of rage, ridicule and rumination about late stage capitalism and societal decline. Inevitably, it also drew in hordes of millennial dog parents from the Bay Area and beyond.

Much of this passed right over the dogs’ heads.

On a recent weekend, a group of mutts at the tables up front were happily wolfing shortbread cookies, frosted with a wild game-infused icing. In the back, a fluffy little guy was too nervous to eat his pastry – eyes widening at the chaos all around. Between bites, the dogs sniffed and licked each other, tangling their leashes around the tables.

Co-owner Rahmi Massarweh, a classically trained chef, started the venture after burning out in fine dining kitchens. Humans, he said, could just never appreciate his art the way dogs do……..

‘Not for the human palate’: the fine dining cafe where dogs eat like royalty

Dogue – pronounced like vogue – is a San Francisco eatery just for dogs. And on Sundays, it offers a $75 tasting menu

www.theguardian.com