What are we doing now that we'll change in the future?

Discussion in 'Behavioural science and dog training philosophy' started by JulieT, Feb 3, 2016.

  1. Mollly

    Mollly Registered Users

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    A very interesting discussion . And, strangely reflects a conversation I was having my human friends today. We were discussing the film "Suffragette" and the attitudes of the times.

    I think we are all products of the times we live in. There are opinions and actions from the past that are totally abhorrent to me. I would like to think that I would
    have questioned them, but don't delude myself that I would have.

    Harsh times lead to harsh people. If you have a life of toil and deprivation I don't think you have the ability to empathise or feel sympathy.

    To me, today, positive training makes total sense. In the past, when people used much harsher putative methods it was because that is how they lived their lives.

    Like everybody else I used to marvel at the Dolphins, never giving a thought to the conditions they lived in. I wasn't evil, just unthinking and ignorant.

    We are so privileged today, we can see animals as they should be seen, in the wild but in then comfort of our own homes. I hope that this will eventually lead to the decline of the zoo. Being a Smartypants and with the benefit hind sight I can say "Whatever did the Victorians think they were doing when they removed animals from their habitat", but they did not have the facilities we do today.

    I was born under Pisces, so I cursed (or blessed) with seeing both sides of arguments. One part of me thinks that doggy day care is ridiculous, you will be relieved to know that the other side of me thinks "It is a way of allowing people who couldn't otherwise have a dog in their life, have a dog". I do believe that having a pet is a wonderful privilege and don't see why people should be denied just because they need to go out and earn a crust. Most children go to some form of daycare.

    I absolutely deplore the idea of a dog or any animal as a possession. I cannot get my head around people who buy a dog because it is fashionable and abandon it when the whim changes. They must be emotionally bankrupt if they have not formed an attachment to a creature that lives with them.

    Don't know if I have answered Julie's original point, but good discussions do move around. Very often threads change as everyone puts their penny worth in and I believe that is exactly how it should be.
     
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  2. edzbird

    edzbird Registered Users

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    My hope is that the "fashion dog" thing dies. That dogs go back to being dogs, and only dog lovers keep dogs. Not people who want badges or trophies. It breaks my heart to see the amount of dogs that are cast into shelters, or worse.
     
  3. Emily

    Emily Registered Users

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    What actually happens if you hit the report button? Does it say "Emily has reported this post" or does the author of the post receive a notification?
     
  4. JulieT

    JulieT Registered Users

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    When you report a post it asks you why you are reporting it. The report is flagged up as a red flag to all the moderators - we click on the report and see your comments, and it then gives us the option to see the original post. Any moderator can decide what to do and close the report by making a selection and leaving a comment for other moderators.

    The original poster doesn't know about reports unless a moderator tells them (we might tell the OP that others have complained but we wouldn't say who has complained).
     
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  5. Emily

    Emily Registered Users

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    Thanks Julie :)
     
  6. charlie

    charlie Registered Users

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    I too did the Sea World thing and hugely regretted it and would never go to anything that involved animals performing, but we live and learn. As we get older our views change and so we can pass our knowledge and experience onto the next generation who might think twice about such things.

    I wish with all of my heart like to see an end to puppy farms and see less dogs in long term rescue centres. I don't care if a dog is a Cockapoo, Labradoodle as my lovely Hattie is, a dog is a dog and as long as they are all well cared for and loved the breed shouldn't matter, be it a pure breed, cross breed or mongrel. Did you know that Labradoodles are being used as Assistance dogs :) x
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2016
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  7. SwampDonkey

    SwampDonkey Registered Users

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    I will use the button next time I'd never done anything like that before. I sometimes its me being overly sensitive.
     
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  8. Mollly

    Mollly Registered Users

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    I actually went to Whipnade zoo on Friday, for the first time in over 30 years.

    I am pleased to report that things have improved immensely. Many animals have been moved to larger, better environments and their enclosures repurposed for smaller animals.

    I felt that it was more about teaching us about the animals than entertaining us with the animals.

    Some of the awful original enclosures are still there unused, but it serves to remind us how bad it was. Whipsnade opened in 1931.

    For those unfamiliar with Whipsnade, it is high up on the Dunstable Downs. The Penguins still inhabit a space right on the edge. The views are amazing. A property at that point would be fabulous and VERY expensive. The Penguins ignore the view
     
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  9. kateincornwall

    kateincornwall Registered Users

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    I would like to see some rehoming centres relaxing their criteria a little , and , rather than have blanket rules, take each prospective adopter on their own merit . Some years ago, my son and his partner were looking to rehome a dog , they already had one and certainly my son had grown up around dogs all his life . They were turned down, because the rules said that an owned garden was essential, no leeway given to the fact that right outside their home was a dog friendly beach and one minute to the village park, also dog friendly . This made me angry, so the thinking was that a dog was better off staying in a kennels than have the life of riley ? I agree 100% with home checks and care around young children, but surely to free up a kennel space is the aim of the centre owners ? Also , some turn people down because they work part time , so what if the dog is taken care of and day care is provided if necessary .
     
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  10. MaccieD

    MaccieD Guest

    @Mollly They actually take the elephants for walks out on the Downs to try and make life more interesting for them :). Although not a lover of zoos, it's a sad fact that with some species there are more held and protected in zoos than in the wild :(. with over 20,000 elephants being killed a year for their tusks in Africa, how long before they become endangered :(.

    @kateincornwall So agree about the requirements of some rescue organisations. each case should be judged on it's own merits. Life has to better in a home where they are left for a few hours a day, or where there is no garden but lovely areas to exercise on the door step than shut up in a kennel at a rescue centre day in day out with very little interaction :(
     
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  11. pippa@labforumHQ

    pippa@labforumHQ Administrator

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    How very true.

    In some ways, dogs have much better lives now that they did when I was young. In others, not so much. The dogs of my early childhood were never shut in, but free to wander the neighbourhood. That seems terribly irresponsible now, and couldn't happen with today's traffic, but where I grew up in the countryside, it was not that unusual.

    I am not sure what the future will bring for dogs, though I very much hope it will bring an end to the breeding of disabled dogs. But that's probably a topic for another thread. :)
     
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  12. Mollly

    Mollly Registered Users

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    I am absolutely with you Kate.

    The perfect home, with someone around all day is now very rare. Much better for a dog to be in a less than ideal home than stuck in kennels.

    Most working people cannot meet the criteria of rehoming kennels. How sad that people should be denied the the pleasure and companionship of a dog, and a dog should be denied the chance to live as part of a family.

    Some checks are still needed though, we don't want it to be a case of"out of the frying pan into the fire" for the poor dogs.
     
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