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Sunday, May 20, 2007

Pampering Pooches Overkill


Maybe it should be Pampered Pooches Will be Killed based on this photograph from a zoo in Japan. I think that this is cruel and unusual punishment for this dog. Imagine having to breast feed a tiger, a creature that would probably like to have you for lunch later in life.



Crushed by Ingsoc likes dogs. I do too. Just not this much. Dogs are just animals and the thought of pampering them too much makes my skin crawl. Pampering should be for humans, especially me. Each as they please however, I suppose.

Spotty, our annoying but friendly canine companion is exposed to a wide variety of foods, including raw carrots, which he steals from the rabbits, duck food, chicken food and his least favourite, commercially produced dog food. He is regularly exercised by running around like a mad thing when we come home and chasing other canines up the fence as they walk past. He exercises his vocal cords through ferocious barking at any potential intruders. He then practices his feel the love techniques if anyone braves the wall of sound to come in. He has grown to tolerate the horror of his bi-weekly bath. In the early days he hated it and ran away. Not quite as much as the cat, who felt that his feline essence was being violated by the mere vicinity of water.

As one concession to my wife, I do take responsibility for picking up after him. We are a bit cruel and make him sleep outside in his kennel, which is his daily complaint, as he slinks out late at night, especially in winter. We got tired of unexpected puddles and the like. One of his favourite spots was the shower, which was definitely not a good start to the day for my morning averse partner. His luxury is getting up on the couch on winters evenings and the occasional face lick under sufferance. The sacrifices owners must make.

Today is the Million Paws Walk for the RSPCA, where large numbers of fellow dog owners go and hang out together at parks all over Australia. I think that is cruel and unusual punishment to put so many dogs together at one location. They will all have to be on leads, which always get in the way of dogs trying to sniff each others bums and think of all those poops. I think that we will just take Spotty to the beach instead, where he loves to run along the shoreline. For a dog who hates water, he loves the sea.

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