Dogs are no different to all other animals (or even humans), in as much as they need very little in life. I would suggest these few basics....
1. A meal of good quality food, at least once a day.
2. A constant supply of clean water.
3. A warm, dry, place to sleep.
4. Medical attention, when required.
5. A loving, affectionate, home.
6. And plenty of exercise.
Why, therefore, do so many animal 'owners' (I almost wrote 'lovers') fail on most of the above?
I am constantly faced with the sight and sound of animals that are not so fortunate. A nearby dog breeder keeps his/her Alsatian bitches permanently inside secure cages (prisons), inside a closed barn; they have no human contact, and absolutely no light. And a nearby horse owner keeps his/her 3 horses in a small bramble-filled field (officially they are supposed to have a minimum of 2 hectares per horse); often with no water for days, and with a minimum of food.
Unfortunately, this is how things are in France. Try to complain to the S.P.A. (the French animal charity) and they would simply say 'That's normal'. The rot spreads from the top.
Of course there is no way that I could complain about their activities; my life wouldn't be worth living. But, believe me, I'd love to; even though I'd have to move.
Puppy farms make me sick (you only have to hear the dogs' constant cries), and people who ignore and mistreat horses (or any other animals) should have their effing arses kicked.
The S.P.A. can recommend animal husbandry guidelines till they spew from whence the sun doth not shine, but unless they enforce what they preach..... what's the effing point?
I would like to propose that all puppy farms should be licensed, and regularly inspected. And that all horses should also be registered, and similarly visited on a regular basis. The local registration/license fees would pay for the inspectors, and serious fines issued to any miscreants.
Charity should begin at home.
I just hate animal neglect or cruelty. I wonder why some people have "pets" as they are not really interested in looking after them.
ReplyDeleteOur two cats are both well fed and currently curled up on the settee in front of the newly lit fire.
Hear hear, Cro. Well said, couldn't agree more. I think puppy mills are the absolute pits of hell. Which is where the breeders should be sent to.
ReplyDeleteI can't even bear to think about what some animals go through
ReplyDeleteI totally agree,we see a similar thing with pig dogs,shut up in small cages until the fellows feel inclined to go pig hunting,absolutely cruel,no wonder they look like they would bite your legs off who wouldn't!
ReplyDeleteAt least I won't have to report you for cruelty to your boys, they look truly content with their lot in life!
ReplyDeleteAnimal cruelty makes me very angry. Yes, I would report someone and yes, I have been known to take some unofficial action. But there are also times when I wish that I had done so.
The Hooman Race may have gadgets and gizmos but the way we still (collectively, generally, globally) treat animals so poorly is (should be) a reminder of just how ruddy primitive we still are as a species. If only every domestic hound had the equivalent of a log fire to doze in front of then humans would truly be so much happier!
ReplyDeleteIt angers me so much too Cro. Because what gives us the right. Other species have just as much entitlement as us to live freely upon this earth.
ReplyDeleteYou would weep to see the way dogs are treated here. I recall seeing a dog, skinny and festering with flea and tick bites, tied up with wire to a post and sleeping in its own excrement. As I approached the dog it went berserk and the owners warned me not to go too close as it was mad. I effing hate being counselled by the stupid so I slowly approached the dog, talking to it softly all the time and gently put my hand out. It promptly bit it about a thousand times with lightening speed, but it didn't sink its teeth in. Pretty soon the dog calmed down and when I started to stroke it, it peed itself whining piteously. All it craved was (kind) human contact. I am not racist but the locals are always banging on about black magic so I could not resist, when I was cradling a very content dog in my arms under the wide eyed gaze of its owners saying, 'White Man's Magic' (Magia do Branco). I suppose next time they get a theft from their house they will tell the police there was only one man who could have got in there without the dog barking.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to train Marcia, my wife, that our two dogs could sleep on the sofa at night but she is now grateful for the two very loyal dogs we have. The dogs eat as well as we do, literally. Last night they had duck breast in cream sauce and the day before that, lobster tails braised in coconut milk. If I have to cook for three humans, I might as well cook enough for two dogs as well and it makes sense both financially and for my time. A diet of just meat (which is expensive here) would be tedious for the dogs, less healthy than a varied diet and mean I would have to rattle the pans twice. Most people end up being cruel to animals through sheer laziness. Well I have turned my laziness to the dogs' advantage.
I quite expect the locked up dogs here are well looked after, but why deprive them of some freedom and light? We are bombarded by charities wanting to save Donkeys in the Gaza Strip, or Bears in Romania, but cruelty goes on everywhere....including here in France.
DeleteSounds like your hounds eat a damned sight better than I do.... is that why Soames visited?
Not for the excellent cuisine, he enjoys enough of that, but to sleep on my sofa for some reason...
DeleteI have cooked for Ambassadors, including the British Ambassador, various Governors and other dignitories. Once I was given a sack full of cash, told to buy everything I needed to cater for 60, take it to the airport, load it onto a private jet so I could be taken to the venue. I'm not a professional cook, I was a soldier with gravel rash on my knuckles. I guess it was just word of mouth but since my heart attack has precluded me pursuing my profession, it has encouraged me to build this restaurant and hotel.
Going back to your very valid point about saving donkeys and bears in far off places, why is 'Call Me Dave' continuing to insist he is going to INCREASE overseas aid when there is still so much to be done at home? Isn't that where charity begins? Even as a Freemason I was taught that our first duty was to our families then, and only within our means, to help others.
I had presumed that on day 1 of Dave's tenure, he would have scrapped the Dep't of Overseas Development.... How wrong I was!
DeleteToo many cronies profiting from Aid consultancies, that's why.
DeleteI would add "appropriate coat care". Billy the dish mop was a mass of dreadlocks when P adopted him, as was my second dog, with lumps of diarrhea matted fur under her tummy and bottom.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed seeing the photo of your boys looking so content.
I feel the same way you do. I've been fostering labradors lately and some of them come quite damaged. One was afraid to eat. (a lab afraid to eat, can you imagine). Most are given up because of divorce, most frequently when a new BF or GF comes on the scene, they want the old baggage gone. It breaks my heart.
ReplyDeleteOur rescue Lab is 99% OK. Up until quite recently he didn't like being touched/stroked on his head....I wonder what happened. Someone recently suggested that all Labs should be named 'Lunch', as it's the only way you can get them to come when you call their name!
DeleteI must say I have found the French attitude towards their animals -- especially in the country -- to be quite shocking. At the bottom of our French garden, on the other side of the hedge our farmer neighbour keeps hunting hounds, which are always penned up and which howl piteously almost every night. It is terrible when there is a moon.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid it happens everywhere in France, and even the nicest seeming people are the perpetrators.
DeleteI know this happens all over and it is so disturbing. The animal societies in the US in the past decade have been in the forefront of bringing awareness of these despicable practices.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly, Cro.
ReplyDeleteAbuse in any form is barbaric, and the way a person treats animals says a lot about that person's humanity. We adopted a dog from the humane society years ago, and the poor thing had been badly abused by her former owners. They'd named her Devil, and obviously treated her as if that's what she was. It was heartbreaking to see how fearful and timid she was, and it took a very long time for her to welcome our hand when we wanted to pet her instead of cowering.
ReplyDeleteThere's a big stray dog problem in Costa Rica...but gradually improving thanks to the spay and neuter clinics which are very active.
ReplyDeleteBut after France, with hunting dogs shut in pens full of excrement, underfed to keep them 'keen' and chained up short...well, it's almost a relief.
A friend tried to get the SPA interested in an operation which was stealing dogs and having them killed for the fur trade....not a flicker of interest from them or the gendarmerie until he broke into the sheds and took the lot away, at which point his yard was full of cops.
I know exactly what you are talking about! There must be a puppy farm through the woods because we are constantly hearing dogs yep and bark; they can't be happy doing that. I agree that there should be health rules for these people who breed and raise puppies.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine was having some tile work done in her vacation home in Mexico. Each day the tile man would arrive in his flat bed pickup, a small pallet of tile on the back and his two dogs exhausted from running after him. Finally one day she said, "Manuel, why don't you let your dogs ride with you or in the back?" He looked at her as though she had lost her mind. It NEVER occurred to him.
ReplyDelete