In praise of dogs

skinnydipper

skinnydipper

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I was thinking this morning how wonderful they are

Companion
Service dogs in all their various roles
Search and rescue
Lifeguard
Scent detection
Guardian
Herding
Protection/security
Therapy dogs
Police dogs
Hunting & retrieving

Please feel free to add to the list.
 
Mine are the only reason I am still alive. When things have been so utterly awful that I couldn't see a way to continue, it was them that got me through. They are my best friends and my family, and my older boy is a hypo warning medical assistance dog, who pretty much taught himself to do it.

I'm very stressed and struggling a bit at the minute, just everything going wrong, uni work piling up, blind in one eye again, all sorts of crap, but I've been for a walk with mine in the winter sunshine which helped massively, I then stopped at the local co-op on the way back and met a lady with 2 whippets that I sort of know, and I got absolutely love bombed by her boys. Full blown whippy cuddles and love. I cant imagine a better greeting from anyone or anything and you cant be sad after that sort of thing.

Dogs are the best!
 
skinnydipper said:
I was thinking this morning how wonderful they are

Companion
Service dogs in all their various roles
Search and rescue
Lifeguard
Scent detection
Guardian
Herding
Protection/security
Therapy dogs
Police dogs
Hunting & retrieving

Please feel free to add to the list.
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I'll add praise to the genetic strengths (and those who preserve them) that make dogs fit and able to perform a lot of the functions listed, and a reminder that sometimes the traits which make them good at a lot of those things are also the traits that can make them a bad fit for a sedentary, low-energy pet home. Instead of encouraging people who need a quiet house pet to pick a horse for that course, so begins the desire to breed these traits out so that all we have left is a dog that looks a certain way.
 
skinnydipper said:
I was thinking this morning how wonderful they are

Companion
Service dogs in all their various roles
Search and rescue
Lifeguard
Scent detection
Guardian
Herding
Protection/security
Therapy dogs
Police dogs
Hunting & retrieving

Please feel free to add to the list.
Click to expand...
You forgot "make you laugh". I suppose that could come under Therapy dog but every dog I've ever had has made me laugh, so I haven't needed therapy.
 
CorvusCorax said:
I'll add praise to the genetic strengths (and those who preserve them) that make dogs fit and able to perform a lot of the functions listed, and a reminder that sometimes the traits which make them good at a lot of those things are also the traits that can make them a bad fit for a sedentary, low-energy pet home. Instead of encouraging people who need a quiet house pet to pick a horse for that course, so begins the desire to breed these traits out so that all we have left is a dog that looks a certain way.
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Breeding programmes for working dogs who actually will have a job to do?

Too many frustrated and stressed working lines dogs in pet homes where their needs are not met, then next news they are in a rescue looking for a home.
 
Dobiegirl said:
Scent detection is an interesting one because dogs can be trained to identify anything. The normal ones are finding people,criminals, diseases but there is a Lancashire Heeler in the US trained to detect bed bugs.
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And on top of this the application of scentwork in conservation is really limitless. They detect carcasses killed by wind turbines, they detect invasive plants or live invasive animals for a huntsman to shoot, they detect from a scat from a huge range of species (literally everything from owls or gorillas) and they do so with considerably more accuracy than human surveyors. You can even train dogs to detect scat only from wolves of a certain social rank (Bottaro & Marucco, 2024) - can't get that from a human.

Their brains are incredible, their noses are incredible, and what they can do for us and for endangered species is incredible.
 
skinnydipper said:
Breeding programmes for working dogs who actually will have a job to do?

Too many frustrated and stressed working lines dogs in pet homes where their needs are not met, then next news they are in a rescue looking for a home.
Click to expand...

If we want the dogs able to do those jobs, someone indeed has to breed them. Not every dog in the litter, even in a carefully curated breeding programme, will go on to be able to do the job well, the same as not every son in a family of four boys will go on to be a professional footballer, so they have to be placed in a non-working home or active pet home. A lot of police forces have scrapped their own breeding programmes because of that issue. The key is for people to manage their expectations as to what type of dog they can cope with and modify their lifestyles to better suit the dog they have deliberately chosen to own and actually enjoy their pets and what they are capable of, rather than stopping breeding these amazing dogs altogether :)
 
I cannot picture life without dogs.

I've said it before, but I look back at life before I had dogs and think 'what a waste'

Lay ins don't exist and I am absolutely fine with that. Not that they're naughty, but the moment I begin to stir, they know.

They will come bounding up the stairs. The collie will jump straight on the bed. The Lurcher will come to the side of the bed and lick whatever part of my skin she can reach, gruffing at me. The Whippet will still be in the bed as he sleeps there. He will have a face on him because he just wasn't quite ready to get up yet.

I will get up. The Lurcher get's even more excited and will have a bark. If I turn my back on her, she will nip me in the ass 🤭😅 okay, maybe that is a little naughty but I just could never be mad at her for it.

I'll sit on the toilet for a wee and will have to keep moving my feet to avoid getting stood on by over excited dog paws.

It is honestly the most perfect way to wake up.
 
Also the brilliance of LGDs: their ability to manage in varied climates, often having to fend for themselves; their ability to identify what's a threat and how to respond to different threats; their ability to make their livestock feel comfortable around them despite being predators through and through, and obviously the conservational benefits of their usage as well. They're truly incredible animals.

And street/village/free-ranging dogs are wonderful too, whether they choose to avoid people or whether they decide to work with people as guardians of a neighbourhood while remaining their own bosses at all times.

In a world full of dogs whose lives are largely dictated by humans, you have to appreciate the dogs who are free from that control.
 
stangs said:
And street/village/free-ranging dogs are wonderful too, whether they choose to avoid people or whether they decide to work with people as guardians of a neighbourhood while remaining their own bosses at all times.

In a world full of dogs whose lives are largely dictated by humans, you have to appreciate the dogs who are free from that control.
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I was talking to someone the other day who shared a lot of anecdotes of their experiences with street dogs, many of whom did have 'owners'...I often wonder if they *feel* they have been 'rescued' by being taken off the streets and transported to the other side of the world to live in a house with us!
 
CorvusCorax said:
If we want the dogs able to do those jobs, someone indeed has to breed them. Not every dog in the litter, even in a carefully curated breeding programme, will go on to be able to do the job well, the same as not every son in a family of four boys will go on to be a professional footballer, so they have to be placed in a non-working home or active pet home. A lot of police forces have scrapped their own breeding programmes because of that issue. The key is for people to manage their expectations as to what type of dog they can cope with and modify their lifestyles to better suit the dog they have deliberately chosen to own and actually enjoy their pets and what they are capable of, rather than stopping breeding these amazing dogs altogether :)
Click to expand...

It makes me sad when I see working lines border collies tyre chasing on a lead on their street walk and the one who spins constantly is heart breaking to see.

Malinois, dog du jour, in private home or rescue looking for working or dog sports homes, owner unable to meet their needs. Working labs having to be content with a stroll in the park.
 
CorvusCorax said:
My dogs makes me roar laughing, which is why they are still here, because they also sometimes makes me need therapy 😂
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Oh yes, I always say the JRTs made us laugh and swear in equal measure, all the others gave been somewhere along that spectrum but none have been quite so swear-inducing as the terrierists (Little Gits to those who knew them 😊 )
 
skinnydipper said:
It makes me sad when I see working lines border collies tyre chasing on a lead on their street walk and the one who spins constantly is heart breaking to see.

Malinois, dog du jour, in private home or rescue looking for working or dog sports homes, owner unable to meet their needs. Working labs having to be content with a stroll in the park.
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It would make me sadder if they did not exist at all, and if all dogs were a beige homogenous mass unable to do physically or mentally do all the great work that you listed.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Oh yes, I always say the JRTs made us laugh and swear in equal measure, all the others gave been somewhere along that spectrum but none have been quite so swear-inducing as the terrierists (Little Gits to those who knew them 😊 )
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One of my neighbours actually remarked on my swearing the other day, whoops. It doesn't really matter, it's more for me than him, he can't hear me shouting 'FFS WHERE ARE YOU GOING NOW?' anyway.
 
CorvusCorax said:
My dogs makes me roar laughing, which is why they are still here, because they also sometimes makes me need therapy 😂
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This....and I only have one...I'm in awe of your ability to cope with multiple nonsenses!

Not quite sure how to summarise it, but both of mine have helped me learn and change and understand their their needs and they've both helped me be a better person as a result.
(though possibly with a wider vocabulary 😂)
 
CorvusCorax said:
The key is for people to manage their expectations as to what type of dog they can cope with and modify their lifestyles to better suit the dog they have deliberately chosen to own and actually enjoy their pets and what they are capable of, rather than stopping breeding these amazing dogs altogether :)
Click to expand...

Oh god, have you been speaking to Sam L 😂 "She's capable of amazing things. Start enjoying her."

To all of the above I will add that there are many people I would not have met, not have learned from and not become good friends with if it weren't for dogs. However daft you may think the concept of the various dog sports I've been involved in, it's given me a community and a reason to continually learn and improve.
 
blackcob said:
Oh god, have you been speaking to Sam L 😂 "She's capable of amazing things. Start enjoying her."

To all of the above I will add that there are many people I would not have met, not have learned from and not become good friends with if it weren't for dogs. However daft you may think the concept of the various dog sports I've been involved in, it's given me a community and a reason to continually learn and improve.
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So true! I've also learned so much about people, because of dogs.
 
Laughter, almost every dog I have ever owned have been natural clowns, we must be attracted to each other. ☺️

Better than anything, both my labs came to us a three years old from separate homes that no longer wanted them, we have watched them evolve from personality suppressed mildly depressed unwanted dogs into the in house entertainment duo.

They have had us all smiling and laughing again when often we had very little left to smile about.They are priceless and we are so lucky they found us.😍
 
I couldn’t be without a canine companion just love my girl so much 😍 I saw on linked last week a comforter dog it was at a dentists (don’t think in uk) it’s job is to snuggle up to patients who were having dental treatment to take their mind of what was going on in their mouths, a wonderful idea I thought 😁 and the dog looked super happy with all the cuddles it was getting
 
Lauraback said:
I couldn’t be without a canine companion just love my girl so much 😍 I saw on linked last week a comforter dog it was at a dentists (don’t think in uk) it’s job is to snuggle up to patients who were having dental treatment to take their mind of what was going on in their mouths, a wonderful idea I thought 😁 and the dog looked super happy with all the cuddles it was getting
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Actually that’s gross. I’ve eaten many tonnes of my own dog’s hair, but I’d not want it in a filling. 🤢
 
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