h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Propaganda and superstition? where?"

Oh, I was just talkin'. I had recently been looking at some old propaganda pictures.

Noble or not, purple doesn't really exist.

http://youtu.be/iPPYGJjKVco

People's arguments about the benefits of pet dogs always seem to refer to the so-called working dogs, many of which are described above.

These are simply the result of intensive breeding and training. There's nothing inherent in dogs which makes them useful other than their programmability, and little in my view which justifies the removal of this pack animal from its natural hunter-scavenger instincts to become an isolated family pet. "Oh look - he chases the tennis ball and brings it back - isn't he clever?"

With a few exceptions, dogs living with families are ill trained, and the antisocial behaviours which most of them display reflects their owners' reluctance to invest time into driving those behaviours out of them.

"There's nothing inherent in dogs which makes them useful other than their programmability"

And their sense of smell and hearing, FAR superior to humans....


One of the only species in the entire world that can keep up with humans' sheer endurance....

>>Cats.../don't /.../ chase other animals or birds.

We are talking about cats here, aren't we?

Meh...

Dogs (and horses) have contributed immeasurably to the advancement of our civilization, and they deserve to reap the benefits as much as anybody. Instead they're treated like second-class citizens at the best of times. And more often as slaves or property.

It's disgraceful.

Went down to the Salton Sea to have a look at the wzter yestetday.

Saw a fisherman, two egrets, three herons, two brown pelicans, miscellaneous terns and a sandpiper, but no seagulls, no dogs and no cats.




On cats pursuing other animals, they don't form up in packs and pursue prey as dogs will, instead they're ambush predators.

From actual observations:

Mice are very punctual.

If you see a mouse in a given location at a given time of day, there's an even money chance it'll be there at the same time the following day.

Cats are on to this.

If the cat sees a mouse at a given location at a given time of day, it'll be there waiting ten minutes early the following day.




Cats living in gregarious troops do form up in rings of spectators if a cat catches a prey, like kids forming a circle arou d a fight on a playvtound

Need a 'premature post' smiley.

... playground.

"there are around a million pairs of breeding gulls of assorted types, compared to approximately 9 million dogs in Britain. My sympathies lie with the under-gull in this conflict." [Silicon Dioxide]

Do we have to approach this as an either/or decision. Dogs and seagulls are both on the scene, and they rarely interact. In the film "Eight below," some huskies who were stranded in Antarctica caught and ate some gulls in order to survive. I see nothing unnatural in that, though to be honest dogs who get fed by humans have no need to eat seagulls.

As Rodney King said, can't we all just learn to get along with other?

"The view is admittedly a British one, Sled Dogs, Hunting Dogs, Navy Seal Dogs and Rescue Dogs. Are not urban animals."

Earthquake / construction accidents = collapsed buildings = people buried under rubble = using Rescue Dogs to find them = Your argument is invalid.

The above are hardly normal urban environments. These specialist dogs are kept on military baser or separate from the Urban environment You seem bias or uninformed.




Commando units performing operations in urban environments = the use of Navy Seal Dogs Your describing combat or peace keeping military operations not normal urban condition's .



"And the British public don't like Hunting Dogs as they hurt furry things."

Fox hunting = Your argument is invalid.
Fox hunting and using dogs against wild animals is a criminal offence in the UK. In this you are definitely ill informed


"Seeing-Eye Dogs, Personal Assistance Dogs are for the disabled and are mostly bred for the job and thus are chosen to work that is their value."


*Pokes out bobstafford's eyes.*

Oh, I'm sorry, it appears our Seeing-Eye Dogs aren't willing to work for someone who things they're of no benefit to urban man. I guess you'll just have to make do on your own.

The Guide Dog at it is known in the UK takes no side in the matter you attempt bestow an unattractive human trait upon these animals. They are effective guide in all environments not merely urban, And rise above the term of dog.
As a point here Over 2 years I worked in fundraising for the UK Guide Dogs for the Blind we raised around $250,000 to train them, and worked with the trainers at GD HQ, it seams you have missed the point.


"The vale of pets to nature and thus to urban man is very doubtful the dog rescue societies are overworked and cruelty case numbers grow almost daily." You're victim-blaming.

That's not the dogs' fault! I fully agree but it dose however indicate our attitude to dogs and indicates that a part of our society regards them as disposable. A point you missed.



"The Chinese I believe eat dogs and have a festival for the K9 consumption, a long and ancient tradition. Man bites dog but only in a bun."

And Spain has a long and ancient tradition of running in front of angry, rampaging bulls. That doesn't mean it's a smart thing to do and appeals to tradition aren't going to convince me of anything.

At least the bull gets a chance to express his opinion. And tradition is no excuse for animal cruelty, sport and is some parts of the world. PS I worked in Spain and had first hand experience of the environment.


"The most noble of all animals that serve man, that is the horse and always will be the history of the USA (and the world) was built with the aid of the horse, dogs don't even get a footnote."

I like horses too.

But the importance of dogs to hunter-gatherer societies, the precursors of our entire civilization = Your argument is invalid.

So how did the Inuit develop, the dog came to the Americas around 14,000 BCE ariving in North America with paleoindian peoples, and the horse with the European settlers so the point is more relevant to the "old world" Horses make Empires argue the point with Genghis Kahn

"The horse was a badge of nobility and rank,"

Whooptie-freakin'-doo...

The color purple used to be a badge of nobility and rank too. Am I to elevate it above all other colors simply because once-upon-a-time it's what rich people wore?

Yes because the murex a small sea snail was rare and expensive. That is not the point dogs did not confer nobility or rank.


"Most pets are over fed and under exercised and many are neurotic and most Pedigree breeds are approaching sever malformation."

Now, here, you're absolutely right. That Pedigree stuff is nonsense and should be done away with. Still not the dogs' fault.

On that we agree they are the victims but it dose indicate our inhuman attitude to dogs.



To quote Mark Twain: "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principle difference between a dog and a man." Cant argue with Mr Samuel Langhorne Clemens on that point.

This is a good discussion by the way

You should not mistake my need to make a joke of everything as an expression of any kind of heart-felt opinion.

Squirrel!

"You should not mistake my need to make a joke of everything as an expression of any kind of heart-felt opinion." [Silicon Dioxide]

I make mistakes on a daily basis. I also tend to make a joke of many things, albeit for a benign purpose .

Seriously, though, Nature or God or Evolution or whatever has placed predators and prey together on this planet. We can't know for sure how the planet would have turned out had they not been here, but the system has yet to stop working entirely.....

From my window I can see blackbirds, magpies, sparrows, thrushes and gulls.

But no egrets.

No tears goodbye

I understand the "ecology" thing, but the problem with pets is that they only participate in the ecosystem by destroying it.

Waitrose have an aisle dedicated to cat and dog food, but they don't sell gull food. I think as the dominant species (in terms of our potential to muck things up) we have to be responsible for redressing the balance occasionally.

Have you ever tried to feed a seagull?

Excepting fish guts thrown to them from the back of a fishing boat returning shore, which they catch on the wing, I've never succeeded.

On shore gulls, as a rule stay a considerable distance away from humanity.

>>On shore gulls, as a rule stay a considerable distance away from humanity.

They nest on our roof.

But not in an area where one get at them easily.

...and they usually view human offerings with suspicion and distrust.

I've sat on the quay at Lymington, throwing bread into the air. None of it ever came down again.

I've had an ice-cream knocked out of my hand in St Ives too. Hasn't everyone?

Sounds like your gulls are a little more aggressive than California seagulls.