Dia daoibh

It’s that time of year again!!

CADAVER DOGS DESERVE MORE SUPPORT

Camera: *pans over past the hula hoop*

It really does make me wonder what certain population of Malamute people see when they say the breed was meant to pull at a walking pace (similar to how one would do weight pull) when in reality the most efficient form of movement for a canine is trotting. 

This is often the same sector of people that believe the “original” Malamute was much larger than the modern breed when in reality we know that is not the case (see my Historical Dog series for more), oversized dogs have a more difficult time achieving efficient movement and are often more successful at weight pull than traditional sledding. To me there is some correlation between these two myths being intertwined. But it is not an accurate representation of the purpose of these dogs. 

(CONTINUED UNDER THE CUT)

FEB 2019.

World wide recall on  Hill’s Prescription Diet and Hill’s Science Diet canned dog foods.

Symptoms may include: vomiting, loss of appetite, increased thirst, increased urination, excessive drooling, and weight loss.

Hill’s recall states:

Pet parents with dogs who have consumed any of the products listed and are exhibiting any of these signs should contact their veterinarian. In most cases, complete recovery is expected after discontinuation of feeding.

Pet owners who bought have bought the product with the specific lot/date codes listed for recall should stop feeding it to their dog immediately.

Hill’s stated that discarded products can be replaced at no cost if owners contact their local pet store, vet clinic or online e-retailer where they bought it.

The worldwide recall list has been expanded to include more lots of the wet canned dog food.

New additions to the recall are in blue:

Australian recall list

American recall list

A rare Tamaskan dog was shot and killed by a hunter while walking with her owner and several other dogs and people. The hunter thought she was a wolf.

This dog fortunately survived.

The brown dog in the middle was the victim. He was shot with five bullets as the owner ran towards the hunter, waved his arms and yelled for him to stop. “I thought it was a wolf”, the hunter said when he saw what he had done.

Another dog, with floppy ears, was shot by the same bullet (!) but survived. This would have been a hunting crime even if it were a wolf.

This dog was running loose near the property when he was shot. A puppy in the photo, he was a much larger adult when he died.

This story is strange as it was a trained K9 police dog who got loose in a densely populated Florida area, pounced an old man, and the man’s son shot the dog, thinking it was a coyote attacking. The strangest part is why a highly trained officer’s dog would be out attacking people.

Articles report the dog as a German shepherd, but he was clearly a Belgian malinois, one of the most popular dogs in the police force and military.

This dog was fortunately brought back home after a DNA test.

This dog was not so lucky, and was apparently never found again.

The dogs were shot while wearing bright orange jackets and the owner, right behind them, a head torch. The hunter stated he saw a pair of eyes with prick ears above, and fired.

A pair of eyes and prick ears (in the dark) was enough.

This husky mix took off with the family’s other dog into the woods, ran onto a hunter’s property, who shot her, thinking she was a coyote chasing deer. Both the hunter and owner were free of charge.

This dog had taken off chasing squirrels and been missing for two days when she was shot.

This family dog, a lab-shepherd mix on vacation with her family, was shot as an alleged wolf. The hunter shot her from a car, drove off, and said he was going to “pick it up later”. The dog’s owner said the hunter saw him and took off.

Apparently, the hunter “didn’t know” that there was a cabin just nearby, or that even hunting wolves was illegal at this time.

This dog was shot in the leg, left to bleed to death and found later by another dog owner on a walk.

The dog’s body was found in a wooded area late Wednesday afternoon by a farmer who was walking his own dog.

The same article reports on a case I can’t find with a photo, but where a German shepherd wearing a bright orange hunter’s ribbon, walking with its owner, was shot as a “coyote”.

This last one would have been incredibly unethical and illegal even if it were a wolf hunt, as you never just leave kills in the woods, and one of these dogs was still alive, with a bullet in his spine, and had to be put down.

Strangely, the hunter had apparently fled when he realized they were dogs, fled the scene without checking to see if any of them were alive and suffering, but his brother reported he had shot “wolves” (which he could only have heard from the hunter himself).

He walked free of animal cruelty charges, and was only sentenced to some months of probation and having to cover vet fees for the dog that was euthanized.

The two dogs were a Labrador retriever mix and English mastiff, respectively.

And the following four images I collected in 2014, but I have been unable to find their sources again. While I can’t confirm it, I found them in articles talking about them being shot as wolves or coyotes.

Maybe it’s about time hunters, police officers and others with the power of life and death in their hands, know what the hell they are aiming at before they pull the trigger?

None of these dogs look even remotely like a wolf if you actually know what a wolf looks like, and especially if you are a hunter, you should be able to tell the difference between a sled dog and a grey wolf.

Morphologically, it’s like shooting a horse, believing it to be an elk or something.

Stop portraying your dog as a wolf and less innocent pets will be shot and killed.

If you pretend your dog is a wolf you are the problem that caused these deaths🤷🏻‍♀️

Stop it.

If someone is looking to shoot a wolf— something I don’t support to begin with, unless in extreme circumstances— they should be absolutely certain that the animal is a wolf before firing their weapon. If you’re looking to kill an animal, the LEAST you can do is make sure that you are targeting the right animal.

You can blame media all you’d like, but if someone has shot wolves before and/or is determined to shoot a wolf, it should be their responsibility to educate themselves on the differences between domestic dogs and wolves.

I agree that people should be careful where they walk their dogs— and they should make sure that they and their dog are visible— but shit happens and sometimes dogs get loose. That shouldn’t mean they’re gunned down just because some trigger-happy person looking to kill something can’t tell the difference between a lab mix and a wolf, or a shepherd and a coyote.