Re: Mutts spoiler that made my day

On Sep 27, 12:28 pm, "Beefies" <brianfiesNOS...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I just stumbled across something that is going to make me feel
happier, all day.

Caution: it contains, I kid you not, a spoiler for the Mutts comic
strip, so if you're allergic to spoilers, skip this:

http://muttscomics.com/cast/musings/060507.asp

I dunno. Isn't freeing Guard Dog a lot like letting Charlie Brown pitch a
no-hitter and win the game with a ninth-inning home run? If it were a real
dog, sure, but as a *character* the frustration and humilation of his
situation his part of his appeal.

Stepping out on a limb and inviting to be sawed off.... In the real world,
it is not obvious or self-evident to me that the life of a dog chained in a
yard is bad. The *potential* exists for cruelty or harm, sure--if you stake
him out and ignore him all day until he goes psycho or hangs himself--but
seems to me that's an issue of neglect, not an evil intrinsic to being
chained. I've known a lot of dogs who seem completely happy leashed in the
yard watching the world go by. They love it, yearn for it, whine at the door
until you hook 'em up. I visited the "Dogs Deserve Better" website and it's
not clear to me exactly what they're against (except owners who chain or pen
their dogs to freeze to death in winter or become unsocialized monsters,
which duh) or their proposed solution.

Like most advocacy groups, these guys are pretty intense, but I also
think they're pretty clear that they are talking about dogs who (like
Guard Dog) are chained or penned out more-or-less permanently. For
instance, they talk about lack of socialization and living, eating,
sleeping,defecating within a 10 yard circle.

That's a lot different than using a chain or pen to keep a dog from
wandering off into traffic or going over to sort through the
neighbor's trash when you put him out to relieve himself or to just
enjoy a little sunshine, which is, I think, what you are describing.
The dogs they're worried about aren't in the house to scratch to be
let out -- they are outside permanently because "that's where dogs
belong," according to the people who keep them out there. Or they are
staked out for 12 hours a day while their owners are at work, which is
also unacceptable.

Mike Peterson
http://nellieblogs.blogspot.com

.

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