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Natural History

by Scottie Westfall

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Beyond

June 14, 2016 by SWestfall3

miley posing

Ancient man and ancient wolves hooked up. Dogs are the artifact of that relationship.

But the 21st century is testing that relationship. As traditional communities and belief systems have fallen to the wayside, dogs have become a kind ersatz religion. Every breed has its taboo topics: Brindle in salukis and basenjis. White in German shepherds. Ridgeless ridgebacks. The length of dachshund backs.

Talk of crossbreeding results in furious invective. Talk of training methods starts unending fights. Raw feeding is a war.

And for heaven’s sake, never talk about pit bulls!

This is not a community that is designed to attract people. Only the dogs themselves and what they have to offer really keeps it going.

If you are by nature a gadfly, be prepared for ostracism.

As someone on the political left living in a conservative state, I can say that I’ve lost more friends over dog-related issues than I ever dreamed of losing in discussing politics.

I’ve become convinced that there really isn’t a place for me in these communities. It’s taken me a long time to realize it.

This is not fun anymore.

I’m moving beyond this world. I will always admire good dogs.

But I don’t think I’m a “dog person” anymore.

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on June 14, 2016 at 6:04 pm pippakin

    Maybe you are just becoming a real dog person.


  2. on June 14, 2016 at 11:23 pm alhilton

    Scottie, you make these I’m-no-dog-man posts so often lately that I wonder whether you’ve signed some legal settlement that makes you contractually obligated to do so.

    It’s totally fine! Don’t talk about domestic dogs! Don’t talk about not talking about domestic dogs, either.

    Talk about gray foxes! I love your posts on gray foxes. And other foxes, too. And ducks. And trail cams. And coyotes and cicadas and jackals and pretty much everything else in the world!

    I started following your blog years ago for the natural history posts. I enjoyed your posts on domestic dogs as well, but I never saw those as the defining feature of your blog. I was confused when you seemed to get really hung up on divorcing dogs. For godsakes, let it go. Here’s a cool article about how surprisingly often big cats exchange genes – http://www.livescience.com/53389-cat-lineage-littered-with-interbreeding.html

    I’d love to hear your thoughts on that!


    • on June 15, 2016 at 1:38 pm dobermann

      The writer of that article you linked to is a moron.

      He wrote:
      “What’s more, previous research found that different cat species that do not live anywhere near each other in the wild can interbreed in zoos. This, for example, can happen between lions, which live in Africa, and tigers, which live in Asia.”

      Since he is writing for a science website he ought to know that lions once ranged from Europe to North America, well outside of Africa. There is still a small population of lions in India, Panthera leo persica.

      This reminds me of what I once read in an encyclopedia in the 1960’s. It went something like this:

      “Lions once existed in India but they were wiped out by tigers.”

      Yeah, the tigers wiped out the lions in India. lol
      Humans didn’t have anything to do with it.


  3. on June 15, 2016 at 3:42 am dorothea penizek

    Fact is, you are a dog person. The others are not!


  4. on June 15, 2016 at 9:05 pm Geneva Coats

    One who admires good dogs is the ultimate “dog person.” Never change!


  5. on June 16, 2016 at 5:23 pm TJ

    Scottie these posts look like you are trying to convince yourself. Seems like you have a itch to write something about dogs, so you keep making these posts instead.


  6. on June 17, 2016 at 5:49 am Xin-Feng Chow Chows

    Just keep enjoying the good dogs around you :-)


  7. on June 24, 2016 at 6:07 pm Jennifer Robinson

    Sorry you get so much pain from the dog world. I miss your historical observations on dogs and dog breeds, as I’m sure many others do.

    It’s puzzling why dog people so dogmatic, especially when the science behind so many of their adamantly voiced opinions is weak or non-existent. I find it easier to laugh at it all than to take it seriously.



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