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The Longest Thread
The Longest Thread EVER!!!!
Let's make a mission to make the longest thread in CaC EVER! I think we just need to get more than 144 posts right now. We'll need lots of different themes to talk about to keep this thread from dying, but I think we can do it, right? I mean, that's why this is called the CHATTERbox, isn't it? :-) Okay, then. Ready? Set?
GO!!!
P.S. Let's try to do CaC first, and if we accomplish our goal, we can do other sections, okay? Good. Now let's get chatting!!!
submitted by Princess P.
(April 29, 2011 - 3:48 pm)
(April 29, 2011 - 3:48 pm)
I would like to have a dog...
(May 5, 2011 - 10:40 am)
Oh, I've seen that musical! When I was little, we'd sometimes go out and rent movies, and I'd always--and I mean literally always--forget that I'd already seen that and get it again. It was extremely annoying. At least it's a good movie. At least I think it was. It was long ago...
(May 5, 2011 - 3:31 pm)
Analesia, (BTW, LOVE your name!) Yeah, you don't really have to read through all of the past thirty or so threads. Just post whatever you want. I guess it's kind of like a random thread, but that's okay! Keep posting!!!!! Yay, we're at the top!!!
(May 5, 2011 - 6:06 pm)
@Elizabeth: Well, there was a lot of genetic stuff she didn't know about (like you shouldn't breed a chocolate and a yellow lab). She was what is called a backyard breeder, and was breeding a bit more for money than quality. She didn't do any optigen tests (which is important so your dogs don't go blind) or x-rays (hip displasia). She also didn't know how to get a perfectly conformationed dog (actually, even the best breeders have a rough time with this, especially with Labs because there's so many of them and so many opinions). It was all out of ignorance, not because she didn't care.
@Ima (actually, torward the ends it's directed torward everybuggy): Exactly. Little dogs think they own the world, whereas larger dogs sometimes try to hide behind thier owner when a cat comes along (Hunter did that once xD). The only thing scary about them is that they're big. Chihuahuas bite hard and are over-dramatic. I can understand being scared of a Doberman (they bite harder). ROTTWEILERS JUST HAVE A BAD REPUTATION!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rottweilers are some of the most amazing dogs, they are smart, and sweet and awesome!
Honestly, the only thing I find wrong with big dogs is they knock you over and can be like a bull in a china closet at times. They do need plenty of training as puppies, so that when they weight more than you you can control them. My show dog weighed more than me for years. I felt like having a party when I finally hit 90lb last year. xD
(May 5, 2011 - 8:03 pm)
@Charlotte-- What happens if you bread a yellow and black lab? Did you ever have dogs go blind? I think I'd like to see how breeding works.
@Ima-- These are sounding really interesting! What's a petri dish?
RE:Dogs: They won't let pit bulls into Germany.
Ordi says: tedy. Aww! You have a teddy bear!
(May 6, 2011 - 6:42 am)
It's a type of dish often used to look at microscopic life. I think anything similarly shaped would work.
(May 6, 2011 - 10:24 am)
I haven't been around puppies all the time, but I have been around bunnies a lot. We have breeded ours occasionally. Usually it was accidental. All our rabbits have been Mini-rexes. I think first we had four blacks, one white with black spots, and one white, the only female. She was mine and I named her Snowball. She was an excellent rabbit and had three or four batches of bunnies, but unfortunately got attacked by something while pregnant and she died. It took us four days to find her and I was the one who actually found her while climbing a tree. I think I was 8 or 9 then.
So she had lots of babies, but we never managed to keep the females. See we sold the bunnies once they were old enough to a pet store and only kept one or two so we would always have rabbits, but they were always males. So we had to buy Sable. She was me and my brother's birthday present. She was beautiful with a brown coat with white underneath, but she was mean. Whenever you picked her up she would scratch and sometimes bite. So we breeded her and she turned out to be an excellant mother. Her bunnies were black or brown. She eventually became a wonderful rabbit like Snowball. After her bunnies that we kept were old enough we breeded them with her and the babies turned out different colors than just brown or black. They were light butterscotch colors with white underneath or reddish brown colors with dark brown markings. We found out that they turned out like that if we breeded two brown ones they would do that and that that was the only way to get black ones.
So after she died by being scared to death by our dog (He seriously didn't hurt her she just got scared to death) we had Taffy. She was also my rabbit and was one of Sable's daughters. She was butterscotch colored with white underneath and a lovely docile creature. She had bunnies and died the same way her mother did (Don't worry we trained our dog to only chase what we say is okay to chase, so no other rabbits died like that). And after her we had, and still have, Nosy and Fattylumpkin. Actually Lumpy is Taffy's sister and Nosy is Taffy's daughter.
Right now we have Peter who is Kip's brother and Sable's son. (If you look on the pet directory it will have more information.) Then Kip who is Peter's brother, Sable's son, and Nip's son who is Pip's son who is one of the first rabbits we got and is Snowball's sister.
Pip was a really smart rabbit. We used to have a garage and the garage had a door with a dog door in it and Pip would go through it into the garage. We were able to go up to him when he was running around the yard and he would even come up to you while you were sitting in the yard and he would sit beside you. He did some other things that I will leave out unless you want me to type them.
And continuing on as I said before we still have Lumpy and Nosy. And that is my entire history with rabbits. I also have a lot to say about our chickens if you want me to put that too. And I could also put a little about squirrels.
(May 6, 2011 - 9:38 pm)
Wow! Rabbits are soooo cute!! My friend has rabbits but they're really shy! She has to take them out on rabbit leashes so that they don't run away!
I would like to hear about your chickens. My family has always wanted chickens!
(May 7, 2011 - 1:25 am)
@Elizabeth D.: You sold them to a PET STORE? It would be very good for everybuggy to know: The following words are from a breeder I know who got them from a vet she knows.
1. Health-
That adorable puppy in the window of the pet store is hard to resist, but you may be
paying a lot of money for a dog that you know very little about. Pet stores generally
rely on impulse buys to sell their "product". There is a good chance that the pet
store puppy will develop a health problem sometime in its life that may cost you a
lot of money to remedy. When you buy a pet store puppy it is very unlikely that the
puppy's parents were screened for genetic diseases that can be passed to their
offspring. Every breed of dog has genetic problems that are passed from generation
to generation by breeding dogs that carry the flawed gene. Many of these genetic
problems can be detected with today's technology, but these tests are expensive.
People who are concerned about the welfare and future of their breed will have
these tests conducted to preserve and improve in the future quality of their breed.
Most good breeders are more concerned about the health of the puppies that they
are producing than the money that they will or won't make on the production of a
litter.
2. The myth about AKC papers-
(An update: as of 2007 the AKC will no longer register puppies / dogs purchased at or sold from a pet store regardless of whether it's parents were AKC registered or not. This is in an effort by the AKC to help stop puppy mills, we support their efforts)
Most pet shops would like you to believe that if a puppy is registered by the American Kennel Club, this guarantees the puppy will be healthy and a good example of the breed. This is not so. The only thing that AKC papers certify is that the puppy is a purebred and produced out of AKC registered parents. Even this can be fiction, as some producers register more puppies than are actually born in each litter to receive extra registration slips to pass out with unregisterable puppies. The
parents of your puppy may be unhealthy or carriers of crippling or deadly health defects which they may have passed to their offspring- your puppy. They may also be horrible representations of the breed that you are buying. Often times the parentage of pet store puppies is also questionable due to poor record keeping. In other words, your puppy may not even be a purebred, even though it has AKC papers. Responsible breeders do register their puppies with the AKC, but that is
only the beginning.
3. The pet shop guarantee-
Many pet stores provide a form of guarantee for people buying puppies from them, but their guarantees may be as bad as none at all. A not-so-uncommon scenario goes something like this: after your family has become attached to your adorable new puppy you find out it is sick. It will cost you several hundred dollars to treat, so you take the puppy back to the store to receive your guarantee. What they will most likely offer to do is trade you puppies- take away your beloved pet and replace it with a new puppy, not necessarily a healthier one, either. They will most likely euthanize the puppy you brought back, because this is
cheaper for the store. The other tactic that some stores use is to tell you your puppy will grow out of the problem- until their guarantee has expired. Do you want to take this risk?
4. What will that puppy look like when it is full grown?
You may have seen specimens of the breed that you are buying, but this does not guarantee that this puppy will fit the breed standard. You do not know if the parents fit the standard either and cannot see the faults that each parent has. There is no perfect dog, but a good breeder will be willing to discuss the faults and strengths that each of their dogs possesses. You should also be able to see at least the mother of the puppy that you are buying if bought from a responsible breeder. Even then you can not tell exactly what the puppy will look like, but you will have a much better idea of what to expect. Why spend so much money without even knowing what the puppy's parents look like?
5. What do you know about the breed?
Employees of pet stores generally know very little about the dogs that are in the store. They can probably tell you a little bit about the breed and then point you to a rack of generic dog books. What do you do after you bring the puppy home, only to find that this breed is not the right one for you and your family? Good breeders are full of information about the breed of puppy that you are considering. They should be able to tell you the general temperament aspects of the breed and help you
predict whether this breed of dog will fit into your lifestyle. They will also be able to warn you about specific health problems that the breed is prone to and will be able to tell you what aspects the breed excels in. There is no breed of dog perfect for every person and a good breeder is concerned that their puppy goes to a home that they will fit into.
6. Housebreaking and training problems-
This puppy that you are buying from a pet store has most likely spent much of its life in a cage. Many pet store puppies have never seen carpet and may never have even seen grass or dirt. Due to the conditions that puppies are kept in at pet stores, they have been forced to eliminate in the same area that they sleep and eat. This goes against the dog's natural instinct, but your puppy has had no choice. This habit
may make housebreaking your puppy much more difficult. A good breeder keeps the puppy area very clean and makes sure the puppy has a separate elimination area. By the time the puppies are ready to go to their new homes they will be well on the way to being house trained. Good breeders will often also start teaching their puppies how to walk on a leash and to lie quietly for grooming. A pet store puppy has most likely never walked on a leash or been brushed before. It can be much
more difficult to teach a pet store puppy these daily exercises than a puppy that has been brought up properly. Responsible breeders also base their breeding decisions in part on their dogs' temperament and personality, not only on looks or the fact that they are purebred. Most pet store puppies' parents have not been selected for any reason other than they can produce puppies that sell as cute "purebreds" registered by the AKC.
7. How about Socialization?
Your pet store puppy may well have never been in a house before. If this is the case then everything will be new and scary for them. The doorbell, vacuum cleaner, and children playing are all new sensations that can be terrifying to an unsocialized puppy. Good breeders will expose their puppies to many situations so that the puppies are used to them by the time that they go to their new homes. Most responsible breeders have evaluated the temperament of each of their puppies
before they are placed in a new home. A good breeder will know, due to hours of observation, which puppies are dominant and which are shy, which are energetic and which are easy going. Then the breeder will be able to match the puppy to the new owner and make sure that energetic pups go to active families and that shy puppies go to a home that can help them overcome their insecurity. This careful evaluation enables a breeder to choose which puppy will fit your household and
much of the guesswork is taken out of the selection process. Good breeders can help you make an educated decision about all aspects of your puppy's feeding, training and overall maintenance and care based on your family situation. If you are going to spend so much money on a dog that you plan to keep for its lifetime, why not find one that will fit into your lifestyle well?
8. What is a pedigree worth?
Some pet shops make a big deal out of their puppies' pedigrees. This is interesting, as the pedigree is really just a piece of paper with names on it. Unless you know the dogs behind those names the pedigree is really quite useless to the new owner. Can the pet store tell you what your puppies' grandparents died of, or how long they lived? Do any of the dogs in your pup's pedigree carry genetic diseases? Most pet store employees do not know any more about your puppy's background than you do. A reputable breeder can tell you all of this information about your pup's family tree and more. When you buy a puppy from a reputable breeder you are getting more than a piece of paper, you are getting the important information associated with the names too.
Almost all responsible breeders will achieve titles on their dogs by showing them under unbiased judges. They will achieve championships on their dogs, which tells that the dog is a good representation of the breed. Some breeders also obtain obedience, or other titles that relate to the job that their breed of dog was originally bred to perform. Many also achieve canine good citizen titles on their breeding dogs. These titles will be shown on the dog's pedigree before and after the parents'
names. Ask the breeder to explain what the letters mean.
9. Do you want to support puppy mills?
Almost all puppies that are in pet stores come from puppy mills. These operations are exactly what the name implies. Most mass produce puppies with money as the prime motive. Their breeding dogs are often kept in very poor conditions and are sometimes malnourished. The dogs are almost never tested for genetic diseases and may not receive vaccinations. Puppy mills often obtain their breeding dogs from
people in a hurry to get rid of their dogs for some reason, often through "free dog" ads in newspapers or public auctions.
How do you know that your puppy comes from one of these places? The main reason is that almost no responsible breeders will sell puppies to pet stores. Good breeders want to make sure that their puppies go to good homes and are well cared for. They want to be actively involved in screening the home that their puppies go to. Breeders are also concerned about keeping track of their puppies after they leave
the breeder's home. They will know about any health problems that their lines may carry, and will be interested in any health problems that a puppy of their breeding develops. A pet store usually never hears about their puppies once they leave the store, and generally really don't care.
10. After the puppy goes home-
Once you take the puppy home from the pet store they do not generally care what happens to the puppy. If you have a training problem they will often be unable or unwilling to give you training advice. Responsible breeders are more than people who sell puppies, they will also be good friends to you and your puppy. They care what happens to their puppies once they are sold. If you have a health or training problem a good
breeder will generally be able to offer you advice and help you through the ordeal.
So please next time you are looking for a new puppy to buy, do your research. One of the best steps toward becoming an educated puppy buyer and dog owner is to attending American Kennel Club sanctioned shows and carefully researching each breed that you are interested in. Once you decide what breed of dog you would like to add to your household, talk to many breeders. When you are ready to buy a puppy from a particular planned litter ask the breeder for proof of genetic tests specific to the breed and request to see one or both of the parents of your new puppy.
A common excuse for buying a puppy from a pet store is that you do not plan to show your puppy, you just want a companion. Out of each litter that a reputable breeder produces there is a good chance that at least a portion of the puppies in each litter will not be show quality, but would make outstanding pets. Not every puppy that a breeder produces is destined for stardom in the show ring, but might well be the next shining star in your household. Please pass up the next puppy you
see in the pet store and contact breed organizations. They will be able to match you with a responsible breeder that will help you add a well adjusted and healthy new canine member to your family.
Other positive alternatives are adopting a dog from your local humane society or adopting a rescue dog from various rescue organizations located throughout the United States. Every breed of dog registered by the AKC has at least one rescue organization that will take in dogs of that breed and places them in new loving homes. There are endless numbers of dogs of all shapes, sizes, ages and personalities in need of a new loving home. When you obtain a dog from one of these organizations you are more than saving that dog's life. You are also sparing a female dog in some puppy mill from being condemned to produce yet another litter for pet shop sales. So please be rational and thoughtful when you go to get your next dog and help prevent irresponsible pet ownership.
A pet store is generally the worst place to buy a puppy. This is not to say that a good pet has never come out of a pet store, as many have. For each that has, though, many others have not. Remember, when
you buy a puppy, you are adding another member to your family, not just another piece of furniture that can be disposed of at the smallest whim. Adding a dog to the family is a long term commitment and responsibility that should be taken seriously and only acted upon after careful consideration and research.
(May 7, 2011 - 8:21 pm)
@Elizabeth M.: Depending on the genetics (I'm not entirely sure which genetics. I'm not good with genetics.) you can get very weird colored dogs. Some breeders breed for that, but they don't show. We've never had a dog go blind. Luckily, our first dog was an A which means she couldn't get it, and her puppies couldn't get it unless we bred her to a C (I don't know if we ever did or not).
(May 7, 2011 - 8:25 pm)
Oh! That's good! It would be really sad, if you had a blind dog.
(May 8, 2011 - 12:49 am)
I agree with Charlotte. In other news, I started a blog! It's on my NaNo profile. Also, tardigrades are rare in areas with air pollution, so Elizabeth, if the air isn't very clean where you live (I hope it is, and not just because of tardigrades), you might not be able to find any.
(May 8, 2011 - 4:15 pm)
@Charlotte: What does that have to do with selling rabbits to a pet store? The owner of the pet store we sold our rabbits to we've known for years. It's a very small non-chain pet store.
I will put the stuff about our chickens later because it would take a long time to type it all down.
For another topic, what's everyone's favorite sport? It can be the one you like to watch or the one you like to play or anything. My favorite's are archery and tennis. I took tennis lessons for about four years and will be taking lessons through out high school. Right now I am really bad because I haven't been practicing often on account of not having anyone to play with. Archery I've just started and I don't really do it like in a club or anything. I just do it in my backyard. I am hoping to get a better bow soon since the one I am using now is just my brother's old boy scout bow.
Elizabeth, I'm sure there are good pet stores that treat animals well.
At the state park where we go cross-country skiing, there is a huge deer population, and once we saw an archer while we were skiing. I always wear a red jacket when I go skiing so I won't be mistaken for a deer!
Admin
(May 8, 2011 - 4:17 pm)
Well, I think she means chain pet store. But yes, some are better than others.
I hate all the most popular sports, but I like swimming and horseback-riding. I like to watch non-hunting archery in theory, but I've never tried it. I'd like to try and take fencing sometime; it sounds fun.
(May 8, 2011 - 8:19 pm)
Seventy two is the halfway point!
(May 8, 2011 - 6:53 pm)