Vaccinate your pets -

Every year I am beaten over the head by anti vaxxers by tales of woe about dogs who get parvo and die right after getting a shot. They use this as irrefutable proof that vaccines don't work and that big pharma is out to kill and poison our dogs. These people are well intending fools sadly and their dogs pay for this silliness. 

Here's the problem. Their statements have no merit in reality.

First off - a vaccine is not a wand. It takes time from the moment of administration to the moment that the dog's immune system has time to develop antibodies to actually effectively fight the disease. For most about two to three weeks - so getting a shot then going directly to the dog park is a pretty stupid move.

Vaccines cannot and will never give a dog the disease it's designed to prevent a full outbreak of. They just don't work that way.

Vaccines are not full of toxic levels of heavy metals except in ridiculously high doses. In reality there is more toxins in a can of dog food than in a vaccine.

That said over vaccination is just as stupid as under vaccination. Latest studies tell us that vaccines may last 6 years to life for most pets. So if your vet is giving you grief about every year - do yourself a favor and find someone less worried about your wallet's contents being transferred to theirs. A great way to do this is to give your own vaccines where legal to do so.

How to be a good Cat Owner

To be clear - I still don't hate cats but I am dismayed at the sheer numbers neglected as a norm. Just this last week I saw a coyote absconding with some poor pet, a half dozen cat slain birds, and at least three road killed cats on my way to my job.

So I thought I would write about the best cat owner I know which happens to be a nearby neighbor of mine. The first thing you notice upon arriving to her home is a large english garden contained within what looks like a giant wire mesh box. This is in fact her cat habitat for her two cats who she adores very much. Everything within her home is laid out with the comfort of those two cats in mind.

Her two cats are both spayed and neutered. They are fed a species appropriate diet of wet and dry food. They have an access door during the day time to go outside and come in as desired. They are the best kept cats I have ever met.

There is no fear that these cats will be hit by a car, poisoned by some unknown substance, eaten by a coyote, or eating wildlife. Disease is less likely to claim them.They are not lonely and they are loved. This is the standard to be a good pet owner.

A good pet owner values their pet enough to not let it die of preventable tragedy. A good citizen does not let their pet harass and kill wildlife. A good neighbor does not let their pet shit in their neighbors garden. Be a good cat owner and confine your fucking cats.

The Truth in Why Certain Dogs from Certain Demographics cost Soo Much.

Every now and again someone posts up a nice little blurb about why dogs from certain people who show cost so much. They'll tell you a nice tale of getting a puppy made just for you, from well selected sires and dams who have earned ribbons, have passed health testing, and buying from them means that you will not be supporting "bad" people who only care about money.


This is of course a load of crap to an extent. The average cost is very breed dependent and very demand dependent. Some breeds with VERY expensive health testing can cost $600 a pup and others with next to no suggested health testing or even no real health testing done on either sire or dam can cost well over $3000. Cost doesn't tend to change much if the breeder shows every weekend - rather it tends to cost the same as the guy who maybe hits a show every 8 to 10 weeks. Price rarely changes even if the dam had a c - section or a easy whelp.

So ... what affects the cost of dogs? Easy answer - it's what the next guy claims to get for theirs. If the average guy who they know and they are kind of like gets $1200 for a dog you can bet that they will ask $1200 for theirs - even if they have put little more than half that into the dog.

Why is this? Well to put it simply breeding show dogs is a mad process that has little to do with true dollars and cents. It is about influence and the appearance of affluence rather than hard dollars and cents. There is a certain element who believe a high price will dissuade the riff raff and the related problems.

I once sat through a puppy interview with someone who couldn't help but tell me how proud she was to have sold a puppy to royalty. She seemed rather put out that I didn't care who she sold her last dog to - because truth be told I didn't care. I was concerned that she cared for her dogs - that they looked like the breed I wanted- that she selected them based upon somethings other than ribbons - and that her prices were fair.  I was that day the typical pet buyer and needless to say I didn't end up getting a dog from her.   She wanted more boot licking than I was able to supply.

So here's the thing however - if you have your heart set on a breed however - you will have to pay the piper of what the going rate is but never let that person fool you for a second that you're getting the realistic fair market rate.  The dog market like the art market is not rational and the more skilled the person is at their craft the greater the amount they can charge for it. Look around that dog and see what this person has spent that money on. If the walls are dripping in rosettes you are paying for the cost of campaigning dogs. If the dogs live in the out building and the house looks like a dog never set foot in it - you are paying for something else.  Pay money to match the values you hold most dear and proceed with eyes open.

On the rare occasion I do have puppies around I tend to charge about as much as the average pet of my breed out of the newspaper. Reason being is that I feel it is a fair market price and I don't use my dogs to finance anything. They are a losing operation - I can't imagine I'd want it any other way.

So when it comes to finding the right person to buy a dog from that is another ball of wax entire and a post for another day.

Understanding the ethics of the non hunter

I am a fairly recent hunter but in my time in the field I have learned a few things about the people around me. I have learned that 1st world people who were never part of their food chain are very uncomfortable with the idea of death and even more uncomfortable with the idea of surprise and pain. Most of them have never taken much more life than neglecting a goldfish as a child. Fewer yet of them have given much thought into what it takes to raise a steak, a porkchop, or a nugget. Even vegetarians don't get off free in this regard as habitat loss due to the ever expanding spread of agriculture is a wildlife destroyer worse than the average freeway kill toll.  Out of sight - out of mind is a comfort  until cognitive dissonance finally rears it's ugly head.

This brings me to the Ricky Gervais giraffe hunting nonsense on facebook. Ricky Gervais decided to pull a picture by a famous hunter and ask the question of "What must've happened to you in your life to make you want to kill a beautiful animal & then lie next to it smiling?"

Simple answer is  "because I like to hunt. I had an opportunity for a once in a lifetime perfectly legal hunt and I took it." A giraffe is not an endangered species - neither is an north american elk - nor a deer. They are all pretty and amazing in their own way. They are also all legally hunted by people comfortable with that idea.

There is also the perception that hunting cannot be fun to be ethical. For most hunting and fishing is very difficult - expensive - and a gamble. When it works out to be a successful day (usually it is not) it's hard to not grin from ear to ear. Why is this wrong? Work that works out should not be a solemn event.

So to the people who decry hunting exotic animals in far away lands - look at your own hypocrisy. If you eat - you are killing something. If you use energy you are killing something. Life must be extinguished for life to go on. Just because you don't see the blood doesn't mean the death didn't happen. To mentally disconnect the two is truly a first world problem.