On Recent DogChannel Activity

On Recent DogChannel Activity
Oct 4th 2007
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Northwest GA
Time - 7:55am
Temperature: 72 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy
Forecast: Rain showers and thunderstorms today and tomorrow

Today’s topic is DogChannel.com, a website for dog lovers that is run by Dog Fancy magazine. I was looking around on the site yesterday and came across some interesting things. First of all, there was a short article on weight-pulling in the September 2007 issue of Dog Fancy. This prompted a letter to the editor that was not published in the magazine itself but posted online (I am of the opinion that many publications don’t leave enough room for letters from readers in their magazines, but that is beside the point). The letter in response to the weight-pulling article is as follows:

From: http://www.dogchannel.com/barkback.aspx

Weight-Pulling Isn’t Fun
I was disappointed that you published an article about dogs pulling heavy blocks (“Heave, ho!” Sports and Exercise, September 2007). I think it’s cruel to have a little Beagle pulling a heavy block across a room. No animal should have to pull blocks of any weight. Don’t you think animals should be able to relax instead of pulling carts? I enjoy playing fetch with my dogs not having them pul carts.
George R.
Illinois

The Editor says: People who participate in weight-pull – for fun – would beg to differ with you, George. Most dogs were developed for a job – whether herding, guarding, or pulling. While Beagles weren’t designed for pulling, their job was to sniff out and chase foxes. Many dogs today still need a job to be content and stay in good shape.

Another interesting item I found was on http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-community/dog-polls/default.aspx?aid=792 and was a DogChannel poll that posed the question of “What is your favorite thing to do with your dog?” The results, with the most popular “activities” at the top, are as follows:

Cuddle on the couch (38.71%)
Go on walks (24.65%)
Play in the backyard (18.80%)
Go to a dog park (6.80%)
Participate in a dog sport (6.41%)
Other (4.65%)

Although this doesn’t mean that those who picked their favorite activity as something other than sport don’t participate in sports, I find the results sad. Yet, they are not entirely surprising. My vet has stated several times that I am one of the only people in his practice who actually works dogs (for this reason, my vet is always having me try out new products for active dogs. More on this another day). It seems that most dog-owners would rather have themselves and their dog sit around than exercise. I can only guess as to whether these are the same people who think “no animal should have to pull blocks of any weight.” It would be more interesting if there were a way to poll dogs on their favorite activity. My guess is that it wouldn’t be cuddling on the couch (trust me, Calypso hasn’t tolerated that since she was twelve weeks old).

Another DogChannel poll on http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-community/dog-polls/default.aspx?aid=776 posed the question “Do you feel that canine legislation [Wolf Moon Note: Canine legislation means laws on what kinds of dogs you may keep, how you may keep them, how many dogs you can keep, whether you may breed them, etc] infringes on pet ownership?” The results for this poll were:

Yes, and I don’t want it! (68.60%)
Yes, but it also protects dogs. (19.80%)
No, I feel that it protects dogs. (11.60%)

The overwhelming results of this poll show that most dog-owners and dog lovers, regardless of what they like to do with their pets, have a feel for what canine legislation is really about. So there’s at least some good news on Dog Fancy’s website.