Ha.

I mean, shame.

Finished reading the dog article. I'm struck by a million things, including my naivete. Breeds that depend on assisted insemination and C-sections? Oy.

It is what is so constructive and jarring about Havens’s approach: when he looks at a dog, he sees an animal.

Yeah. Perhaps this marks me as the heathen, but why is it jarring to see an animal when you look at a dog?

I'm horrified by a lot of the attitudes towards dogs in that article, from both parties. And the pug stories are...damn, even if I didn't think they were ugly dogs, breeding dogs that can bump into stuff with their eyes is just not cricket.

nor having a party from the rear of one

I think this is the one I'm inferring from the Puppy Bowl watch-n-post.

why is it jarring to see an animal when you look at a dog?

I think the idea is that people tend to melt in the face of doggy grovelment, and tend to think of dogs as permanent children rather than as animals. It's all well and good to talk scientifically about breeding cattle or sheep; but when you start talking in the same manner about Fluffy and Bobo -- it gets a little weird, for most people.

it gets a little weird, for most people.

I'm sure most here refers to most Americans--does that sentimentality extend to the rest of the First World?

Yeah, the stuff about dogs getting into trouble for exhibiting basic dog behavior (barking at strangers) is not good.

Whoo hoo -- it's zero!

Our expected high today is 3.

I'm sure most here refers to most Americans--does that sentimentality extend to the rest of the First World?

I don't know. Probably any country where animals are kept inside rather than outside as a matter of course, I should think. Just interacting with the animal more intimately would tend to push the relationship in that direction; household cats were much less pet-like when they mostly spent their time outside (before the invention of cat litter); now that cats can be entirely indoors-only, I know I tend to think of them differently. I saw a cat outside on a cold night and wondered to myself, "How will that cat survive??" --When of course it had fur and cats have been surviving outdoors in the New World for 300+ years.

I cannot say whether, in France, people dress up their doggies in matchy-matchy outfits. I would hope the French would have more taste than that; but who knows.

I would hope the French would have more taste than that; but who knows.

The whole Jerry Lewis thing kinda contradicts that theory, IMO.

Our favorite pub burned down last night. *sigh* Good fish & chips, great burgers, Stella Artois on tap. I'm bereft (in First World terms).

I'm bereft (in First World terms).

I WISH I had a pub and some root!