My dog ownership career has been relatively short. I’ve had Cocoa, Brownie, and Lucky under my “wings” for about 2 years now. Every day with them is like a journey. Never know what they’ll do or how they’ll react to certain situations. So far, it’s been a blast and I hope to be with them for a very long time.

One thing that always bugged me was how other dog owners would not pick up their dog poop, some by mistake and some blatantly intentional.

Sure sometimes I miss a poop here and there, especially when I’m walking my 3 dogs at night. It’s dark and these tiny dogs’ poop in darkness are close to invisible. So sometimes, I just leave them and next morning I would come and pick it up. But usually I pick it up.

I made it a habit of picking up not only my dogs’ poop, but other dog poop I see along the usual daily walk route. No matter how big or nasty, I pick them up. Why?

For one, neither I nor my dogs wish to step in other dog’s poop. Very simple. Sanitary reasons.

Second, it’s not because others might see me walk past by, then assume it’s MY dog’s poop. Not all. I pick them up because I feel like I have a responsibility to this collective of fellow dog owners. We all (well, mostly) love our dogs. Having a dog is a privilege and with that comes privilege comes responsibility. I choose to be accountable for my and my dogs’ actions, no matter how gross. Even more so, i feel this civic sense of duty in making the neighborbhood cleaner because, quite frankly, no one gives a damn. So I give a damn. I pick up other dog’s poop. It’s the little things I do that can make a world of difference. So I choose to do it.

As “inspirational” as that intent sounds, the acutal duty is actually quite disgusting. Especially the big dog poop after he/she’s had some bad food that gives them diarrhea. Yes, gross. If you think reading about it is gross, try picking it up in person and see how much worse it is. And imagine the gross ness times 12 … or even 20. Because that’s how many times I have to bend over to pick them up. Especially at dog parks.

I don’t know if people notice, but usually when my dog are at the dog park playing and having fun, I don’t watch over them 24×7. Instead, I like to go around and pick up dog poop that other owners’ have “conveniently” forgotten to remove. On weekends, I would get 10+ lbs of dog poop in one dog poop bag. Yes, lovely. I can probably start my own fertilizer business just by visiting the local dog parks.

So this has been going on for months.. never once have I been noticed for doing it. It doesn’t matter, because I wasn’t doing it for recognition. Instead of recognition, I would prefer that people pick up after their damn dog.

A couple of days ago…. a bright light shined on my face: a lady said “thank you for taking the initiative to pick up the dog poop.”

Wow. Thanks lady. I feel like my work hasn’t been in vain.

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Whoever started this propaganda the notion of neutering dogs being good for them must be a cat or a Nazi, or maybe both.

If your dog (or cat) has not been neutered, I’m sure you’ve been nagged by Neuter Nazis the same thing over and over again: “you gotta neuter your pet.” Blah blah blah.

No offense, but do these people know what they’re saying or are they just regurgitating what their vets have told them? Or just summarizing what they’ve seen on TV or read on some website somewhere? How can these people say for certain that neutering is good for their pets?

There are plenty of people on the “Neuter Nazi” regime who tells you “Because it is” as a reason. Perfect example, this Yahoo Answers response to a question from a user whether or not he/she should neuter his pet:

I could sit here and give you a million reasons and possible situations your dog could run into, but Im only going to say that I work in a shelter, and yes, even that breed comes in a lot! You never know when your dog may get off the leash or escape and knock up another dog. Not to mention you lower the risk of cancer and other health problems when you neuter. Fixed males tend to be much easier to get along with to other fixed males as well.

What? What are these “MILLION” reasons? This is internet lady. Go ahead type away and Yahoo will gladly store your resposne for others to see and don’t you worry about Yahoo running out of hard drive space. Go ahead and tell us.

And as far as these prostate cancer reasons, there are articles that support that this is one big ball bull:

People often hear that neutering prevents prostate cancer in dogs. Neutering does have an impact on the prostate gland and avoiding future prostate concerns, but there is no evidence to prove canine prostate cancer can be prevented through neutering.

I have yet to find good, scientific, and compelling reasons to convince me that neutering is actually good for dogs. I even asked my vet if I should neuter my dogs. He says “of course.” When I asked why, he gave me the same old stuff I read online or hear on TV. When I asked if he actually has medical findings to prove this is true, of course, he didn’t.

No disprect to industry “professionals”, but I feel like a lot of the messages are just regurgitated common notions. I’m not a big believer of populist sentiment, because I like to think for myself. And according to my brain, I think neutering is quite dumb.

In fact, my brain tells me that this is quite arrogant for us to think that this is good for them. How do we know? Do dogs show signs of happiness and peace once their nuts enter the Kingdom of Nutly Heaven? Do they show their owners more love? Are they more social and gregarious with other dogs? For every owner that says yes to all these, i can find 2 or 3 more that say “no” or “not sure”.

I equate to subjecting our pets to this ruthless practice comparable to genocide of the Jews by the Nazi’s. Sure, with neutering, at least you get to live nor was it systematic like genocide. But the same principal applies (in lot smaller scale): control the population because the “masters” felt that it was in their interest to do so.

Extreme comparison? Perhaps.

One last argument I would like to say is… dogs (and cats) were designed that way for a reason. That’s the way God/nature/Allah/whatever-you-believe-in designed them. Our tinkering of the divine design is a slap to Mother Nature and her mysterious ways. How dare we think that we know the better way.

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Ever since I’ve been blogging about dogs and dog related stories, I’ve had a few friends of mine come up to me and ask about dogs. I think i need to make a confession: I’ve only had dogs for about a year and I really don’t know much about dogs, training dogs, dog nutrition, etc.

Actually, I spend a quite amount of time online reading dog info and watching dog training videos. The trick is to actually APPLY what you learned, so I do. Some of these tips do work, and some don’t. The ones that do, i blog about them.  So I guess when my friends read them, they think I’m like the PawshPal.com Dog Whisperer or something.

But I do get some of the most ridiculous questions, especially those that are interested in getting a dog. I’ve compiled some of them; here are the most frequently asked ones and my responses:

1. What type of dog can I get that doesn’t bark, shed hair, or won’t eat and poop too much?

A dead one.

The dog that you just described doesn’t exist. In Disney movies, maybe. Real life, no.

2. Is it true that dogs fart and have diarrhea?

Come smell my dog after I give him some tofu.

3. Do all dogs need to be walked? I heared breeds like pomeranians and shitzus don’t need it.

If you want your dog to get fat, be a plethora of health problems, get rowdy around the house, and poop all over the dog, no. Otherwise, yes. It doesn’t matter what breed or size.

4. Can I borrow your dog for a weekend to see if I like it?

Can I borrow your kids to see if I like having kids?

5. I can’t get a male dog because they’ll hump my leg.

Please. Don’t flatter yourself. Your leg is not THAT sexy. In fact, female dogs, especially dominant female dogs, will lift their leg to urinate and “hump” other dogs or objects.

6. I can’t stand watching dogs hump each other. It’s disgusting.

It’s not just about sex. It’s usually more about social dominance than actual reproducing. In fact, neutering and spaying are not a sure cure for humping.

7. Should I buy or adopt?

If you have a heart, please adopt dogs. There’s way too many in shelters that need your love. All of my dogs were adopted.

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So I was meeting some old co-workers for lunch today and not too long before I was approaching the turning light a cop car did a side maneuver and turned on his caution lights. Since he turned so quickly next to me (but over a lane over), I had no idea I was supposed to stop. I figured people behind me were since they obviously had time to react, but not me since I was right next to the cop car when he did it (which also means I was already moving passed him by the time he did a full stop).

As I drove slowly ahead, he ran out of his car and started screaming at me to stop in an angry tone. I stopped and looked back and realized why the hell he did that crazy maneuver. He was kicking a cat that was killed in the middle of the road to the side. Mind you, he definitely didn’t do it with grace. As soon as he finished, he drove up to my car and continued to yell, “You are supposed to stop 300 ft behind me!” and then drove off angrily running the red light ahead to make a U-Turn.

First of all, it was much less than 300 ft by the time he did that. It’s not like I saw him hundreds of feet early like everyone else behind me. Secondly, he didn’t have to be so rude. My assumption is that he had a bad day, especially if his duty was to angrily kick a bloody, dead cat off the road. Cops can be such jerks, but at least he didn’t give me a stupid ticket. (disclaimer: I do have respect for cops who are worth respecting)

Anyhow, can you believe it? They don’t clean up the cat mess at all. They just kick it to the side of the road and let it rot. I had this impression that roadkill gets bagged and tossed somewhere, but then again that shouldn’t be the case since diseases can spread. Maybe it’s not the cops job? If not, then is there someone who actually handles it or do the people just have to deal with it? I always wondered about this, but never knew the answer.

In light of the matter, happy early Cinco de Mayo! Our chihuahuas will celebrate with some good ole beer.

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My three little rascals have been shedding like crazy! Ahh…how do people usually handle all this hair that keeps flying around sticking to clothes, bedding, furniture, carpet, and cars? =/ Sigh…is there a vacuum for dog hair? I don’t mean a machine that vacuums hair that’s already shed. I mean a vacuum that I can hold up and literally vacuum from their body - hmm…maybe that’s another invention I should pursue besides my disciplinary spanking device. Then again, I bet my dogs would run away at the site of such a thing, especially since they already run away from our regular vacuum.

So with that thought I’m going to digress. Why on earth are dogs afraid of vacuum cleaners so much? My dog, Lucky, literally ran into the closet, climbed on top of my stacked boxes and bags and hid in inconspicous darkness. It was the funniest sight! Too bad I didn’t catch that on video.

Suite101.com mentions the reason they run and it isn’t because it looks like a monster. In fact, they’re just sensitive to the sound.

Dog hearing is significantly better than human hearing, and they can hear in the ultrasonic range - very high frequency sounds inaudible to humans (remember those dog whistles that never seemed to work? Same principle).

Vacuum cleaners tend to put out loud ultrasonic sounds that are irritating and frightening to dogs. They attack the vacuum because they just want it to shut up. So if you have a dog, it might be kind to put him or her outside or in another room with the door closed while you vacuum. At the very least, you’ll spare your vacuum cleaner some teethmarks.

Maybe next time I’ll leave them in the bathroom while I vacuum, but maybe I won’t. I like watching them run. lol.

But seriously, how do people get rid of all this hair? A few months back a lady I was sitting next to at Reed Dog Park was talking about the FURminator. That’s right - a mean DeShedding tool that’s supposed to decrease the shedding by 60%-80%. Is this claim true? If you’ve tried it, let me know if it’s worth it!

I guess I could also try some tips from eHow.com, but I’m really dreading the work. Why can’t my dogs brush themselves? In fact, why can’t I have self-maintaining dogs? - pick of their poop, take their own baths, feed themselves, work! haha…sigh…complain? yes, but I still love them

I’m just glad I don’t have super shedding dogs like Huskies. I would get a non-shedding dog, but I don’t happen to like those breeds as much (most requiring grooming. aka haircuts).

Alright, time to use the lint roller on my pants. Have a woofsome day!

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