# i wonder...



## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

I just got done reading a book called the hidden life of dogs (or somthing like that dont feel like getting up to see the actual book)
anyways the women follows dogs around and observes them and has like 8 dogs of her own she refuses to train and just lets them do whatever they want including roam the neighborhood and mate.

of coarse im thinking "omg not cool"
but once i got done reading it got me to thinking about when i was a kid growing up and other people ive talked to who had dogs growing up it seems like back then 20 years ago or more dogs were smarter or had more commen sense or somthing growing up we seen nothing wrong with letting our dogs run loose they stayed in the yard or close to our neighbor hood never got hit by cars and never ate things that made them seriously ill or got blockages. wen ever trained our dogs when i was a kid we had them and that was that they would follow us around as we went around town with our freinds never went poop or pee on teh floor or got into the trash never fought other dogs or attacked people.

and it seems like that was the case for alot of people back then no one spent every second entertaining there dogs they didnt need to dogs were dogs.
i mean im not saying bad things NEVER happend it just seems like either society never talked about it or it just didnt happen as often now days everyones dogs are kept on lead and the second the dog is off its gone or hit by a car or pregnant or attacking someone or somthing unless the dog has had lots of recall training.
it just got me wondering are WE responsable for our dogs lack of common sense nowdays? is it the way we are breeding dogs now? was it just society never talking about dogs and there are still teh same amount of problems today as back then?

obviously im not advocateing letting our dogs do whatever they want or trusting a dog to take care of itself its jsut a thought that makes me wonder what dogs are going to be in 20-30 more years from now and it also makes me wonder why i never hear stories about dogs doing things or acting the way dogs did 35 years ago.
im sure most of you rember a dog of yours or a neighbors dog who never needed to be trained and just "knew" what to do and what not to do.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

I don't know, my brothers' dad always had dogs, outside, let them roam, many were hit by cars or shot by neighbors, the one female lab I remember had litter after litter outside, the puppies always died and when my brother went to the Marines his dad shot the dog. They had pet rabbits at one point and when they didn't take care of them they ended up for dinner. My brother has the same attitude about animals, lets them reproduce and roam at will, it's a constant cycle of new untrained animal after another and dumping, when one dog wouldn't gain weight (probably worms) he shot it. We used to let our cats outside, one never came back, one came back severely mauled by a dog. I live in a place where it's pretty common to let dogs run loose, my town has a leash law but the neighboring ones do not and dogs are constantly disappearing, I know several people who have multiple dogs dead by cars and they just think the dogs are stupid, not that they should contain them. Free puppies abound every six months or so...


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## ciaBrysh (Dec 16, 2011)

I think society just didn't talk about it. Now the media is out for what will make rating, and finding a scapegoat breed is one perfect way to do it.


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## Little Brown Jug (Dec 7, 2010)

I'm reading Merle's Door and its along the same lines. Him going on about Merle, his dog who is a free thinker and runs about at large, lets him make his own decisions and thinks dogs are smarter and happier if let to live that way. While I would love to let my dogs live their own life and not have to depend on me to be let out, be fed, be their source of entertainment etc it just isn't safe in a large city. 

I think the world has changed a lot, its become larger, more dangerous and that the media has started talking about it more.


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## mischiefgrrl (Oct 28, 2010)

Have you seen this story? Wild Dogs In Russia


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## taem (Oct 29, 2011)

I read that book a while back, greatly enjoyed it, I'm glad it's in reprint because it's a worthwhile read for dog lovers. I thought she injected too much human motivation into canine behavior (doesn't she say at one point, that dogs commit rape?) but that was my only criticism of it.

And I agree with you, I think having a human to depend on infantilizes dogs and keeps them in a state of puppyhood. Dogs that have to fend for themselves do some amazing things, like in the Russian dogs mischiefgrrl mentions.



mischiefgrrl said:


> Have you seen this story? Wild Dogs In Russia


I read about those dogs in a different source, I was amazed. You hear similar stories of jindo dogs in Korea.


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

With so many of us living in urban environments it probably wouldn't be practical and I would probably feel a bit nervous seeing free roaming dogs around.
Mind you the dog I was brought up with was an unneutered male black lab and he did roam our English village, god knows what he got up to, was generally around and came when you called. He did get run over at the age of 4 and had a front leg amputated and he lived until he was 12. He had a lovely nature but could be aggressive to other male dogs and did mate with unspeyed females whenever he could and used to steal stuff off people's washing lines if they smelt of bitch on heat.
Once we found him up the road in the dark hopping along with a full sized cricket bat in his mouth and he wasn't a large lab, mum bundled him in the car pronto and my dad didn't try to find the owner of the bat because he wasn't registered which cost about 37p in those days (early 70s) I think I was about 11 at the time.
At the time I thought it was normal but feel quite ashamed and embarassed when I think back at how irresponsible my parents were and would never allow my dog to have that sort of freedom.
I am just amazed that he lived that long.
Admittedly traffic wasn't heavy there and he knew where to cross the road but I still get moments of "oh my god" how on earth did we let him do those things.
And the funny thing is my dad has always been a very straight, law abiding citizen and generally very honest, but maybe it was a case of different rules for different mammals.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Actually, I kind of sad at how I have to restrain my dogs these days.

for many years, all of them ran free. We had very few females and the ones we had were spayed. We lived in an extremely rural area. I still think my dogs back then had a great life - no neurotic behavior, everyone got along, they got a ton of exercise and since we were outside alot they spent alot of time with people also.

Even though we are "rural" kind of, I can't let my dogs run free any more. They run only in our pastures and i don't leave them outside alone. Times change!!

When we lived in the city, though, it was much worse. We walked on asphalt or concrete. The dog park was their only freedom. It was very restrictive and i hated it.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

I think you just didn't hear about it as much. I lived in the country 40 years ago. My neighbors had dogs that they didn't spay or neuter. They also had cats that didn't get spayed or neuter. Both ran around and reproduced at will. The dogs would routinely vanish and suddenly new dogs would appear and replace them. Since we were kids, we never really got told what happened to the other dogs, they were just gone one day. Cats would come and go so often that they rarely had names. Litter's of puppies and kittens would be born, get old enough, and then the whole litter would disappear.

My family was a little different because my parents were originally from the city and moved to the country. We actually spayed our dog. But, she still ran free and slept in the garage at night. She only lived to be 7. We got a boy dog (unneutered) to replace her. He roamed the neighborhood at will and then vanished one day, never to be seen again. We got another boy dog, unneutered and untrained. He chased cars so badly and was so uncontrollable that my dad took him to the SPCA. 

Life was not a bed of roses for dogs back then. They had short life spans, didn't go to the vets for illness's, slept outdoors, and were not allowed in the house with the family (they were dogs after all). They did get to roam the neighborhoods and think for themselves, but I'm sure that our dogs today would not change places with them for anything.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

it is sad nowdays that dogs are not safe to run freely in more areas even though there are more and more dog parks poping up even those are not always safe due to stupid people and i presonally think that more of these dog aggressive dogs and hyper active dogs are this way due to not getting enough activitys and excersize.

it also makes me sad that its the same for children too when i was growing up i was able to runaround by myself i was 6 years old walking home from school alone all the way across town took me about half an hour to get home my mom never worried about us we were responsable me and my sister we knew the dangers without having to have it pounded into our heads i was 5 years old had my own lighter i carried around had a pocket knife too i was responsable i never lite things on fire i shouldnt always kept a bucket of water when i had a bon fire made sure the weather was not to hot or dry i rode my bicycle alone around town. while my nephew is now almost 10 years old he doesnt even look both ways while crossing the street,if he tries to use a knife to cut something he usually always cuts himself so we dont allow him to use so much as a butter knife. he has never walked alone anywhere he isnt allowed to ride his bike alone either becuase hes just not very resposable.

i think alot of dogs problems are due to being penned up,tied up,and confined so much being expected to live like a person being contented all day to just sit on the couch and veg. but i agree with everyone now days it is just too dangerous to let them off lead unsupervised and people dont live the way they did people dont go outside and do things nowdays like they did years and years ago more people hunted,more people farmed,more people did more work outdoors now days more people are into video games, more people are into watching tv,more people are into going out to nightclubs and talking on there cell phones getting online.
its like dogs are go stir crazy nowdays living a humans life instead of a dogs life.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

My biggest worry, even over cars would be that, because my boys are intact, is that they would be stolen for breeding. And if they were neutered, bait dogs.


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