Dogs

Catherine O'Driscoll
[RECOMMENDED DVD] In Search of the Truth About Dogs an introduction to natural canine health

Q. What arises between an animal and a human when they become friends? The Brown One: A new piece of friendship, that can form a space for other beings, that is, positive beings who belong to the ascending spirit. When a human makes friends with an animal, and the animal with him — as it takes two to make a friendship — spaces are created. And beings always fill up these spiritual spaces. You would include these among the harmonious elemental beings. Nature Spirits and What They Say: Interviews with Verena Stael Von Holstein by Wolfgang Weirauch

[2009 Dec] Why I'm ashamed to be a vet: a shocking exposé of the profession that puts pets through 'painful and unnecessary treatments to fleece their trusting owners' Take bulldogs. They have been hideously bred to have a characteristic collapsed face. This restricts breathing and stops them panting properly. Ridiculous as it may seem, they have also created an animal that can't breathe fast enough to have sex. So a bulldog must be artificially inseminated by a vet using a general anaesthetic. Once pregnant, the bulldog faces another dreadful side effect, again caused by breeding. Bulldogs have such a small pelvis that most are unable to give birth naturally. So 90 per cent of bulldogs require a Caesarean.
    If the vet were truly putting the animal first, he would refuse to inseminate a bulldog in the first place. Instead, to ensure the welfare of the bulldog, vets should be insisting that pregnancies only occur in bulldogs that can mate naturally.
    We have daschunds bred with elongated spines so they look 'attractive' for their breed. But these sausage dogs are prone to slipped discs and back problems which, in turn, makes more money for vets who do many operations a year to 'help' these issues (most of which do not work and cause more suffering to the dog.)
    We have cats that can't breathe because of their overly flat noses and weep constantly from eyes that are too large, other cats and dogs without fur that can't go out in the sunshine as they will burn.
    The current fashionable craze for miniature dogs is also damaging. These dogs are prized on their tininess - so the smallest dogs are chosen but in reality these are the runts of the litter that used to be allowed to die as they were so weak.