That pup does a great job of backing up. Heâs right too, itâs no fun to eat alone when you can just as easily have company. Good dog.
@xeni, have you seriously just been looking at cute animal videos all day?
Not that Iâve ever done anything like that, or anything.
Does anyone recall when this ârescueâ term entered the common parlance?
When I was a kid, all I heard about was âadoptingâ animals, and while the termâs a bit more anthropomorphic than Iâd like, Iâve always preferred how it lacked the sort of back-patting that goes with ârescuing.â
I swear this notion of ârescueâ animals popped up in the last fifteen years. Or has it been historically common and I was just never exposed to it for whatever reason?
The term ârescue dogâ didnât exist 20 years or less ago.
Same for the even more creepy âadoptionâ.
Now, if youâre a fireman and go in a burning building and grab a puppyâŚthen itâs a rescue dog.
Otherwise itâs a shelter dogâŚand the heroic measures you made was passing the screening test.
How is that creepy? Itâs a literal description. Youâre taking over the care and feeding of a living creature from its previous caretakers.
And ârescue animalâ is not a synonym for for âadopted.â In my experience (and Xeniâs, apparently) it specifically means an animal that has been removed from an abusive/neglectful situation, and may suffer from neurotic/defensive behavior quirks as a result. Theyâre generally acquired through animal rescue organizations, thus the name. The ârescuerâ is not usually the owner.
Ah, Iâd failed to pick up on that distinction. Though to be fair, I also see people using it synonymously with adoption - apparently Iâm not the only one confused.
A couple glasses of Cab Sav and some cheese and youâve got an evening.
Itâs creepy when people that âAdoptâ cats and dogs refer to them as their âchildrenâ or âBabiesâ.
As a man who has adopted and raised 7 sons I appreciate the joining of our spirits far more than the word adoption as used by the court system. The state needs word to give legal status to the bond that existed between us. When I hear someone say their pet is just like a child or a baby all it means to me is that caring for another living creature is important to them. It in no way lessens how my sons and I love one another. In fact we often laugh about our own animal kids and the various shelters both sons and pets have endured. If we couldnât laugh weâd have to cry or perhaps become felons because not all shelters are equal. As theyâve grown into their own lives some of the boys have adopted kids themselves and all have had lots of pets to share life with.
I try to go easy on the people who have dog children, cat kids, bird babies, whateverâŚitâs just the way they need to give love and maybe itâs the best that they can doâŚ
I believe in dog culture, the dog who eats first is the dominant pooch. By making the other dog watch him eat, heâs letting him know whoâs boss.
Except that the other dog is all âWhatevs, dudeâ and keeps his head face down in the chow.
There are inherently submissive dogs too, just like there are inherently submissive people. Some dogs psychologically need to have a leader. Someone they follow and try to help out. My current lab is this way, and I never trained him to do that. He just always enjoys following me around, wherever I go, and when Iâm not around, our brass scotty dog doorstop becomes his leader.
Perhaps itâd be better to call it a rescued dog?
I noticed that the little dog didnât look around before moving. Cool.
Our dog was rescued from an alcoholic. For the first few months he wouldnât go out on the lawn - he obviously didnât know what grass was. He was very underweight, his coat was so bad it all had to be removed. He was rescued all right.
Probably, but that second âdâ often wouldnât even be noticed in conversation, and could then fade out of accepted spelling soon enough.
To the point of the video though - yeah, dogs, especially those with unpleasant pasts, have weird tics and habits. My dog is not very food motivated and often eats hours after we put his food down. When he does, he will walk into the kitchen, pick up a mouthful of food, come back to whatever room Iâm in, drop it on the floor, eat it, then repeat.
Oh thatâs funny, mine does that second thing as well. Although he wonât take it far from the bowl, because he doesnât like to eat unless someone is in the room with him. But yeah, he picks up a mouthful, drops it on the floor, and then eats the individual pieces. Itâs better than when we first got him, where heâd just inhale the food the instant we put it down.
Some people purchase their pets from pet shops or breeders. If the term âadoptionâ gives you the creeps, what term would you suggest be used for people who donât purchase their pets but acquire them from shelters or rescue groups?
We have had several.
They are dogs that for various reasons, would have simply been put down if they ended up in the city animal shelter. They need vet care (one of ours had heartworms), they have behavior problems, or they just arenât cute enough. I think of âadoptionâ as something that happens to cute, normal puppies, and ârescueâ as more of an intervention to forestall a dire fate. Rescues are frequently not mediated by the animal shelter, but by personal connections, or through ârescue groupsâ, e.g. http://forgottenfriendstx.org/
Sometimes they are a disappointment (just canât be socialized), but the much more common rescue response affirms Xeniâs last remark: fierce, unconditional love.
