Pets, pets, glorious pets!

I wish they would make a cross species experiment to make a dragon, using maybe half comodo dragon, half African bat, half salamander, half wise.

I have 5 cats, Pixie, Lila, Leone, Sirius, and Fattylumpkin (Fats for short). Pixie is a naughty girl and is my favourite as she sleeps next to me and understands me, the others just want feeding on demand and dont give a monkeys. they are all strays I did have 7 cats but two of the males went AWOL. I first saw Pixies little white face peeping at me from under a flower bush, and I kinda fell in love.

Hmm, I count nine cats in your photo there.

Thanks for picking up on my dragon blood. Waaayy better than Tiger blood.

There is a dragon blood beer you can get over here (or is that wandering too far off topic) that's quite tasty and packs a wallop. Brewed in bourbon barrels.

We have two cats who are suppose to be barn cats and fierce rat and mice hunters. It seems they didn't quite understand the job instructions, but they are kind, social and the kids love them. I love them too except I am allergic so I like them to be outside as much as possible.

We used to have a Doberman, poorly trained by his previous owners so he was a bit of a struggle. Gorgeous dog though. Good as gold with kids, they could climb all over him, but a pest to other dogs and cats and sheep, which was a huge pain since we had sheep at the time.

Hmmm.... A Dragon is an interesting idea. But it made me think, "Why stop there ?"





It might at first seem to be a little unfair to the residents of Toyko Harbor. But increased Big Monster-Tourism revenue should more then outweigh the cost of rebuilding the city periodically, don't you think ?

Wow. You know, besides wanting to meet Godzilla, this thread got me wondering if it was actually true that men preferred certain pets, women another, etc, and why? But a quick search for facts revealed there is probably a whole bunch of facts & its not something quickly determined authoritarively, like 'Whats the tallest building? There are also evidentally a lot of studies going on, and not just for curiosities sake. Pets is a very big business.

For instance: The first interesting statistic I found was that out of a survey of 463 cat owners, 80% were women. However, when I went to track down/verify this survey supposedly done by the American Pet Products Association, I found it was indeed available, but not free. Noooo, not very free at all. As a non-member, I could get a copy for a mere $2995.00.

OK, but what about men. Question: Are most dog owners men ? I didn't get that far though, cause I stumbled on this:

"THE GIST" (supposedly from the scientific journal 'Interaction Studies', but I didn't want to find out how much it would cost me)

"- Dogs approach men more often than women in a pilot study about human-canine interactions.
- Why the sex of an owner should affect dog approaches is unknown, but it may be related to sex-associated roles observed in wolves.
- Neurotic owners and neurotic dogs appear to be sensitive to each others needs, with such pairs spending more time close together."

The last one hit a nerve. In my first post on this thread I mentioned me & my dog do everything together. The article went on to say:

"Neurotic men with neurotic dogs (described as not confident and "anxious" as well as "less vocal and aggressive") appear to be magnets for each other, with dogs of such owners making a beeline for their human partner and staying close together afterward."

I would definately describe my dog as very sensitive, probably neurotic. I have often heard people say that about small dogs, though I don't know how factually true it is. And honestly I would describe myself that way as well, though much less so since figuring it out and getting medical assistance with it.

Why you want to mix in Halfwise, Figg? Are you making woolly dragons?

I think small dogs get away with being nervous and noisy because they are small and not too intimidating even if they are angry. (I have a feeling Momo the cutie wutie wittle doggie would get away with more that our Zorro the doberman made of 40kg of pure muscles and bones. ) And I think humanity in general let them get away with things because we are feel guilty about turning them from awesome wolves to rodents who live in pink purses or needs to be groomed all day. (The observant reader might gather from this that I'm not a big fan of Chihuahuas, though I mostly have a problem with the way they are treated as accessories and not dogs.)

Cats are awesome, cool, independent and dignified (well, in general), being friends with a cat means you must be awesome, cool and dignified too.

Dogs follow you around and drool on you. Who doesn't want to be adored?

Either way, I think dog owners and cat owners alike just want someone who loves them.

I read this quote about dogs and cats,"if you give a dog love it will think you are a god, and if you give a cat love it will think it is a god". (and in Ancient Egypt it probably was).

"You must forgive them all; for though their hearts are faithful, to face fear of Barrow-wights is not what they were made for" (Tom Bombadil speaking of his ponies)

I am not sure it is a matter of small dogs 'getting away' with things, so much as being what they have encouraged by artifical breeding to do. Some dogs have been bred for war, others hunting, some as guards, and so on, like Amarie's Doberman. The smaller breeds include those modifyied to hunt smaller creatures, and companion or comfort dogs. The Chihuahua appears to be in the last named catagory, but its exact origins are still being researched. It does seem to have been developed in Central America, and is already established by the time of the Toltecs and later Aztecs. Some evidence exsists that it originated with or is decended from a dog of the earlier Mayans. However, initial DNA evidence points towards Euro-Asian origin (?). On top of that are the long standing local traditions in Central America that the Chihuahua is actually a crossbreed of dog and fox (!), though no scientific evidence of that exsists yet. The name 'Chihuahua' btw, is also that of a State in modern Mexico.

I think though, if you strip the dog of it's owner's trappings and training, even the smallest & cutest ones are still all dog.





Chihuahua's are noted for displaying aggression, but there may be also some misconceptions. They are for instance not noisy (or 'Yappy'). They do bark, but rarely, and only when a stranger or another animal approaches. Other then that, they are usually silent or make funny little growly noises in playful interactions. The Mayan breed they may decend from was in fact called a Mute breed. They are also noted for bravery, even to foolhardiness, though they are the world's smallest breed. Chihuahua's are born into a world where every dog is the bigger dog. Mine (which is only half Chihuahua and larger at 17 lbs) is surrounded by neighbor dogs 3-4 times her size, but will attempt to protect our property. She will also chase away any other animal including Deer and Bear. My job early on was mainly trying to prevent her from committing suicide. But after losing engagements with the bigger ones, she now uses a new tactic. She advances on them barking and then retreats to me whining and trembling, to be picked up. Once up safely in my arms she resumes fierce aggression (clawing me to pieces in the process). I then become like her larger combat-robot frame and advance on the intruder, with her driving. If I ever get mauled you can be assured, as usual, a woman was behind it.

I once knew a Jack Russell who I swear was human, and it understood every word I said, and sometimes gave little sarcastic snorts as if to say "yeah dream on, I aint comin home until I has killed all rabbitses in dat kiddies pettin zoo".

"For instance: The first interesting statistic I found was that out of a survey of 463 cat owners, 80% were women. However, when I went to track down/verify this survey supposedly done by the American Pet Products Association, I found it was indeed available, but not free. Noooo, not very free at all. As a non-member, I could get a copy for a mere $2995.00."

Jeez, they only charge $100 to tell you how to make a woman drool all over you in 3 minutes. (it didn't work).

halfwise wrote: Jeez, they only charge $100 to tell you how to make a woman drool all over you in 3 minutes. (it didn't work).

Well... ya know, ya get what you pay for. Now, I'm not trying trying to sell you anything, but my company does happen to have a Drool Aquistion Instruction Insurance product. Yes, for as low as $39.99 a month* and under certain conditions** you can get back up to 90%*** of your cost, minus our cost times their cost, for any Drool Aquistion Product that promises either all, or part, or nothing at all.

This is what buckie was invented for, cheap, effective and drooling is encouraged.

I have a Jack Russell who I swear is smarter than even me! Unbelieveable huh!

Did you guys know i got a tortoise? His name is Åge (pronounced Å as ine Awesome and ge as in get) he has his own instagram-account aage_the_tortoise

Tortoise on instagram, huh?  How long to you have to watch it between posts?  Does he have mirror shots of his backside?

Did you get together with him because of his instagram account or did that come later?

Awww!! Åge is such a pretty fella!

Halfwise you tease.


I looked through some posts. My favourite is watching him get back on his feet from his back.

I take it that "skilpadder" is for an turtle shaped object, and "landskilpadder" is for tortoise? It's kind of a cute language.

halfwise wrote:I take it that "skilpadder" is for an turtle shaped object, and "landskilpadder" is for tortoise?  It's kind of a cute language.

absolutely correct. also.. skilpadde is roughly translated "toad with shell" which is also kinda cute.

That IS cute.  Hmmm....I wonder if "tortoise" and "toad" are etymologically related.  It's very possible, English being the harlotish packrat language that it is.

ps: I nominate "toadstool" for the correspondingly cute english word.

pps: is "skillet" derived from the same source as "skilpadde"?

halfwise wrote:

pps: is "skillet" derived from the same source as "skilpadde"?

depends what you mean by skillet, but if you mean "å skille" as in to part/divide/separate something yes maybe..... because skil in skilpadde i think is related to the word skjold, shield in english, and a shield is a sort of divider.. skilpadde is a shielded toad.

skilpadde is a shielded toad.- Norc

{{I'm guessing those Fjordian ancestors were a bit to busy with thee whole pillage, plunder and the other thing to take too close an interest in the wildlife!
Mind you fun tortoise fact- tortoises were thought to come from the Underworld, and were therefore sorted amongst infernal beasts to be feared! Now I have a Pyhtonesque scene in my head of a bunch of armoured knights running away in a panick at the sight of a tortoise emerging from the lettuce patch! }}}}

Shield-toad. I love it.

Just saw Aage He's lovely ! Lovely pattern on his shell. Im fond of these tiny armoured jeeps. I wanted one as a child but, got a hamster instead.

My little puss "Wednesday" passed away just before Christmas. She was 16 years old & deteriorated very quickly so I rushed her to the Vets. They found she had stomach cancer & I had to let her go. I cuddled her tiny head in my hand & spoke of how wonderful Spring will be & she was gone. For such a tiny cat she has left a huge hole in my life. Ive other cats but, "weds" was special.