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Old February 28th 18, 05:00 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Joerg[_2_]
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Default The lone 26er in a forest full of 29ers and 27.5ers

On 2018-02-27 18:01, jbeattie wrote:
On Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 5:02:45 PM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-02-27 13:56, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 2/27/2018 1:59 PM, jbeattie wrote:

I don't see any place for horses on popular public forest
trails or unleashed dogs -- one of which nearly tackled my
wife, who is not as robust as she once was. There are far, far
too many dogs in the world.

"A well-trained dog is a joy and a delight. An untrained dog is a
damned nuisance. Most dogs are untrained." - Stewart Brand

Within the last two days:

A) on my mountain bike, I thought I would get run into by a large
dog running illegally off-leash in our local forest preserve. The
owner didn't hear me coming because she was yakking on her cell
phone. She apologized, but continued allowing her dogs to run.

B) Our very nice neighbors' micro-dog has yapped loudly when it
saw me outside. It also yapped loudly when it didn't see me
outside, because it yaps incredibly loudly any time anything
catches its attention. That's true even at 7 AM.

C) I spent some time with a very sweet, intelligent Golden
Retriever at a friend's house. But that young dog is still too
excitable to be trusted not to jump on guests. Hopefully it will
calm down as it matures.

I've known a very few very nice dogs. I've known a few tolerable
dogs. I've known or encountered hundreds of obnoxious dogs.
Unless a person lives in the country and hunts, farms or runs a
ranch, I don't see the attraction.


Join us and our two Labradors who are trained therapy dogs on a
visit to an Alzheimer's place. Dogs can open peoples minds there
like no human ever can. On of our dogs was guiding a blind woman
for a while. In San Francisco, not on a ranch. How do you suppose
that should be done without a dog?


I was in a surgery waiting room a few years ago and some
candy-striper brought in a "therapy dog" to calm the anxious family
members, and all the other dogs people had smuggled into the waiting
room started barking. It was like a f****** dog pound. Not calming
for me. Plus, it's like forced dog petting -- you are a monster
unless you pet the f****** dog and remark to the handler about what a
great dog it is. Again, not calming for me.

As Frank said, "working dogs" are a different animal. Guide dogs,
drug sniffing dogs, herding dogs, etc. can justify their often
massive carbon footprints. As for "therapy" dogs, why not cats,
lizards, fish, robots? I'd take a Swedish underwear model with a
vodka tonic.

"The studies based on robot substitutes yielded positive results.
These studies suggest the possibility of using robot substitutes for
patients with Dementia, but further studies are required to better
define the technique. Shibata et al., 2001 The text of the note
suggest that robot therapy has the same effects on people as animal
therapy and are currently conducting an experiment in a dementia care
centre in Denmark. Preliminary results obtained from the 7-month
clinical trial showed positive effects on elderly patients' mental
health, but a larger patient sample and control group were necessary
to scientifically verify the study's effects."

Review; Animal-assisted interventions for elderly patients affected
by dementia or psychiatric disorders: A review; (2013) 47 EJPSYR 6
762-773

If you really care about the environment, you do not own two dogs
just to own two dogs -- or three or five or ten. I see goddamned dog
herds on some of the MUPs.


Obviosly you have never been arond a lot of people with Alzheimer's. I
have, for decades.

--
Regards, Joerg

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