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

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 2/27/2018 8:13 PM, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 27 Feb 2018 07:55:35 -0800, sms
wrote:

On 2/27/2018 1:11 AM, Ned Mantei wrote:
On 26-02-18 21:34, Joerg wrote:
My experience is the opposite. Horses leave their poop all over but
that ain't so bad.


I agree. Horse droppings dry quickly, leaving only something like hay
fragments on the ground.

I saw no horses all day on Saturday, but lots of nice moist horse
droppings. Maybe it's the fog that comes in at the coast that keeps
things messy.

In any case, public parks should be for self-powered activities.
Equestrians can ride on private land and mess that up as much as they want.

But according to California law horses, both ridden and driven have
the right to use the public highways and in fact the law requires that
a motor vehicle must slow down when passing to avoid frightening the
animal". Sounds like equestrians are not restricted to private land.

And you a politician not knowing that.

as with bicycles, a 'vehicle' for all other purposes:

http://ktla.com/2018/02/24/man-ridin...on-dui-charge/


--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 2018-02-27 18:20, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 27 Feb 2018 10:22:08 -0800, Joerg
wrote:

On 2018-02-27 07:55, sms wrote:
On 2/27/2018 1:11 AM, Ned Mantei wrote:
On 26-02-18 21:34, Joerg wrote:
My experience is the opposite. Horses leave their poop all over but
that ain't so bad.


I agree. Horse droppings dry quickly, leaving only something like hay
fragments on the ground.

I saw no horses all day on Saturday, but lots of nice moist horse
droppings. Maybe it's the fog that comes in at the coast that keeps
things messy.

In any case, public parks should be for self-powered activities.
Equestrians can ride on private land and mess that up as much as they want.


Horses with riders on them were here well before any vehicles, back in
the days when only Native Americans roamed the West. We shall not take
their rights away just because it is now perceived as inconvenient.

In fact, under Federal law, horses and burros have a right to use
public lands.


As they should. In practice that is sometimes curtailed although I don't
know if it would hold in court. Though it often makes sense. For
example, the western section of the singletrack from Lotus to Folsom has
a sign "No horses" and the switchbacks could be dangerous for horse and
rider. Even mountain bikers have gone over a cliff there.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 8:00:12 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
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.

I have. My sister-in-law died of Alzheimer's. My father-in-law was in a facility for 11 years before he died. My son spent the first four years of his life running around the place. I suspect he was more therapeutic to the occupants than a dog. As an ambulance driver in the '70s and '80s, I was transporting Alzheimers patients before there was even a diagnostic criteria for the disease. And before that, I was delivering pharmaceuticals to what we euphemistically called "rest homes" starting at age seven. My father was a pharmacist, and we owned a small-town drug store. I've been seeing people with senile dementia and Alzheimers in clinical and long-term care settings since I was a kid.

And what does this have to do with the over-population of dogs? There is no proof of any long-term benefit to Alzheimer's patients from dog-therapy, and other therapies are equally effective -- like people and robots, even fish. Everybody claims their dog is a therapy, companion, assist dog, generally as a dodge to get the damned thing into a restaurant or movie theater or to prove its incredible importance to society. It's the new thing to do. It's right up there with "owning a dog is just like raising a child!" Right.

On 2018-02-28 10:44, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 8:00:12 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
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.

I have. My sister-in-law died of Alzheimer's. My father-in-law was
in a facility for 11 years before he died. My son spent the first
four years of his life running around the place. I suspect he was
more therapeutic to the occupants than a dog.


As a kid, yes. As an adult, not likely.


... As an ambulance driver
in the '70s and '80s, I was transporting Alzheimers patients before
there was even a diagnostic criteria for the disease. And before
that, I was delivering pharmaceuticals to what we euphemistically
called "rest homes" starting at age seven. My father was a
pharmacist, and we owned a small-town drug store. I've been seeing
people with senile dementia and Alzheimers in clinical and long-term
care settings since I was a kid.

And what does this have to do with the over-population of dogs?
There is no proof of any long-term benefit to Alzheimer's patients
from dog-therapy, ...


There is for us, big time. Just one example out of many:

An old man in an Alzheimer's facility lit up when he saw the dog I had
with me. The dog sensed it, as he nearly always does, and put his head
in the lap of the old man (he was in a wheelchair). Surprisingly the man
started to talk, a lot. Mainly about the dog he had in his store all the
time. How much he missed her. That he needs to go back to the store now
to pick her up. Except Ginger had passed away decades ago. He also told
me a lot about running a store, about their farm, what happened in the
old days, and so on. Almost a whole hour.

Someone from the staff came by. "How on earth did you get HIM to chat?
He never talks much!" ... "I didn't, my dog did". The next surprise
happened at the following visit. Of course the man had forgotten my name
and didn't particularly react to seeing me because most people with
Alzheimer's do not remember anything in the recent past. I was just a
new person he'd never seen. Yet his face lit up again when he saw the
dog and then he addressed the dog by its name.


... and other therapies are equally effective -- like
people and robots, even fish.


I seriously doubt fish would get anyone who has become reclusive to
talk. People often don't either.


... Everybody claims their dog is a
therapy, companion, assist dog, generally as a dodge to get the
damned thing into a restaurant or movie theater or to prove its
incredible importance to society. It's the new thing to do. It's
right up there with "owning a dog is just like raising a child!"
Right.

As a society, we used to have a reasonable perspective on pets. We
didn't have a neurotic attachment to dogs as some sort of furry
Xanax. Society is now over-dosing on furry Xanax. Love your dog, but
make it one dog -- or maybe two tiny dogs -- split the dose.


The companion or comfort animal is overblown these days but certified
therapy dogs are very different. Just as guide dogs for blind people
they are like soldiers. At home they are normal dogs, barking, romping
around, chasing each other and all that. The minute they have their
jackets on their behavior changes from childish to professional. They
also have no problem when handlers get switched if this happens "on duty".

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 2/28/2018 1:44 PM, jbeattie wrote:


As a society, we used to have a reasonable perspective on pets. We didn't have a neurotic attachment to dogs as some sort of furry Xanax.

Or some sort of furry beast that needs Xanax. See
http://dogaware.com/articles/wdjanxiety.html

I know a guy who began dating a rather quirky woman. The woman sort of
gradually moved into his house, something he should not have let happen.
Among her many quirks, she loved dogs and felt it was her mission in
life to rescue one from the local pound. She "rescued" a _large_ dog
with many problems.

Well: The guy was forced to build a large pen for the large dog, because
it wasn't really controllable, despite being on Xanax or Prosac or some
such thing. And eventually, despite the pills, the dog attacked the guys
dear granddaughters.

Soon after that, the dog was gone. And not much later, the woman was
gone too.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On 2018-02-27 19:03, sms wrote:
On 2/27/2018 2:34 PM, jbeattie wrote:

Aye Chihuahua! You will be labeled as a sociopath who hates animals,
humans and baby Jesus. Pitch-forks and torches are coming your way.

Remember when kids use to go to their friend's houses to play without
pre-arranged "play dates?" In my neighborhood, the dogs now have play
dates with other dogs. I was talking to a neighbor walking "Bosco" and I
mentioned Jake's name and her dog got all excited thinking he was going
for a play date at Jake's house. I said "I should have spelled Jake's
name," but she said that that doesn't work because Bosco recognizes
J-A-K-E as well.


The smartest dog we ever had was a Shepherd-Retriever mix. She would
look at the dinner table and when she noticed an extra set she'd start
regularly pacing to the living room window where she could see the
street. Because that meant someone was coming. With her it also did not
help if we switched to German, she understood a lot of what was said
even then.


... At least the dogs don't wear helmets or have DRLs.


Oh they do :-)

https://www.rockstarpuppyboutique.com/dog-helmets/

Some day I want a Mohawk helmet.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 2/28/2018 1:58 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 2/28/2018 1:44 PM, jbeattie wrote:


As a society, we used to have a reasonable perspective on
pets. We didn't have a neurotic attachment to dogs as some
sort of furry Xanax.

Or some sort of furry beast that needs Xanax. See
http://dogaware.com/articles/wdjanxiety.html

I know a guy who began dating a rather quirky woman. The
woman sort of gradually moved into his house, something he
should not have let happen. Among her many quirks, she loved
dogs and felt it was her mission in life to rescue one from
the local pound. She "rescued" a _large_ dog with many
problems.

Well: The guy was forced to build a large pen for the large
dog, because it wasn't really controllable, despite being on
Xanax or Prosac or some such thing. And eventually, despite
the pills, the dog attacked the guys dear granddaughters.

Soon after that, the dog was gone. And not much later, the
woman was gone too.


Oh, women then.

I met an old friend, an active cyclist in her late-70s, for
breakfast in January. She walked into the diner with a
yapping little demon and I gave her The Stare, asking, 'A
dog in a restaurant?' as the clientele and my beloved
waitresses quietly tried not to overreact.

She very loudly exclaimed that she had paid a doctor $100
for a certificate so she can go just anywhere with it.
Needless to say I'll miss her company.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 11:54:57 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-02-28 10:44, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 8:00:12 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
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.

I have. My sister-in-law died of Alzheimer's. My father-in-law was
in a facility for 11 years before he died. My son spent the first
four years of his life running around the place. I suspect he was
more therapeutic to the occupants than a dog.


As a kid, yes. As an adult, not likely.


... As an ambulance driver
in the '70s and '80s, I was transporting Alzheimers patients before
there was even a diagnostic criteria for the disease. And before
that, I was delivering pharmaceuticals to what we euphemistically
called "rest homes" starting at age seven. My father was a
pharmacist, and we owned a small-town drug store. I've been seeing
people with senile dementia and Alzheimers in clinical and long-term
care settings since I was a kid.

And what does this have to do with the over-population of dogs?
There is no proof of any long-term benefit to Alzheimer's patients
from dog-therapy, ...


There is for us, big time. Just one example out of many:

An old man in an Alzheimer's facility lit up when he saw the dog I had
with me. The dog sensed it, as he nearly always does, and put his head
in the lap of the old man (he was in a wheelchair). Surprisingly the man
started to talk, a lot. Mainly about the dog he had in his store all the
time. How much he missed her. That he needs to go back to the store now
to pick her up. Except Ginger had passed away decades ago. He also told
me a lot about running a store, about their farm, what happened in the
old days, and so on. Almost a whole hour.

Someone from the staff came by. "How on earth did you get HIM to chat?
He never talks much!" ... "I didn't, my dog did". The next surprise
happened at the following visit. Of course the man had forgotten my name
and didn't particularly react to seeing me because most people with
Alzheimer's do not remember anything in the recent past. I was just a
new person he'd never seen. Yet his face lit up again when he saw the
dog and then he addressed the dog by its name.


... and other therapies are equally effective -- like
people and robots, even fish.


I seriously doubt fish would get anyone who has become reclusive to
talk. People often don't either.


... Everybody claims their dog is a
therapy, companion, assist dog, generally as a dodge to get the
damned thing into a restaurant or movie theater or to prove its
incredible importance to society. It's the new thing to do. It's
right up there with "owning a dog is just like raising a child!"
Right.

As a society, we used to have a reasonable perspective on pets. We
didn't have a neurotic attachment to dogs as some sort of furry
Xanax. Society is now over-dosing on furry Xanax. Love your dog, but
make it one dog -- or maybe two tiny dogs -- split the dose.


The companion or comfort animal is overblown these days but certified
therapy dogs are very different. Just as guide dogs for blind people
they are like soldiers. At home they are normal dogs, barking, romping
around, chasing each other and all that. The minute they have their
jackets on their behavior changes from childish to professional. They
also have no problem when handlers get switched if this happens "on duty"..


Right, according to the non-governing body of unlicensed therapy dogs, the animal must pass extensive testing as set forth in this two-page brochu http://www.tdi-dog.org/images/TestingBrochure.pdf

E.g.:

TEST 7: VISITING WITH A PATIENT
The dog should show willingness to visit a person and demonstrate
that it can be made readily accessible for petting (i.e.
small dogs will be placed on a person’s lap or held; medium
dogs will sit on a chair or stand close to the patient to be easily
reached, and larger dogs will be standing).

Goddamn, that's grueling. The dog has to be pet-able, just like a soldier. This is SO much like guide dogs that are selected by breed, specially raised and trained for months if not years to lead blind people across busy intersections.

Here is an interesting summary of the state of the literature on animal therapy: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...py-really-work

-- Jay Beattie.

On Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 12:10:44 PM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:
On 2/28/2018 1:58 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 2/28/2018 1:44 PM, jbeattie wrote:


As a society, we used to have a reasonable perspective on
pets. We didn't have a neurotic attachment to dogs as some
sort of furry Xanax.

Or some sort of furry beast that needs Xanax. See
http://dogaware.com/articles/wdjanxiety.html

I know a guy who began dating a rather quirky woman. The
woman sort of gradually moved into his house, something he
should not have let happen. Among her many quirks, she loved
dogs and felt it was her mission in life to rescue one from
the local pound. She "rescued" a _large_ dog with many
problems.

Well: The guy was forced to build a large pen for the large
dog, because it wasn't really controllable, despite being on
Xanax or Prosac or some such thing. And eventually, despite
the pills, the dog attacked the guys dear granddaughters.

Soon after that, the dog was gone. And not much later, the
woman was gone too.


Oh, women then.

I met an old friend, an active cyclist in her late-70s, for
breakfast in January. She walked into the diner with a
yapping little demon and I gave her The Stare, asking, 'A
dog in a restaurant?' as the clientele and my beloved
waitresses quietly tried not to overreact.

She very loudly exclaimed that she had paid a doctor $100
for a certificate so she can go just anywhere with it.
Needless to say I'll miss her company.

Play your cards right, and you can make a pretty penny. http://gorgenewscenter.com/2018/02/2...-service-dogs/

How do people say with a straight face that a dog can perform "a chest compression maneuver." Mo http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-no...ned_woman.html

Well, MY dog can give injections and perform a routine prostate exam with its nose. It is also proficient with Turbo Tax.

I've had two plane flights sitting next to someone with a supposed therapy dog. I saw no therapies administered. Not so much as a back rub.

-- Jay Beattie.