The Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-05-15, Page 33Page 8B—Crossroads—May 15, 1985
H. GORDON
GREEN
One of the most im-
practical additions to my
fay°m this past year has been
a .chihuahua, the fragile
Mexican dog so absurdly
tiny that it is sometimes call-
ed a "mosquito hound". In
defence of the economics in-
volved I hasten to say no
money was paid. We simply
traded an insufferably mis-
chievous Shetland colt for
him„ though I must admit
that I felt better about
getting rid of the colt than I
did about acquiring the dog.
My own doubts about ac-
cepting so flimsy a bit of
livestock prdbably came
from the fact that the only
time I had ever seen a Chi-
huahua before was at a dog
show wher 'several mother-
ly women had a whole row of
them bedded, down in heated
glasscages which were lined
with quilted satin.
"How in the world are you
going to keep him alive on a
farm like this?" I asked the
family. "Are you going to put
him in the incubator?" •
Well, this being the age
.which. belongs to the -young,
the Chihuahua came and
ever since I have been con-
templating the refined kind
of cruelty which we tolerate
today in this business of dog
breeding. This cruelty
arises, strangely enough,
from the unprecedented
adulation our society now
has for the dog.
When I was a schoolboy,
the lord of the animal king:
dom was supposed to be the
lion. Today the crown has,
passed to the fashionably
pedigreed dog, and for this
ridiculous happening, I think
we can blame the' women. It
seems to me that the
fashionable show dog is now •
being worshipped by many
off our society women with
the same pagan sort of rev-
erence which the Egyptians
once gave to the cat. Entire
estates are left to support a
dog who has the good fortune
to survive his ower.
The irony off althis' expen-
sive adulation is that the dog
doesn't appreciate it at all.
In- his original state, the
poodle, for .instance, was a
big husky dog which could
round up your sheep, re-
trieve a duck or scare a bum
off the farm. And he looked
as healthfully shaggy and
tousled as the boys he loved
to romp with. Now look at
him.
One sharp-witted journa-
list who visited a big national
show south_of the border
described its ribbon -smoth-
ered champion as a "Fluff-
ed -up nine inches of waste
effort... all hair and human ..
attention. It lives in an air
conditioned kennel which
amounts to an oxygen •
chamber, gets bathed in
baby oil, is not allowed to
scratch, and is allowed
controlled exercise only on a
sort of bird -grit. runway. It
eats wheat germ' and re-
ceives ultra -violet treat-
ments instead of sunshine.
Personally, • I think this
practice of warping a dog
to suit the whims of style is
little short of "barbaric.
We've f-itially got • our
humane slaughter laws, but
that doesn't mean that we
have now: abolished cruelty
to animals.' Surely most un -
forgiveable of all inch
cruelty is that inflicted by
people who pretend to be en-
lightened. I think it's high
time that we devise some
sort of painful discourage -
4,
ment to these light-headed,
well-heeled people who
shrink poodles, or take
bulldog when he's a pup and
push his nose in so he can
scarcely breathe, or breed
boxers with such skeletal
malformation that half of the
pups must be born by
Caesarian section, - all in
the hope of a Best -in -Show
ribbon.
To get, around to that
Chihuahua at our place; he's
still shivering a little but
other than that he's doing
fine. He sleeps with the cat
or on a bag of wool, gets
fleas, is chased by the sheep
and any other animal on the
place with eyes sharp
enough to see him, and gets
into the same sort of deviltry
that the otht} dogs do. He
has surviveda porcupine
quill.
In short, I think he's had
a►� unexpectedly good life,
hut I suspect that the
worried little ,woman I got
him from would think us
very cruel to him.
The 'old onion cure
Laborers eating onions
are depicted on Egyptian
tombs of about 3000 B.C.
When threatened by epi-
demics, the multitudes of
workers building the pyra-
, mids were forced to eat
large quantities of onions.
Saint saw loch monster
As far back as the 6th
century, St. Columba re-
ported
..
seeing "a' certain
monster" in • Scotland's .
Loch Ness. A 16th -century
chronical tells of "a large
animal coming onshore,
felling trees with a sweep
of its tail 'and killing three
onlookers."
fl4err in
vehicles.
can Dose
hazard
The use of three and four -
wheeled all -terrain vehicles
has grown by leaps and
bounds. But with the recent
surge in popularity has come
increased concern for their
potential to cause serious
harm or even death if not
used safely.
Last year nine people were
killed and another 212 in-
jured in ATV accidents in
Ontario. The majority of .the
victims were male; thirty
six per cent were 15 years off
age or under and another 30
per cent were between 16 and
20 years old.
Most of the accidents
occurred during daylight
hours and a surprising 94 per
cent of the drivers were
wearing helmets.
ATVs give a deceptive
impression of stability
because of their wide tread
and broad wheels. However
considerable practice is
required to master their use,
though a beginner may
successfully handle the
machine on gentle terrain.
The appeal and challenge of
riding over uncertain
terrain, the excitement of
risk-taking and the speed
capabilities of the ATV all
contribute to the accident
potential. •
Under the Off -Road
Vehicles Act all ATVs .must
be registered, have third-
party liability insurance and i
all occupants must wear
approved helmets. Children
under 12 are allowed to
operate ATVs under close
adult supervision. '
The Ontario Safety League
stresses that . parents must '
take an active role in
- training all youngsters -under
the driving age. The owner's
manual will describe many
important o rating tech-
niques, the ation off all
controls and eir. functions
and the necessary owner
inspections and main-
.-tena»ce.
1
ver 19 different
MICROWAVE OVENS
on display at all times.
LfM Nit';43 �f
Genius Microwave/Convection Oven
Genius Microwave Oven
Merwoodc. Smfth, Ltd.
RR. 2 Listowel 291-3810
Highway 86 - 3/4 mile west of Listowel
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