How do you figure that? Marriage is a religious sacrament, and this law forbids ministers from providing that sacrament to same-sex couples because they cannot obtain a marriage license. That seems like a pretty clear violation of religious freedom to me. It isn't about same-sex marriages being legally recognized by…

That's exactly what gets people about my Ty. He's lean and small for a GSD, and very leggy. Plus he's not a "triangle dog" as my friends refer to show-bred dogs with their extreme slope. If I stack him he looks pretty sloped though (which is where the breed standard orginated; stacking is supposed to exaggerate…

I think our cultural narrative of "abortion=tragedy, motherhood=bliss" hurts all women. I know mothers who sometimes wish they weren't parents and feel incredibly guilty for it (not that they'd really trade their kids for the world, just that they're actually—gasp!—human and sometimes think about and wish for what…

I posted this on the Gawker article too but I think what she did was so important I'll post it again... I wish so much I had been able to see a video like this before my abortion more than a decade ago. I was sure sure it was the right decision. I struggled with it more than she did, leading up to it, but I did a lot…

Herman left the stall and went into the bathroom's main area. He looked at himself in the mirror, and wondered why he was afraid: "I was a big guy." He was waiting for the man to exit the neighboring stall, feeling ever more riled, when he decided to kick the door down.

It depends on how many bitches they have, but generally not more than 1-2 litters a year total. Bitches shouldn't be bred every year and obviously you can only meet the needs (social, physical, mental) of so many dogs so that alone limits what a good breeder is capable of. In some working situations (like cattle…

And apparently evidence of time travel, given that it happened way back when he was in law school.

Yeah really. It's not like a gay man just tried to pick him up or something. Reaching under the stall and grabbing him like that is a big deal and I think it's inappropriate to imply that it was homophobic of him to react that way. I'm a queer woman and I'd still freak the hell out if a strange woman did that to me.

Haha, that is definitely true. There is no shortage of sanctimony anywhere in the dog world. ;)

My GSD is a working one and people seriously don't even believe me that he's purebred. They insist that he has to be a mutt or mistake him for a Malinois. People have no idea about the differences in working vs. show-bred animals.

Most ethical breeders don't do it as their livelihood (in fact, I've never heard of one who makes their living from breeding; a lot of trainers/handlers also have a side business breeding, but they're not making their primary income off of their puppies). As for puppy mills, I have no problems shutting them down. They…

Er, I see you've addressed the working dog point in other replies. Sorry, Kinja is being glitchy for me today (hence the new reply rather than an edit too).

I work about 10 hours a week at my local, relatively high-kill (because tons of dogs and not enough adopters) shelter and I still got a purpose-bred dog when I needed a new working puppy. I've gone the rescue route with working dogs before and it's incredibly difficult, and training dogs for what I do is already…

I think it implies a rather sad view of men, too. Like their only possible value is monetary, so they have to earn more than their wives.

I think that's probably what Dan Seitz was referring to. David Mech was one of the early scientists studying wolf behavior, but it was in captive packs of unrelated adults which is not how they live in the wild. He's attempted to get his book out of print and very strongly renounces his early research and the…

Boston Terriers are actually the worst about this, with 92% of them being born via C-section. Bulldogs are only at about 86%. ("only" lol)

Joint dysplasia should be tested for. It's an issue in all purebred dogs, but in working lines it there is a much larger emphasis on OFA testing and breeding it out for obvious reasons. I mean, I spent almost 3 years training my dog and sunk over $10K into him before he was ever able to go on his first mission; I want…

Yeah, working GSDs are not bred to those kind of breed standards. The GSD in my avatar is a working dog (cadaver dog) bred from German working lines rather than US show lines, and he's often mistaken for a Malinois he looks so different from the "typical" GSD. Show-bred and pet-bred dogs are often bred horrifically…

Most valuable racehorses are retired and live pretty decent lives as breeding animals. It's the low-quality ones who are more likely to be dropped at auction (with a few notable exceptions), but even a lot of them are retired to second careers or good lives. Off-the-track Thoroughbreds are pretty popular in eventing…

I'll share this on a few dog training groups I'm apart of and will donate tomorrow. :) Good luck, I hope you get your pup home!