sheepdog

Of course I have sugestions. First off, as I allready mentioned, they steal a great number of the animals they have. In many cases, the shelters that the dogs are taken to are WORSE conditions than they were in at the breeders kennel they were stolen from. I know this to be fact. I have studied many of these "raids" and have in some cases, known the facilities that the dogs came out of. The dogs did not get a better lot in life, and a lot of dogs were actually killed due to the stupidity of the so called rescueers. Now, do you have any idea how much HSUS takes in each year? And do you know how much they spend on the actual physical care of dogs???? Answer to the first question is in the millions of dollars. Answer to the second question, 0 Thats right, 0. Big fat ZERO!!! They spend NO money on dogs. Not a dimes worth of dog food or a single vet bill. ALL of their money goes to lawyers, and politicians and lobbyests, trying to pass more laws to restrict the owning of animals. Having said that, do you know that the vast majority of dogs in shelters are mixed breed dogs from irresponsible pet owners who do not spay/neuter their pets or contain them during their heat cycles. If HSUS would stop squandering all it's donations on politicians, a cost effective spay/neuter program would make a HUGE dent in the numbers of dogs in shelters. They could better educate the public about the health benefits of spay/neutering instead of like PETA spending those ad dollars on evil ad campaigns that compare human holcost survivors to chickens, and dog breeders as members of the KKK. In this day and age there is no excuse for all those mixed breed dogs in the shelters. The money is there to take care of the problem. It's just being pissed away on shear stupidity. Now, there are some cases where a rescue can play a worthwhile part in cases where dogs need to be rehomed. In the event of the death of an elderly dog owner, or other personal disaster in the human household where a pet can no longer be kept, but these cases are only a tiny part of what rescues are now doing. So, for the person who wants an adult dog rescues can be an option. But of course, you aren't helping the economy, and you encourageing a business that in too many instances is not in the best interest of the dog.

I've been at Xisto for quite awhile now, and have never figured out how to get pictures to post in my messages, so as it's a rainy yuckey day today, I thought this might be a good time to try to figure it out. So, if there isn't a really cute picture with this message, will someobody please explain to me how to ad the pictures.ok great, I finally got that to work. It's a girl by the way. Our very first kid this year, born on my birthday, I thought that was pretty cool.

Actually, my remark was to truefusion who stated intelligence is metaphysical.. Intelligence is a result of how well a persons brain works, the physical and chemical balances in the brain that make it function. Which of course, depends in part to genetics. I don't get where it's metaphysical. But you are absolutly right. It is not the smartes, strongest and the fastest who get to breed and perpetuate the species. OUr many advances in medical technoligy have given life to many that othewise nature would of culled before they reached the age of maturity and gained the ability to reproduce. This is actually something that really bugs me. As a dog breeder, I am expected to test for every genetic disease under the sun and never even consider breeding a dog that has a defect, or I am acused of beign a horrible puppy miller. Man kind tinkers with the genetics of just about every living organisim on the face of the earth in efforts to "improve" it, from cows that produce more milk to corn that develops it's own pesticide and bacteria that will eat plastic to rid the planet of our waste. However, NOTHING is ever done to breed better humans.

How many of you have seen and studied the list of the economic stimulus package the democrats are pushing? Can you say PORK BARREL???? The vast majority of the money is going to other government agencies so even more beauracrats can siphon off their piece of the pie. There is very little in it to create jobs and help all those people who are loosing their homes and jobs. For example: Even if it does create some jobs, those will be government jobs! They will not help the private sector, or do anything to support the free enterprise system. Government contracts go to the good old boy network, those contracts will be doled out to favorites and those who will “pay back” with more contributions to the already disgustingly corrupt system. And there is even more bad news. Many many $$$ are going to be pumped into the welfare system, so the American tax payer has an even larger burden on his shoulders paying the way for lazy good for nothings collecting their welfare checks and food stamps. Now, if you really want to get mad, watch the U-Tube video of the idiots we elected arguing how they should NOT give the money to white male construction workers! I can’t believe they had the nerve to say such a thing! Can you imagine the uproar if they said something like that about blacks? No heaven forbid we give money to people who work for an honest living! http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ I think it is pretty safe to say, our government does not have a clue as to how to fix the disaster our economy had gotten into. And they funny (?) part is, it’s not rocket science. Even somebody that isn’t any smarter than I am can figure it out. We, as Americans can fix the problem all by ourselves, without any help from the idiots in Washington. First, and foremost. BUY AMERICAN!!! I really don’t care about sweat shops in China and India where children are forced into what practically amounts to slave labor. We don’t need their soccer balls and shoes and shirts. If it can’t be made in America, you don’t need it. Granted, it may be difficult to find many of the things we use in our every day lives that aren’t foreign made, but there will never be jobs in America if we continue to support foreign products. We need to think long and hard about all the purchases we make. Just who is profiting from our hard earned dollars? Here is a simple thing you can do to stimulate the economy. Buy a dog from a breeder. Under NO circumstances should you get a dog from the humane society or a rescue group They are like leaches on society,. these organizations are as bad as the welfare system. They pay no taxes on the profits they make. (and oh yes, they do make profits) They hire no employees, the work is done by volunteers. They contribute nothing to society. The unpaid volunteers pay the expenses for the dogs out of their pockets, or from the contributions of others. Their income is derived from the sale of dogs that in many cases, they have stolen from dog breeders. So not only do they not help the economy, they are actually involved often times in criminal activities that destroy the income of honest working people. They also depend on contributions from average people who do not have unlimited budgets, and only have certain dollar amounts that can be given to “charity.” When they contribute those dollars to animal rights causes, they are taking the money that could be better spent on finding cures for disease and helping starving and abused children. They are like a plague of locust stripping the earth of it’s resources and giving back nothing in return. On the other hand, Breeders are a great boon to the economy. Nearly all the profits from sales of dogs actually go straight back into the economy. Raising dogs is expensive and a breeder has to make many purchases that actually spread out all through the economy. We don’t just support dog food companies and veterinarians. The products that a breeder will purchase/use covers a huge array of other industries. Raising dogs requires a great deal of equipment, supplies, housing, transportation, (not only car or truck but by air) advertising, machinery, tools, office supplies, and a multitude of other things. Just think of all the people I help to support when all I do is build one new dog house. This effects the lumber yard and the people who work there where I buy my 2X4’s and plywood. Then there is the truck driver who delivered the finished lumber to the lumber yard. There was the factory that made the wood chips into plywood. The saw mill that took the raw trees and made them into lumber. The logger who cut the trees and the trucker again who hauled the trees to the saw mill. And the farmer on who’s land the trees grew who sold them to the logger. That is a LOT of people! (and I didn’t even mention the mechanics who keep the trucks and chain saws working, or the fact that I will need to paint that dog house, there‘s even more people I‘ll be helping) Those loggers and truck drivers and mill workers all take their pay checks and go out and eat, supporting restaurants and the employees’ there, make their house payments, buy groceries, computers, cars, trucks, boats, you name it. All dog breeders I know have “wish” lists. Things they would buy if they had the money. On my own list are lots of things that would have far reaching effects on helping the economy. I need a new microscope. A new pair of electric dog clippers. (wonder if they still make those in the USA?) I need some new pens, those, like the dog houses made of wood, help another huge industry, the metal workers. Again, from the shops that sell the finished metal products like the horse panels we use to build good safe sturdy pens all the way down to the people who dig, refine and transport ore. (or collect and haul recycled metal) So, do yourself and the economy a favor, and purchase your next dog from a breeder. Your fellow Americans will thank you.

I suppose it would depend on the felony itself. Let's see. I have no money to embezzel, so if it was for embezzelment, I wouldn't mind that.Murder? Ok, there's been a few people I would like to get my hands around their throats and choke until their eyeballs popped out, so I could overlook that felony.Grand theft auto? My car has almost 300,000 miles on it, who the heck would want to steal it?Rape? Naw, not a concern either. I'm old, fat and not so easy on the eyes, and meaner than a snake myself, no wories there. Now if it was animal abuse, that sucker would be out of here in a heart beat.

Well, I would have to agree, he does talk alot, and I'm not seeing anything happening. Of course, that is the way of politics, they don't really care, they just want to fight over power and who is the most popular, while the rest of us go down the toilet. His economic stimulis package sucks, and at least one of his cabinet apointments is a flat out animal rights nut job, so that sucks big time. He did do one thing I find pretty amazing. He managed to get 2 million people cramed into Washington, when not long ago they couldn't get 200,000 out of New Orleans in 4 days time with free bus rides to save their lives.

Wow! That's absolutly amazing! How'd ya do it? I have another forum I've been on for a lot of years, and I don't have anywhere near that many posts there, and I'm one of the founders. And one of the more active ones. Always shooting my mouth off in other words. So....like what do you do when you are not posting at Xisto? Do you have a life?

Evolution and genetics are 2 different things. Genetics is the sience of how combinations of different dna effect the offspring. Evolution is the science of how different species became what they are now, and how they changed or adapted or even stayed the same after centuries of mating. Genetic mutations play a part in evolution, it was probably a genetic mutation that caused polar bears to become white when they originated from brown/grizzly bears. Ok, I'm not sure where you are coming from on that. Intelligence, just like everything else, is genetic. Stupid parents have stupid children or at any rate, the odds for stupid children are much higher when their parents are stupid. Granted, babies are not going to be using their mothers wombs for a gymnasium, but babies from strong, athletic parents are going to be far more likely to have the genetic predisposition to be strong and healthy. It's all genetic. I am concerned about the evolution of the human race in its current state. People who could not breed naturally are now producing children threw artificial means. People who are "mentally challenged" are allowed to breed an reproduce, people with illnesses/disease/defects of all sorts are reproducing the next generation of humans. I'm not really sure at all how this will effect the species in the long run. I can't see it being a good thing, that's for sure.

Oddly enough, we have not had any snow accumilations yet this year. And I personally hope we don't have. I can certainly live without it. The weather has been crazy enough without the snow anyway. Today I was sweating my rear off outside in a T shirt building fence. The day before I was freezing to death in my coveralls. I have never seen such extremes of ups and downs like this year. While I appreciate the up days, it just makes the cold days more miserable.

Funny you should mention this mercury in tuna thing. I just read an articule I believe on the Consumer Freedom site about how animal rights idiots have been trying to scare people out of eating tuna because of mercury contamination, and in fact, this is hurting children in low income familys because tuna is a cheap source of omega fatty acids, (I forget the exact number of the particular element) Studys showed that children who did not get this nutrient did not do as well in school and had other problems as well, and the sad thing is there is not in most cases, actual truth in the mercury content of this valuable foodstuff.

All this talk about eggs makes me hungry! I wish the medical/scientific reasearchers would get their act together and make up their minds once and for all about the great egg debate. One study says their good for you and the next one says they are just about deadly. They cause this they cure that, you can't live with them and you can't possible live without them. Sheeeesh. Personally, I like them fried, scrambled, boiled, poached, just about any way you can fix them.

Ok, I know the title of this entire sub forum is Yoga, Meditation, Pranayam, and I hate to sound like a dummy, but what the heck is pranayam????? I know what yoga and meditation is, but haven't got a clue as to the other.

Well, I'm certainly no Wally World fan. They are like a plague of locust on so many small towns in the midwest, they come in and just take over, their massive buying power gives them the ability to buy in huge quanities and therefore lower prices, so they can forse their competition out of business, and then guess what? They jack their prices back up again after their competition goes bust and they become the only game in town. All the privatly owned mom and pop shops are lost to the corperate greed Walmonster Oh sure, they have a great return policy. And they darn sure should. Their products are in many cases. pure garbage! The cheapest of the cheap, second quality junk, plain and simple. I've purchased clothes there that allready had holes in them when I bought them. Cheap Chinese imports that fall apart the first time you use them. Heck, their paint even peals off the first time it gets rained on. The prices on groceries at our local Walmart are astronomical, I can't believe how many people shop there anyway, the local grocery store is far cheaper, at least on a lot of the products. We buy almost no groceries there at all. Only exception is the occasional 10 pound bag of chicken leg quarters to bar B Que as those are about $1 cheaper than at the regular grocery store. You can't touch any other piece of meat in there cheaper though. Our local Walmart is kept reasonably clean though, and IF you can find an employee when you need one, they usually are friendly and know where to find things. Trouble is finding one when you need one. But there is one rather silly thing about Wally world that annoys the devil out of me. They hire someone to stand in the door simply to say hi to you when you walk in, but when you get ready to check out you may have to stand in line for 20 minutes, I'd rather see them put on extra checkers than have someone just standing there in the door. Pure foolishness. I noticed that deal they had going that if there were more than a certain number of people standing in line they would call in extra checkers didn't last too long. For awhile they had signs up all over about it, but they never did call in any extra people and I see that gimick didn't last very long. All in all, if there is anyway possible, I avoid spending my money there. Can't do it all the time, but I try my best. And we all should. And something else we should do (at least us folks here in the USA) we should try to buy American made products. Which would pretty much leave any shopping at Walmart out of the question.

Eeegads, that sounds terrible! I hope you get an accurate diagnosis soon, very soon! It is very bad that they are coming up with such completely different diagnosis, there is one heck of a lot of difference between plurisy and Pacriatitus. I have had plurisy, years ago, and I would have to agree, on a scale of one to ten with ten being the most painful, plurisy is a Twelve! Hope your better soon!

Well, I don't think you need to worry too much about that one. Most dogs don't recognize exact human words, they rely more on voice tones, and body language than specific words. For example, if you said to your dog, "come here you really stupid ugly doggie." in a pleasant and friendly tone, your dog would probably come running to you anyway. Unlike a human partner that would instantly recognise a mistake made in the heat of passion, like "Oh, Linda" when your name is Laura, and procede to bop you on the head, dogs don't recognise those sutle differences. And for anyone who has owned multiple dogs, they will tell you that if you call out one dogs name, all the dogs in hearing distance in the household will come, because they think that they might be missing out on some kind of a treat the other dog is getting when you just call for one of them.

So, are the bugs not yet worked out of the system? Since it was blue cold today I figured out today would be a good day to catch up with all the activity and new posts at Trap, and this afternoon I saw that my cents were way in the negitive, over $300, so came back in now, they are only negitive a bit over $200, but that is a bit scary!!!

Hard to imagine handwriting becoming a lost art, but I can certainly see where it is rapidly coming to that. I still have one elderly god mother who does not have a computer, so I do still write to her, but everyone else I know is now online and the convience of jotting them off a note is certainly a plus in keeping in contact. I do hope that it does not happen. There are too many things that can happen, and writing is too important to forget how to do.

Oh yes, I have to agree with you there! I still haven't figured out how on earth they get off calling these things "reality." Who in reality would move into a house filled with stupid, back biting, annoying strangers on purpose? Or go live in the jungle or an island with the same afore mentioned group of annoying humans????? Now, as to Gordan Ramsey, is he the guy from Hells Kitchen? ( I don't watch enough of that stuff to know for sure who is who these days.) If that's who you are refering too, I swear, if anybody treated me like that will all the swearing, screaming, name calling, cursing, I'd knock his *BLEEP* in the dirt for treating me that way.

Milk production in dogs is hugely dependant on the intake of quality food. Even though many dogs are geneticly predisposed to being better mild producers than others, they have to take in a quality food in order to produce milk. Quality dog kibble is important. Don't just go by the price tag. Read the ingredient label. The food needs to contain meat of some sort as a first ingredient, not 3rd or 4th. Fat content is important to milk production also, and to help your female maintan at least a decent body weight. (nearly all dogs that are good milkers will become emancipated during lactation) I like to supplement my females with goat milk when it is availble and they are nursing a large litter. Another good trick is to offer her fresh, RAW meat treats. Chicken is usually the least expensive and works very well with helping milk production. A small dog will do well with a single chicken leg. Feed it raw, bone and all. Cooked bones can become brittle and splinter causeing problems, but raw bones can be chewed up nicely by your average canine. Bones are an excellent sourse of calcium, also important for milk production.

How stupid! I find it rather annoying that any group/company/individual can somehow lay claim to a simple word or phrase in the english language. But this sort of thing happens all the time. Toys-R-us has been a big problem in this area, bringing lawsuits against anyone who uses the R-us in ANY business. Also, AKC will go after anyone who has a web site for examply, "akcpups4sale" or something like that. I just don't think it's right. But it's all a matter of who has the most money to pay the most for lawyers who wins.

Guess I'm not a hard core addict. I only scored 28. Thanks for posting the link. Actually, if it wasn't for the fact that this is how I make my living, I'm not sure how much time I would even spend on the computer. I don't think I would be on it much at all, unless I had a topic I wanted to reasearch, or maybe if I had lots of $$$$ I would enjoy browsing E-Bay occasionally. And on days like today, when it is bloody cold outside, it's not a bad way to spend some time. But usually by nature, I prefer outdoor activities. I think I have a touch of claustraphobia, really don't like being inside any great length of time. At any rate, I'm glad you have found your calling. You just keep strumming that guitar if it makes you happy. Just don't forget all your friends here at Xisto. Remember, you have to find a balance in life. All of one thing and one thing only is not healthy.

It is important, but there are 2 sideds to every coin. Stop for a moment, and consider, what besides man can prey on Whales? They basicly have no natural enemies. So, if the whale populations were left unchecked, and whales were teaming in the oceans, other species that also compete with them for the same foodstuffs would suffer and possibly become extinct. Nature is a complex system of checks and balances. No one species can allow it's population to run unchecked without disasterous results for that species. Overpopulation will cause starvation and disease to cull the population, causing more suffering to the entire population, where as hunting individual of the species to cull leaves the healthy population to thrive and reproduce in a natural manner. Even if they are not directily eatten as food, that really doesn't matter. The fact that they are used, completely and entirely, is the important part. As long as the animal is used, and not just killed as one poster mentioned, for just the tail or some other single body part, (like elephants being killed strictly for their ivory) this should not be a problem.

Harry Potter......Not just for children!I am an old foggy, and have to tell you, I loved the movies. All of them. Unfortunatly, I never read any of the books. When I was a kid growing up we had books like "Little house on the Prarie" and the Nancy Drew and Hardy boys series. And my personal favorite, the Walter Farely series, "The Black Stallion." None of this wild fantasy/sci fi kind of stuff. Harry Potter books, had they come out in my childhood, would of been banned/burned, or forbidden for children to read since they were based on witchcraft/magic. Things were a lot different back then. (ok, way back then) Used to, TV commercials couldn't even show a bra on a live woman, they would only show the woman talking about how comfy the bra was and how well it supported them, but they would only show the bra on a maniquin, not on a real woman. Now Victoria Secrets models parade down runways in outfits that don't leave anything to the imagination.

I guess it depends on the book, and the movie, and who makes the movie. In general, when you read the book, there are so many more details than what they put in the movie, the movie leaves you feeling like something is missing. Books spend more time with sub plot details, Movies tend to stick to the action parts, so seeing many movies can be a dissapointment. There is less development of charectors in the movies, where as in books, they usually give you a great deal more information about the players in the story. Generally, I find movies are a bit of a dissapointment. There are however, exceptions. The Lord of the Rings series was fantastic as a movie. The special effects and graffics were out of this world. The books were actually not as exciting as seeing it played out in pictures.

LOL, well, that sort of shoots out the need for home remedies if you go to the doctor to get them! Home remedies are what you do to avoid going to the doctor. And you can bet a doctor is not going to tell you any home remedies, after all, he makes his living by treating ailment, he certainly isn't going to give you a way to treat yourself for free and not have to pay for his advice! I think some people go to the doctor far too much.