Re: Stray dogs

[Guest guest]

There were a couple of strays around my uncle's place until he died a few years ago. We found homes for both of them, but one of them managed to find her way back from many miles away. She had been friendly, but she must have been wandering around long enough to become feral because she wouldn't let anyone come close to her. Later on I am sure I saw her around a house in town, but she was decidedly standoffish. All of that man's dogs are that way. She looks well cared for, as do they all, just that none of them are friendly, not dangerous, just that they keep their distance from everyone.

[Guest guest]

I think certain people relate better to animals than others. Animals

of all sorts flock to me. (Literally in one case.) I lay down on a

park bench once only to arise an hour later with geese lying all

around the bench in a circle. They did not seem to mind my being

there one bit.

Not to bring God into this, but in the Bible it says that men and

women are supposed to have authority over all the creatures that walk

and crawl over the earth and swim in the ocean. I believe this is why

some people can relate to animals better than others. They have a

strong inbuilt ability to do it.

It's good that there are people like you around to care for animals

in need.

Tom

Administrator

I'm an animal lover and I suppose that is why the strays always seem

to find me. Yesterday, a pitiful German Shepherd was standing in the

alley behind my house looking at me. He came to me and I let him in

the yard. He's so very thin, had raw spots on his pads, and very bad

hips. I'll be calling the County to ask if they can locate the owner

by his old 2005 ID tag. He is the sweetest thing and let me rub his

tummy after being with me for a couple hours. I've never had a stray

dog have faith like that before. I wish people were more

responsible! Some do not deserve to have children or pets.

Kim

[Guest guest]

Well my cousin is such a dog lover that she loves dogs that I would be afraid of like rottweilers and pit bulls. If I had a working radio control car handy, I could handle a vicious dog, since most dogs tend to get scared of those and run from them when they find out that the radio control car doesn't care if it gets bit and keeps on coming. I could probably take a bone away from a mean rottweiler if I had one of those. My favorite animal is a snake. I wouldn't mind having almost any snake as a pet even if it was a poisonous one because I'd figure I could just have it defanged, and it would be a harmless animal after that. The only kind of snake I'd be afraid to have would be a large snake like a boa constrictor or a python. Like I said, I could have a poisonous snake turned into a harmless snake by having its fangs removed; but

unless there's a was to stunt the growth of a boa constrictor or a python, there's nothing you can do to make one of those harmless without killing it. The only thing I could think of to try that might work would be one of the moves I've learned when I used to study martial arts. One thing my instructor taught me as a self defense technique would be to try to poke an opponent in the eye. I know that would work if I succeeded in doing that to a human opponent, but would it work with a big snake? I know snakes can't blink, so I don't know how well they could handle being poked in their eyes. Would that work? Or would the snake be able to ignore being hit in the eye and still constrict someone who did that to defend himself? God bless, Irelan

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[Guest guest]

" One thing my instructor taught me as a self defense technique would

be to try to poke an opponent in the eye. I know that would work if

I succeeded in doing that to a human opponent, but would it work with

a big snake? I know snakes can't blink, so I don't know how well

they could handle being poked in their eyes. Would that work? Or

would the snake be able to ignore being hit in the eye and still

constrict someone who did that to defend himself? "

The answer to you question is " No, it would not work with a snake. " T

There are two reasons why it would not work:

1) A snake does not blink because its " eyelid " is a transparent scale

that simply covers the eye. It would take a bit of force to poke the

scale and the eyeball underneath out. Simply poking the scale would

not work. You would have to puncture it. And let's say you did

puncture it. You would still have a problem because...

2) Snakes detect prey and enemies with heat sensors rather than by

smell or sight. Therefore a snake could still tell where you were

even if it was blind. The reason snakes have such sensors is so that

they can crawl deep into dark rocky crevaces in seach of prey.

There heat sensors are why snakes will somemtimes come to the glass

if you put your fingers to it in the zoo. It is detecting the heat

that is being radiated from your fingers through the glass.

Tom

Administrator

[Guest guest]

> Well my cousin is such a dog lover that she loves dogs that I

would be afraid of like rottweilers and pit bulls. If I had a

working radio control car handy, I could handle a vicious dog, since

most dogs tend to get scared of those and run from them when they

find out that the radio control car doesn't care if it gets bit and

keeps on coming. I could probably take a bone away from a mean

rottweiler if I had one of those.

, that might work on some and keep them occupied, focused on

the car instead of you. My Bullmastiff used to attack my lawnmower

and vaccum so I couldn't let him out when I cut the lawn and my

vaccum wheels had chew marks on it. I thought he was protecting me

from housework ha ha.

> My favorite animal is a snake. I wouldn't mind having almost

any snake as a pet even if it was a poisonous one because I'd figure

I could just have it defanged, and it would be a harmless animal

after that. The only kind of snake I'd be afraid to have would be a

large snake like a boa constrictor or a python. Like I said, I

could have a poisonous snake turned into a harmless snake by having

its fangs removed; but unless there's a was to stunt the growth of a

boa constrictor or a python, there's nothing you can do to make one

of those harmless without killing it.

Snakes are pretty cool pets but have no personality. Why don't you

have one now?

> The only thing I could think of to try that might work would be

one of the moves I've learned when I used to study martial arts.

One thing my instructor taught me as a self defense technique would

be to try to poke an opponent in the eye. I know that would work if

I succeeded in doing that to a human opponent, but would it work

with a big snake? I know snakes can't blink, so I don't know how

well they could handle being poked in their eyes. Would that work?

Or would the snake be able to ignore being hit in the eye and still

constrict someone who did that to defend himself?

> God bless, Irelan

I'd say that would definitly work!

Kim

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 7/12/2006 5:39:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

The answer to you question is "No, it would not work with a snake." T

Most of the time a snake won't bother you. I've walked right past many in the woods and they didn't get worried or rear up to strike. Just keep a respectful distance and three won't be a problem. I've probably walked very close to many others without even knowing because they can be really hard to see in their natural environments. If you are ever out in the woods or whatever and you smell something like watermelon, it would be a good idea to stop and carefully look around you. That scent is sometimes released by snakes when they feel threatened and I have personally encountered its use.

If a poisonous snake bites, it will probably be a strike and release, so wrestling with it shouldn't happen. A constrictor type shouldn't even try bothering you unless you step on it or try to handle it. Indeed, attempting to handle snakes is the cause of over 90% of all bites in the US, with the bites occurring on the hands or arms.

Dogs can be a problem. A while back we had some dangerous dogs around that the owners wouldn't keep under control. So I started walking with a walking stick. Most dogs seem to know what a stick means and will shy away from you. If they do attack, you can hold it between you and them like a shield or you can hit them with it. Those dogs came after me once and I clubbed one hard on the shoulder. It let out a yelp and backed off, it and its companion kept their distance after that. I saw them around a few more times, but they never bothered me again. A neighbor's evil German Shepherd once tried to attack me at night from behind. I had this feeling and turned around just in time to see the dog charging me. It was about 15 feet out when I turned. It let out this growl and kept coming. I sidestepped it and it moved a bit the other way, and passed me at full speedjust inches from my right leg. The only thing that kept it from still attacking me was probably the knife I had pulled while turning. That dog had killed a few dogs and cats in the neighborhood and had made runs at children and even other adults.

Still, the best thing to do with dogs is to make yourself look big. Don't project fear in your body language and don't make eye contact with it. Keep you fingers together, fists are fine, so that if they bite they won't be able to get hold of just one finger. Also, some animal psychologists seem to think that dogs and some other animals see spread fingers as claws and thus a threat. You also don't want to let a dangerous dog get behind you or knock you down. If downed, tuck your chin and try to keep them from getting you around the throat. You hear stories about things you can do to ward off a dog that's attacking you, like pressure points and all that. Having been attacked by a dog, I don't put much stock in that. A stun gun or small blade you can use in such a close fight will work though, if you can bring yourself to use them. Still, the best bet is to avoid letting it get to you and evading it long enough to get someplace safe.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 7/12/2006 5:39:36 PM Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

The answer to you question is "No, it would not work with a snake." T

Most of the time a snake won't bother you. I've walked right past many in the woods and they didn't get worried or rear up to strike. Just keep a respectful distance and three won't be a problem. I've probably walked very close to many others without even knowing because they can be really hard to see in their natural environments. If you are ever out in the woods or whatever and you smell something like watermelon, it would be a good idea to stop and carefully look around you. That scent is sometimes released by snakes when they feel threatened and I have personally encountered its use.

If a poisonous snake bites, it will probably be a strike and release, so wrestling with it shouldn't happen. A constrictor type shouldn't even try bothering you unless you step on it or try to handle it. Indeed, attempting to handle snakes is the cause of over 90% of all bites in the US, with the bites occurring on the hands or arms.

Dogs can be a problem. A while back we had some dangerous dogs around that the owners wouldn't keep under control. So I started walking with a walking stick. Most dogs seem to know what a stick means and will shy away from you. If they do attack, you can hold it between you and them like a shield or you can hit them with it. Those dogs came after me once and I clubbed one hard on the shoulder. It let out a yelp and backed off, it and its companion kept their distance after that. I saw them around a few more times, but they never bothered me again. A neighbor's evil German Shepherd once tried to attack me at night from behind. I had this feeling and turned around just in time to see the dog charging me. It was about 15 feet out when I turned. It let out this growl and kept coming. I sidestepped it and it moved a bit the other way, and passed me at full speedjust inches from my right leg. The only thing that kept it from still attacking me was probably the knife I had pulled while turning. That dog had killed a few dogs and cats in the neighborhood and had made runs at children and even other adults.

Still, the best thing to do with dogs is to make yourself look big. Don't project fear in your body language and don't make eye contact with it. Keep you fingers together, fists are fine, so that if they bite they won't be able to get hold of just one finger. Also, some animal psychologists seem to think that dogs and some other animals see spread fingers as claws and thus a threat. You also don't want to let a dangerous dog get behind you or knock you down. If downed, tuck your chin and try to keep them from getting you around the throat. You hear stories about things you can do to ward off a dog that's attacking you, like pressure points and all that. Having been attacked by a dog, I don't put much stock in that. A stun gun or small blade you can use in such a close fight will work though, if you can bring yourself to use them. Still, the best bet is to avoid letting it get to you and evading it long enough to get someplace safe.

[Guest guest]

At 12:39 PM 7/14/2006, wrote:

Snakes are pretty cool pets but have no personality. Why don't you

have one now?

I don't have a snake now because I haven't been able to find one or

buy one. We had a bull snake in our yard a few weeks ago; but after

doing a little reading, I found out that bull snakes have an attitude;

and even though they're not poisonous, they can cause serious damage when

they bite. This one was pretty friendly in that it liked to be

around our house and would do anything to avoid a fight unless it was

cornered. I let this snake bite me on the bottom of my foot on

purpose when I knew I'd be safe because I had tennis shoes. I

finally caught the snake without getting bit by using an idea that came

to me in a dream. We had a bucket, and I put the bucket down over

the snake and put a rock on top of it to keep the bucket in place.

In my dream I had caught a garter snake by putting it in a Cool Whip bowl

and turning the bowl upside down. I'd like to get a snake that's

more tame like a garter snake or a corn snake. If someone wants to

give me one, that'd be nice.

God bless, Irelan

Maybe I have too much of a Shintoist, Taoist, Buddhist, etc view of

life. I don't think it's right to remove any creature from it's

natural habitat, particularly to be a " pet " ... especially a

kid's " pet " ...

I ping my nephews for catching geckos and leaving them in jars to die...

(They're all in their teens now and they still do it) It's just as wrong

for them to catch the poor geckos as it would be for

" someone/thing " to capture them and look them in a cage... It's

wrong to kill anything needlessly...

Most creatures in nature have symbiotic relationship with their

environment and will maintain a homeostatic system, until something

occurs to changes. The one (and in my view only) constant in the

universe is that things change...

Ender

[Guest guest]

Snakes are indeed cool. However, like most other animals, they want

to be free. They need much more than a terrarium. They need trees to

climb, rocks to slither under, bugs to find and eat, etc.

Cats and dogs are good animals for pets because they are

domesticated. While it tends to amuse us humans to keep animals, I

try to think about what it is like to be an animal and whether or not

I would rather live a long but boring life caged up or a shorter but

interesting and free life.

If you are going to get a snake though, your best bet is to get one

that is non-venomous and indigeonous to your area. They are harder to

find these days in the wild, and many pet stores are curtailing their

sales of reptiles these days.

Incidentally, not all reptiles labeled as non-venomous are non-

venomous.

You may have heard that many reptiles carry certain kinds of

dangerous bacteria. Recently it was discovered that many different

kinds of reptiles previously thought to be non-venomous do in fact

have a weakened form of venom after all that irritates people when it

gets on their skin and causes disease when it penetrates.

Tom

Administrator

Snakes are pretty cool pets but have no personality. Why don't you

have one now?

I don't have a snake now because I haven't been able to find one or

buy one. We had a bull snake in our yard a few weeks ago; but after

doing a little reading, I found out that bull snakes have an

attitude; and even though they're not poisonous, they can cause

serious damage when they bite. This one was pretty friendly in that

it liked to be around our house and would do anything to avoid a

fight unless it was cornered. I let this snake bite me on the bottom

of my foot on purpose when I knew I'd be safe because I had tennis

shoes. I finally caught the snake without getting bit by using an

idea that came to me in a dream. We had a bucket, and I put the

bucket down over the snake and put a rock on top of it to keep the

bucket in place. In my dream I had caught a garter snake by putting

it in a Cool Whip bowl and turning the bowl upside down. I'd like to

get a snake that's more tame like a garter snake or a corn snake. If

someone wants to give me one, that'd be nice.

God bless, Irelan

[Guest guest]

I tend to agree about wild animals being left in their own environment

but have seen some nice large tanks for reptiles with plenty of

greenery etc. Where I grew up next to a forest preserve we always had

lots of garter snakes around and it bothered me when my brother used

to chase them with the lawn mower, run them over and toss them over

the fence. I always caught them and took them far out in the field.

My husband digs with a backhoe/enloader with the city and has dug up

dens a couple times. Once was a ball of garter snakes still waiting

for warmer weather so he covered them up when he was done with the

job. The second time he brought home a corn snake and I told him we

would not keep it. I took it out to a place called The Little Red

School House where the kids and I would go when they were little. He

had a good home and the kids got to learn more about him from the

naturalist who worked there.

Kim

>

> Snakes are indeed cool. However, like most other animals, they want

> to be free.

[Guest guest]

....I saw one response from someone who says they see a lot of garter

snakes. Can you send one to me please if I give you my mailing

address?

> God bless, Irelan

I did see many when I was a child and occasionally still do when I

visit my Mom but sending a snake would be a bad idea. Too much

stress could kill it. Do you live anywhere near a forest preserve

or could you travel to one? They like warm up in the morning and

that is when I see them lying on open ground. You might find one

that way.

I grew up by the woods and enjoyed watching wildlife but never

wanted to capture anything to keep. I understand you would treat a

snake well and give it all it needs but you really cannot replace

the true nature it belongs in. Sorry I can't help.

Kim

[Guest guest]

Unfortunately, I don't live near an area that has a lot of garter snakes. I live near woods and a creek, but I couldn't find any garter snakes when I looked. Our neighbors took that bull snake across the street where another neighbor of ours has a pond behind his house and turned it loose there. Judging by the way it was wanting to be around the house and wanting to live under our stoop in front of our house, we were wondering if it was a female that might have laid some eggs; but I haven't seen any baby bull snakes around. I don't have a car, so I can't go anywhere to hunt for garter snakes. I tried calling one pet store called Terri's Aqualand Pet Center that advertised itself as being a pet store that sells reptiles; but they gave me a story about it being illegal to sell garter snakes in Illinois, which I don't really believe because there used to be another pet store nearby that specialized in reptiles; and they had garter

snakes. I should've asked them if they could get some garter snakes and give me one for free with the purchase of a good terrarium if they can't sell them. It might be difficult to send snakes over the mail; but I know it's not impossible because pet stores are notorious for carrying large snakes like pythons and boa constrictors that don't live in the United States, so is there anything you can do to help me out please? Based on what the administrator said, I know I don't want any of the bigger snakes. If there's no way I could show it who's boss if it got any ideas about attacking me, then someone would have to pay me to take one of those. I'm sure that I would have to make sure that it couldn't escape because if it got loose and attacked someone, I could probably be sued. People get sued for dog attacks all the time, and I'm sure they could get sued for snake attacks as well.God bless, Irelan

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[Guest guest]

I should have told you like Nick not to give out your mailing

address. I did find a link to a page devoted to garter snake lovers

with all types of info. I think someone there may be able to help

you find what your looking for.

http://www.gartersnake.info/

They have links to forums so you could write a general area and see

if they know of any shops to get a garter snake or give you advice

on how to find one where you live. I hope this helps.

Kim

>

> Unfortunately, I don't live near an area that has a lot of garter

snakes. I live near woods and a creek, but I couldn't find any

garter snakes when I looked.

> God bless, Irelan