Seriously, I don’t know why people let their cats roam. As of late, there are more and more signs being thrown up. In fact, we had quite a few toy dogs being lost to coyotes over the summer and fall; the ‘yotes were actually brave enough to nab them off the walkers’ leash. Usually coyotes are not a problem.
However back home, it is considered commonsense to keep the cats indoor if we don’t want the coyotes stalking the suburbia. There should be no need for these warning signs throughout the Greater Vancouver Metro Area. If someone is idiotic enough to believe coyotes don’t treat cats as walking buffets, here is a famous video on YouTube:
Haven’t thought about my old dog for a few months until recently. At this point I would like to go back to Yellowknife with a good ol’ hunting dog; but it’s not really the right time to do so.
So instead of whinging about it, here are four stupid-particular choices— lyrics included below the clips for the sucky bandwidth people:
Hey!
Dear Mr. Gepetto: I hope this finds you well
I wrote you this letter
Because we miss you here in hell
Well now I know it’s hard when you don’t know what to think
And every single smile is a thorn when you’re waking up
You might try but you won’t get by until you’re crucified for all the things you try to do
Well I don’t care if you think I’m rude
And I don’t care how you hold it in
As long as you don’t bother me with all the things I don’t bother you with
And 9 times out of 10 you might be right
But what about that time you know you’re wrong?
Keep singing that same song
And everybody smiles but they’ll never get along
I’m trying and I’m trying and I’m trying and I’m trying to let go:
But everybody’s going down tonight
We are the few that won’t say nothing right
We are the footsteps fading into the night
Nobody cares and nobody stares with such conviction and I say:
I never wanted this, no one ever wanted this
But they gave it to me so I might as well be proud of it
I don’t know where we went wrong
All i know now is i got to do something right
So come clean
No one should have have to live with the things you’ve seen
But you’re living anyway
Well I stop the car and put her in park
And I step outside (god I hate this part)
When I see what I saw what I thought was a lie; it was more
Than a chore I’m just doing what I need to get by
I don’t care if you leave or stay
But we might as well split
Because it’s not the same as it was
When we said our last goodbye
And if you want the truth: I was hoping one of us would pass away
Because it’d be much easier then
We could all get together and think about when
We were young we were dumb we were numb but in love
And I’m done so I’m sending out this letter today
I’m trying and I’m trying and I’m trying and I’m trying to let go:
But everybody’s going down tonight
We are the few that won’t say nothing right
We are the footsteps fading into the night
Nobody cares and nobody stares with such conviction and I say:
I never wanted this, no one ever wanted this
But they gave it to you so you might as well be proud of it
I don’t know where we went wrong
All I know now is I got to do something right
This has been the best night of my life
This has been the best night of my life
I could have lost my life
And I would have lost my mind
But now I’m fine
And I find
That this has been the best night of my life
This has been the best night of my life
(I still can’t believe they had the heart to apologize)
This has been the best night of my life
(I still can’t believe they had the heart to apologize)
I could have lost my life
And I would have lost my mind
But now I’m fine
And I find
That this has been the best night of my life
And as the day fades
No one investigates
Nobody answers when she calls his name
Another victim, somewhere in a shallow grave
I want to hold her and tell her: “it’s not your fault”
Na na na…
And as the day fades
No one investigates
Nobody answers when she calls his name
Another victim, somewhere in a shallow grave
I want to hold her and tell her: “it’s not your fault”
Na na na…
It’s not your fault
We are the few that won’t say nothing right
We are the footsteps fading into the night
Nobody cares and nobody stares with such conviction and I say:
I never wanted this, no one ever wanted this
But they gave it to you so you might as well be proud of it
I don’t know where we went wrong
All I know now is I got to do something right
We are the few that won’t say nothing right
We are the footsteps fading into the night
Nobody cares and nobody stares with such conviction and I say:
I never wanted this, no one ever wanted this
But they gave it to me so I might as well be proud of it
And I know I’ve done something wrong
All I know now is I got to do something… right?
You, you try, You try to get by.
“You’re never going to pull it off”,
“You shouldn’t even try”,
“You’re a wet cigarette”,
“You’re always second best”,
But they’re never going to give a shit
about anybody but theirselves.
You fight for them to realize;
There’s more to life,
There’s more to you,
There’s more than meets the eye.
And when you’re done,
The battle’s been won.
You sit back, you smile
and this is what you hum, you hum:
Woah oh oh oh oh oh
1234 1234
You, you try, You try to get by.
“You’re never going to pull it off”,
“You shouldn’t even try”,
“You’re a wet cigarette”,
“You’re always second best”,
But they’re never going to give a shit
about anybody but themselves.
You fight for them to realize;
There’s more to life,
There’s more to you,
There’s more than meets the eye.
And when you’re done,
The battle’s been won.
You sit back, you smile
and this is what you hum, you hum:
Woah oh oh oh oh oh
1234 1234
The years go by,
The time it does fly.
Every single second is a moment in time
That passes oh, so quick
And it seems like nothing,
But when you’re looking back,
Well, it amounts to everything.
I’ve got myself. I’ve got my friends.
I’ve got my little family, but that’s not where it ends.
This one goes out to you, it goes out to everyone.
It’s in the name of honesty because life has just begun.
Woah oh oh oh oh oh
1234 1234
Look around little brother, can you tell me what you see?
You’re a big boy now, so take responsibility.
You never had it hard, but now it’s getting tough,
So you whine, whine, whine and you say you’ve had enough.
You say i’m full of shit, That i’m a hypocrite
I shouldn’t talk, when i can’t take the advice that i give?
Well maybe you’re right, but open your eyes:
the main difference here is that i try, try,
Woah oh oh oh oh oh
1234 1234
I’m living up in Canada, and I’m Canadian
Scottish Canadian with opportunity
I could have been a manager of a brewery
Making beer for everyone but most of all for me
My father was a soda jerk, my mom an office clerk
But neither one of those was good enough for me
I could have moved into the hills, and ran a few stills
And made a fortune selling hooch beyond the law
Pour decisions, a punk musician
Just ain’t as cute at 53
I used to be a lumberjack, and I’m ok with that
I wore suspenders, little panties, and a bra
I used to be a socialist, a sort of communist
Now I’m a pessimist and I don’t care at all
I could have been a minister, a holy predator
A man of faith you really wouldn’t want to meet
Perhaps a Scientologist, just as a hobbyist
And start a cult that’s turning people into sheep
Pour decisions, a punk musician
Just ain’t as cute at 53
I have forsaken money makin’
Yeah, you still wish you were me
I just realized I left my favorite hat at the club last night
Which sickened me right off ’cause I
Had that cap since real-real small
Then find out just right now
That my main squeeze went through my phone
Oooo
So I guess I’m single now
Imagine that
So I sneak right on The T
The conductor sees me
He’s kicking me right off with a frown
I grab my bag and I walk on
Comm. Ave., I hit up Blanchard’s
They sell cheap wine, I got six bucks
Bag rip, wine smash
Drink it up avoid the glass
But I can’t stop from just smiling
When that damn sun is shining on
Hell, It’s just
Shining down all over me
No, I can’t help but just smile
While that damn sun is shining on
Dang it’s just shining down
Down over me
So now I call up my friend
‘Cause his girl must be bored, ’cause
She’s been spreading rumors about me
That I robbed her party, but I never had
I pull out my little disc man
I bought from a crackhead down in Reno
But my Melt-Ba-na-na CD
Is all scratched up
I think it’s stupid all the people who are moaning
Yeah moaning on
While the sun is shining down
On our city streets
Even all the things people say
Naw, ain’t affecting me
Not when that damn sun
Is shining down over me
Shining down on me
Born to just never care [x3]
About the stupid things
People moan everyday
So later on I meet Johnny Trouble
At a bar called Shay’s, a spit from Charlie’s
We sit outside talking ’bout girls
How they’re loons but we like them anyway
No money for pints at the bar
We bring a backpack full of Pabst
Oooo
Under the table we fill our glass
So me and Johnny just sit outside
Warmed by that summer night
While those city stars are shining
Down on our streets
And I can’t help from just smiling
While those damn stars are shining down
Yeah those stars are shining
Over our city streets
No, I won’t be caught moaning
Not when light is still shining down
And me and Johnny
Warmed by that damn summer heat
And I can’t stop from just smiling
When those damn stars are shining on
Yeah, those stars are shining
Over our city streets
While digging around for pictures of Irish Wolfhounds and Borzois being used as kill-dogs for coyote-coursing in Alberta, I came across an archive of coyote-hounds at the Glenbow Museum. I was expecting more recent pictures from 1970s to 1990s; however, there quite a few fascinating pictures of staghounds and greyhounds tracing back to 1880s. Within the same archive, there are plentiful amount of field trials, sled dogs and collie-ish dogs. Check it out sometimes; and experiment with it– there are lots of pictures that don’t fall under the typical search terms of “collie,” “dog,” “dogs,” “hounds” and so on.
However I couldn’t resist posting these pictures from the Sportsmen’s Show at the Corral near Calgary, Alberta from 1955. I remember hearing stories about someone attempting to enter a lumberjack competition with his dog. At least now I know it’s true:
Well, I was short-sighted. I forgot I live in British Columbia, the land of many mountains and rapids. Of course there will be time where ferrying Riley over a river is needed. Wait, what? Why?!
There’s someone in Colorado doing this to his corgi as well:
This is in Colorado, last time I was out rock climbing. He had to go about 60 feet across a tyrolean (steel cable) about 30 feet above class 2-3 rapids. He has his own harness that is rigged with 2 redundant safeties. He didn’t whine, shake, or seem nervous at all.
Except this one seems to be scared stiff. But again, one would needs balls of steel to be ferried across rapids inbetween steep rockfaces.
If the reference doesn’t make sense, it is a parody of Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin, a Japanese anime centric around Nihon Ken being used as bear dogs. Since the TV series has become so immersely popular in Scandinavia, the comic fits.
In the anime, Gin is a silver brindled Akita, a descendent of Riki and Shiro: dogs who were slained by the great bear Akakabuto; and Gin sought to seek vegenance for his father and grandfather. In this context, the assumption is his family pursued the capercaille resurrection for generations, in which the bird constantly evading the dogs in a true grouse fashion, but never the dogs succeeded in in making it perch. At least this is one way of looking at the interpretation.
Normally there won’t be two posts in one day for this blog. However an exception needs to be made. About 9 days ago, an alg [trans. "moose"] got stuck in a tree.[1] Sounds over-the-top? It’s not.
Now, it is not unusual for animals to become intoxicated. Fruit bats are well-known alcoholics; and so are hamsters and the geckos of New Caledonia.[2] However not all animals are capable of dealing with alcohol. So how did this one get drunk? Just like any other critters: fermented fruits.
For this Swedish moose, he was desperate to pick more apples on someone’s lawn and got himself stuck in the process. One doesn’t even need a professional tracking dog to find him. Poor beast.
Footnote
It is reported it is not uncommon for drunk moose to wander around Sweden in autumn. (“Drunk moose gets stuck in tree”, 2011)[source] Back to text
A fruit bat can successfully navigates with a BAC of 0.3%. (Orbach DN, Veselka N, Dzal Y, Lazure L, Fenton MB, 2010, e8993)[source] Back to text
[PDF][HTML] Orbach DN, Veselka N, Dzal Y, Lazure L, Fenton MB. 2010. Drinking and Flying: Does Alcohol Consumption Affect the Flight and Echolocation Performance of Phyllostomid Bats? PLoS ONE, 5(2): e8993. Accessed September 17, 2011. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008993 Back to footnote
Inevitably, no matter what we try to do, there is always some kind of risk no matter what we do with our dogs. Fido might go out in the suburban backyard, and a cougar would scale the fence to gobble him up. A wolf might pick off the good old reliable Roy the Cattle Dog scouting ahead on a hike out in the bush; or a curious street-savvy coyote might be bold enough to take a petite leashed Maltese going for a neighbourhood stroll in the presence of her owner. These are hidden dangers we might face as soon we leave the sanctity of our front steps.
In Finland, Norway and Sweden, since wolves are endangered and are a protected species, there is an increase in frequency of attacks upon hunting dogs. In Canada, this is not unheard of and it is an accepted part of life– and we control it by hazing predators, or by shooting the ones taking livestock. However the Scandinavians came up with something rather unusual. It’s called “wolf-jerking.”
Mirka from Gekkoo No Kennel in Finland was kind of enough to share these pictures of something she read about in a magazine a few years ago with us on a forum:
A vest based on the ancient concept of spiked wolf collars.
This vest employs electric juice.
In Finland, these are called “susiliivi,” and in Sweden, they are called “vargvast.” Both means “wolf vest”. The electric vest, lines with wires, is actually quite heavy for the dog to wear, weighing about a kilo [about 2 pounds] for a medium-size dog. The other vest is made with four rows of 40mm spikes mounted on four layers of ballistic nylon fabric and Kevlar.
Wolf protection collar in Bulgaria.
So how do they work? Well, the spiked model is fairly obvious. It is nothing revolutionary. The idea of using iron and steel to deter predators has been going back for eons and it is still used today in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Far East. In fact, it is not uncommon to see cabins in North America lined with thick long iron nails, often around window-stills, to deter bears and mountain lions from snooping around. So the spiked vest is an old concept applied to what hawgdawg enthusiasts call a “cut vest“.
The brain behind the vest.
The idea behind the electronic vest is if a wolf attacks a dog, it would receive a powerful jolt. This is not unlike the idea of using shock collars as a non-lethal depredation method pioneered by the Defenders of Wildlife.[1] Now, the vest is far from perfect, as one anecdote reveals a scenario where the dog was shocking itself repeatedly.
What is amusing is one prototype protects the neck; while the other protects the belly. Nevertheless, in a country where poaching a wolf lands one in serious hot water, these are rather interesting solutions.[2]
However, it is futile to refrain from captioning this:
Move over Neapolitan Mastiff, Viking Dog is now Gladiator Dog.
And to be honest, when I see the electric vest, Barney’s “Suit Up!” catch-phrase, from “How I Met Your Mother”, echoes in my head.
Footnotes
In North America, wolves are protected in a few states, and the population density is too low for ranchers to protect their livestock through depredation. A study shows wolves regularly comes back to a bait station every 5 days. Using a shock collar fitted on 5 individuals, the incidence rate was reduced to every 47 days and the shocked wolves moved away 0.7 kilometres away from the shock zone. The interpretation of the study is the shock collars could be used to establish buffer zone during calving seasons.[source] Back to text
Wolves went extinct in the 1970s in Sweden, and was recolonized from Finland. However there is a growing concern there is an under-reporting of poaching, despite the fact a four-years penal sentence serves as a deterrence, as there are only 250 out of a projected 1,000 individuals in 2011. Consequently, because of the high illegal hunting pressure, the Swedish wolves are highly inbred suffering from skeletal and reproductive disorders.[source] Back to text
References
Hawley, J., Gehring, T., Schultz, R., Rossler, S., & Wydeven A. “Assessment of Shock Collars as Nonlethal Management for Wolves in Wisconsin.” Journal of Wildlife Management 73 (4), (2009): 518-525. Accessed August 14, 2011. doi:10.2193/2007-066. Back to footnote
[HTML][PDF] Lieberg, Olof, Guillaume Chapron, Petter Wabakken, Hans Christian Pedersen, N. Thompson Hobbs and Håkan Sand. “Shoot, shovel and shut up: cryptic poaching slows restoration of a large carnivore in Europe.” Proc R Soc B (2011): 1-6. Accessed August 17, 2011. doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.1275. Back to footnote
Dave: Most of the Finnish wolves originates from Karelian Russia where the Russians have no real interest in hunting... Peter Dawson: It is quite distrurbing, if its an accurate repprt, that wolves in Scandinavia may be suffering from...
Bjar: No they are a healty breed ,the oldest one lived to be 29 .Diseases can ocure in any breed but are very rare... Dave: From what I know, vets knows things, but they are bond by confidentiality laws in Sweden and Finland where the... Jess: Is there a good health survey for Vallhunds available?
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