Feeding dogs from the table - my visceral torment :x

[JR8]

Earlier I alluded to how 'urban Asians' often seem to pamper their pets. Well, in stark contrast I grew up in the UK countryside where dogs were treated as dogs, and you feel they (and you) were a lot better off for that fact. [Americans can refer to just about any Cesar Milan training vid on Youtube , for them thriving on having an established position in a pack, discipline etc].

Some of my friends while growing up had farm dogs, and working sheep dogs that were never allowed into the (farm-)house, ever. In fact I recall being told off by my friend's dads on occasions for even giving the dogs attention. Take that as a cultural baseline that I am working from.

I grew up in a family not directly in farming, but surrounded by them, so we had pet dogs instead of working ones. They lived indoors but were never allowed 'upstairs', or on any furniture. Typical country dogs really - taken hunting, shooting and ratting and rabbiting, but still indoor pet-dogs. They were good dogs and great pets in large part because they had appropriate boundaries and were held to them.

--------
Roll on many years.
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I have been as near as matters volunteered to house-sit a dog owned by a SGn for three weeks by my well meaning wife.

This dog:
Has hand cooked meals everyday
Goes for massages and manicures
Goes to 'doggy kindergarden' at least three times a week, where it comes back daily with a report and photos of who it played with and what other activities it had been involved in including what it had eaten [on telling this to my aged mother, apart from being in stunned disbelief she asked if it also reported 'How many times it has performed' ].

and now the killer...

It is routinely fed tid-bits from the dining table whilst adults are eating. Even the owner taking pieces of meat from their mouth and putting it in the dogs mouth. In fact it sits there with it's head virtually resting either in your plate on on the dining table. If you tell it to shoo-off it has an apparent nervous attack, and it's owner, plus my wife look at me like I'm some baby-killer [sigh].


I just cannot convey how viscerally 'wrong' it is to me to see a boundary-free dog fed from the table. Does anyone else have any inkling of where I'm coming from? I'm having difficulty finding the terms to convey to the SGns quite how innately uncomfortable it makes me feel.

[This is my Pet-Peeve of the week! ]

[nakatago]

FWIW, I once saw a table in Holland Village hawker centre where the group was having red wine...with their dogs.

So I did a table take and maybe the dogs were just sitting; but no, these people were having the dogs drink the wine (from the same bottle the people drank) from goblets.

The dogs were lapping up red wine (what if it was pinot noir?) from wine glasses.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Does anyone else have any inkling of where I'm coming from?
[This is my Pet-Peeve of the week! ]

I'm a hunter and a farmer. We had one house dog (which was also a working dog - Cardigan Welsh Corgi) who also knew it's place in the scheme of things (it wouldn't even walk across the carpet in the middle of the room unless commanded to do so and then only hesitantly. The rest of the dogs never saw the inside of the house, but were kept in kennels with dogs runs attached. (These were retrievers for duck & goose and a pointer for pheasant & quail). We weren't allowed to hunt deer with dogs where I'm from. So yes, I know exactly where you are coming from and I concur as well.

[poodlek]

My mini poodles are nothing if not lap dogs, I cuddle the $#i+ outta them, but when it comes to eating they aren't allowed within 6 feet of any human. They get kibble and the occasional dog treat. If it were my friend's dog who had its head on the table while I was eating I'd probably get up and leave. That's insane.

[the lynx]

I wonder what would Robnc say about this thread though...

I would still tolerate the cuddly wuddly love the owners would shower on their dogs but wouldn't feeding them wine KILL them? (just as how bad chocolates would do to them...)

If you check ASPCA, you will find the answer
http://www.aspca.org/Home/Pet-care/poison-control.aspx

[carteki]

I'm fully with you on the feeding of pets at the table. We were at a resort a while back and at some point this cat came round the tables and started meowing pitifully under the table waiting for food. It must've sensed something because if it had come close to me it would've been given the boot (big time). Fortunately at some point the staff shoo'd it away.

While you're housesitting - remember its YOUR rules that apply and keep the dog away from the table. Its unhygenic to say the least. Not sure what I'd do if they were at the dinner table too. Shooing the dog away would be my instinctive reaction as well. Would I mind what they thought? Not sure (thinking I'll find some scary statistics on the amount of bacteria in Dogs mouths or something to "drop" into the conversation)

Having said that, a family member who owns boisterous big dogs posted something like this on Facebook ... They're my dogs and I love them, if you don't then don't come visit. Some mindset!

[nakatago]

Maybe you guys should consider letting this dog eat at the dinner table:

http://youtu.be/y68jVwbgQUI

[x9200]

Not exactly in the bullseye of this topic but I had this not so unique opportunity to see today in one of the parks how some expats (Angmohs!) were waking their dog. Yes, the expat family was peacefully strolling and their maid was running back and forth with their spaniel.

[sundaymorningstaple]

At least they were running the dog. Not like what I see quite often on Orchard Road and elsewhere, the like toy rats being wheeled around in a baby's pram!

[the lynx]

Not exactly in the bullseye of this topic but I had this not so unique opportunity to see today in one of the parks how some expats (Angmohs!) were waking their dog. Yes, the expat family was peacefully strolling and their maid was running back and forth with their spaniel.

I wonder, what is the point of having a dog in the family then?

Day in and day out, I only see the maid walking the dog twice a day (picking up the poo at the same time) when the entire family (angmoh expat also) goes out rollerblading, strolling and cycling on weekends without the dog and pretty much had nothing to do with the dog for the rest of the week...

True story. That family stays around my area.

[carteki]

Not exactly in the bullseye of this topic but I had this not so unique opportunity to see today in one of the parks how some expats (Angmohs!) were waking their dog. Yes, the expat family was peacefully strolling and their maid was running back and forth with their spaniel.

Welcome to Singapore, but I take my hat off to them for ensuring that their dog is exercised properly. I had a problem trying to walk an older dog who was beginning to show her years and a puppy terrier. Teaching the terrier to fetch was a great way to exercise it while not stressing out the older dog. (The terrier got wise to this though and if I threw the ball ahead it would run up to it and then wait, so I was forced to continually turn around and throw the ball in the opposite direction to that which I was walking.)

[BillyB]

Earlier I alluded to how 'urban Asians' often seem to pamper their pets. Well, in stark contrast I grew up in the UK countryside where dogs were treated as dogs, and you feel they (and you) were a lot better off for that fact. [Americans can refer to just about any Cesar Milan training vid on Youtube , for them thriving on having an established position in a pack, discipline etc].

Some of my friends while growing up had farm dogs, and working sheep dogs that were never allowed into the (farm-)house, ever. In fact I recall being told off by my friend's dads on occasions for even giving the dogs attention. Take that as a cultural baseline that I am working from.

I grew up in a family not directly in farming, but surrounded by them, so we had pet dogs instead of working ones. They lived indoors but were never allowed 'upstairs', or on any furniture. Typical country dogs really - taken hunting, shooting and ratting and rabbiting, but still indoor pet-dogs. They were good dogs and great pets in large part because they had appropriate boundaries and were held to them.

--------
Roll on many years.
--------

I have been as near as matters volunteered to house-sit a dog owned by a SGn for three weeks by my well meaning wife.

This dog:
Has hand cooked meals everyday
Goes for massages and manicures
Goes to 'doggy kindergarden' at least three times a week, where it comes back daily with a report and photos of who it played with and what other activities it had been involved in including what it had eaten [on telling this to my aged mother, apart from being in stunned disbelief she asked if it also reported 'How many times it has performed' ].

and now the killer...

It is routinely fed tid-bits from the dining table whilst adults are eating. Even the owner taking pieces of meat from their mouth and putting it in the dogs mouth. In fact it sits there with it's head virtually resting either in your plate on on the dining table. If you tell it to shoo-off it has an apparent nervous attack, and it's owner, plus my wife look at me like I'm some baby-killer [sigh].


I just cannot convey how viscerally 'wrong' it is to me to see a boundary-free dog fed from the table. Does anyone else have any inkling of where I'm coming from? I'm having difficulty finding the terms to convey to the SGns quite how innately uncomfortable it makes me feel.

[This is my Pet-Peeve of the week! ]

Remind me never to invite you round to my place - you'd have kittens (literally) if you saw how spoilt our cats are!

[durain]

where do you draw the line between pet and animal? i wonder what would ceasr millan say about this!

[sundaymorningstaple]

A pet is always an animal. But an animal isn't always a pet. That be the difference between a pet and a human being. The pet IS a domesticated animal. Granted, I know a lot of pets that exhibit better table manners than a lot of humans. Go to any Chinese restaurant if you don't believe me. Or a Yank or Aussie BBQ for that matter!

[Mary Hatch Bailey]

I would never feed a dog from the table. Even leftovers or table scraps go into their bowls and they are fed in their usual spot. This is probably why every dinner party I've ever hosted has a had a dog or two under the table. The are perfectly quiet and well-behaved and try to be completely anonymous because they know the consequences.

I used a doggie day care facility when my handsome boy was a pup. I wanted him to be well-socialized with other dogs so I'd drop him off while I ran errands for a few hours. They posted videos of him on facebook and it was great to see him having a ball with the other dogs. It was a great service.

I'm not really a Cesar fan outright, I think I'm more aligned with the monks of New Skete. My attitude with dogs is a combination of the two with a heavy dose of common sense thrown in. I don't treat them like children, I treat them like dogs ~ but I treat my dogs very, very well.