Nightingale

OMG. I want one of those! It would go in a place of honor next to my "Republicans for Voldemort" bumper sticker.

Isn't Florida a "shall issue" state? Why doesn't your co-worker just get his concealed carry permit and end the debate right there? With regards to your specific question, he'd need to contact a firearms attorney licensed to practice in Florida. Laws vary extensively by state and they can get complicated.

I prefer they don't leave messages if they know their caller ID is not blocked. Verizon's voice mail is a PITA, so if I see someone on my missed calls list, I call back. If it's something I need to know ASAP, an email or text to my blackberry is the way to go, because I only check the damn voicemail about once a week.

I sent three cases of girl scout cookies and write my soldier friends regularly when they are deployed.

Curiosity finally got the better of me, and I emailed the biologist:

Chins are not hard to catch either. Hold a raisin, and they'll run right to you. The dust baths are not messy if you buy the "dust free"dust and keep the bath in the bottom of the cage. Any extra dust just falls down into the litter. I have giant critter balls that I will put my two in if I want to let them run but not watch them every second, but their cage is big enough that they get plenty of exercise in there.

If the cages are big, you might be fine. When they chew their cages, it's usually because the cages are too small. Give them plenty of chew toys, and they'll probably stay away from the wire. As for daily care, they're no more of a commitment than a ferret. =)

I have two, a standard grey and a homo-ebony. Chins can live 15-20 years. They make great pets and have wonderful personalities. They are fragile and are not for small children, and should only drink bottled water (very important!). They do not have any mechanism to self-cool, so should NEVER be in temperatures above 80 degrees F. They should only be fed pellet food, not the food with all the fruit and corn in it, because they will eat the fruit only and leave the pellets and not get a good diet. They need regular dust baths, and must never get wet with water, as this can make them sick. Please do not buy them from a pet store, as they often have respiratory diseases. A breeder is the best place to get them. I got mine from Mike Atard in Anza, CA. Chins are very good at hiding when they are ill, so if they are ever acting even a little bit strange, they must go to the vet immediately. Keep chins away from any plastic that can be chewed. If it can be gnawed, they will chew it. Make sure their cage is far enough away from anything that can be grabbed and chewed. Their hands are a lot like ours. They must have a constant supply of wood to chew, but there are some woods that are toxic to them, so look it up online first. Most of the stuff in the rodent section is fine. Their cage should have absolutely no plastic at all, and a lot of cages sold in pet stores as "chinchilla cages" are completely unsuitable, because they have plastic bases and are too small. Mine are in a large parrot cage. I added wooden shelves covered with tile. Chins will chew through standard rabbit cage type wire, especially if their cage is too small. They are rock hoppers in their native environment, so they prefer cages that are tall to cages that are wide, and need lots of shelves to hop on. Wire shelves are bad for their feet. Shelves should be solid, or at least there must be solid areas for them to stand. Make sure shelves are positioned so a chin cannot fall from the top to the bottom, because they are fragile and do slip on occasion. Chins should be paired, as one chin gets very lonely and can develop habits such as fur pulling. Do NOT get a male and a female. You will have baby chins constantly, and often female chins need c-sections. Just stick with two females or two males. Males must be picked up regularly and checked for hair rings around the penis, and any hair rings must be carefully removed with tweezers. This is a pain in the ass, and the main reason why I have two females. They need access to alfalfa and timothy hay or blocks. If their food is alfalfa based, get them timothy blocks, and vice versa. Raisins are the absolute most important thing in life to a Chin. They can be trained to do tricks for raisins. They are extremely raisin motivated. Do not give them more than two raisins per day, because it will upset their intestines, which is not fun.

By "country" I was referring to geography, not population.

A country can't be any more right or wrong than a hammer can be. The government, on the other hand, can be VERY wrong. Loving your country is not equivalent to loving your government.

I missed the led/lead one. Other than that, I did okay.

Reading that, I'd leave the sentence as "The national leaders kept the country in a top-down type of government; they believed the villagers could not lead themselves. However, in the long run, the government in Beijing led the peasants into more dire situations concerning their well being."

new heights to its zenith to reach its potential to its destiny It'd be easier if you posted the whole paragraph.

And what is the ratio, by your estimation, of "good breeders" to breeders who profit (fairly well!)? It sounds as if you're under the assumption few breeders profit. No... I am under the assumption that few good breeders profit. Anyone who is profiting greatly from a breeding program is a puppy mill.

It's worse than a loaded gun. Loaded guns only go off when you pull the trigger. Untrained dogs can go off whenever. What about getting two? Get your purebred rottie, and maybe a shepherd mix from a rescue to go along with him? That way, they won't be lonely while you're at work. Shepherds and rotties are both "guarding" breeds, so they should get on fine, especially if you get both as puppies so they grow up together. Rotties are beautiful dogs!

This is my dog's breeder's estimation of how much it costs... most good breeders operate at a loss and do it for the love of the breed. Costs of a Good Breeding Program Here are some of the things that go into creating and maintaining a breeding program of lovely dogs that are great representatives of their breed, are healthy and have good temperaments: Go to shows, meet breeders, show commitment to breed (join clubs, attend meetings, read books and articles) COST: $200 to $500 per year plus many days and hours! Purchase show quality dog to show (NOTE: the above step must be done first or it is very hard to acquire a show dog of any worth!!) COST: $1500 to $2500 Maintain dog (food, vet bills, de-worming, etc.). COST: about $500 per year per dog Show dog to Championship to prove its worthiness and value to the breed. COST: on the conservative side, about $1800 (this is ridiculously conservative as only gas money, entry fees and grooming products were included and not lodging!) Assuming success thus far, purchase another show dog of opposite sex whose pedigree and physical characteristics (genotype and phenotype) will compliment your first one. If not successful, start over anyway! COST: add up totals above once if first one worked out, twice if not. When above has been repeated (and paid out) enough to have acquired and shown two lovely dogs, one male and one female, who compliment each other, you can now prepare to breed them by doing the necessary genetic screening tests for that breed. In Papillons that's eyes, knees, and heart. Permanent identification is required previous to the tests. So for Microchip, CERF, Patella and Cardiology screening and certification PER dog, COST: currently about $147.50 per dog if you save money at screening clinics. IF ANY DOG DOESN'T PASS ALL THE TESTS, STOP, and START ALL OVER!!! If your male and female pass the genetic screening to make sure no awful stuff will be passed to the puppies, perform a Brucellosis test on at least the female. COST: $60 If no one has scary diseases, you may breed them. Now we have Ultrasound and Xray exams for the hopefully pregnant female. COST: $120 to $300 IF YOU CANNOT GET FEMALE PREGNANT, STOP, and START ALL OVER with new female, male, or BOTH!! If you are Blessed with a litter of 2 to 4 puppies (average for Papillons), you will now need to feed them when they start eating mama's food, give them at least 3 sets of shots and de-worm them. You also may need dewclaws removed. COST: $30 or so as a low estimate PER puppy. Next, the puppies also get microchipped, spayed or neutered, and their rabies shots. COST: $275 PER PUPPY IF A C-SECTION WAS NEEDED, add $600 to $1500 to litter cost. TOTALS WITHOUT a C-section, a conservative estimate assuming only 2 show dogs were purchased and turned out (HIGHLY UNLIKELY), a litter of 3 puppies costs the breeder: $8,340.00 (with spay/neuter, microchip and Rabies). THIS IS $2,780 PER PUPPY!! To be quite honest, most breeders have actually paid a LOT more (most of us would much rather NOT look at the actual figures!). The cost of the hotels or RV were not added to the show costs, several dogs purchased did not turn out good enough quality to breed, etc.

I think Miley is pretty naive, and her parents were on the set when the photo was taken, so I think she just went with it.

It really depends on the breed. Some breeds are healthier than others. Having a mixed breed may minimize some genetic diseases, but since genetic disease is not usually unique to only one breed, you can have a dog with a genetic disease that is pure bred or mixed breed. That said, I think you are less likely to get a dog with a genetic disease from a breeder who tests her dogs for the genetic diseases that tend to run in that breed.

I agree. One problem, however, is "reputable" breeders are not the more common type. And Joe Average isn't aware of the difference. This is why people need to do research and educate themselves before getting a pet. Information about what makes a good breeder is all over the internet.

I don't know? Can anybody answer that? Somehow I don't think her fan base of kids and pre-teens is reading Vanity Fair.

What I think you're missing is that getting a dog from a breeder is not depriving a rescue of a home. Many people would not get an animal at all if they didn't get it from a breeder, and other homes, like mine, are a mix of rescues and breeder animals. It's not a black and white, one or the other thing.

I don't think Miley really knew what she was getting into, and she probably just did what the photographer told her. I do think the photos are a bit too racy for a fifteen year old, but I don't really think Miley intended them that way. That said, it's done, the photos are out there, and in two weeks, nobody is going to care.

Well, temperament is a bit of a roll of the dice with a rescue or shelter dog, especially if it's a young mixed breed. For example, if you have a mixed breed Mastiff/Aussie Shepherd, are you going to get something a little bigger than a shepherd with the laid back Saint attitude, or are you going to end up with a dog almost the size of a Saint, with all the energy and herding instincts of the shepherd? As for saving yourself a thousand dollars, maybe not. Your dog may have some genetic health problems that a breeder would have been able to eliminate.

Overheard at work a few weeks ago: "I think only police and criminals should have guns!" *shiver*

Different dogs are bred to do different things. For example, huskies love to run. Collies are working dogs. Papillons are companion dogs. The dogs have been bred for centuries to have an inborn drive to do certain things (ever seen an aussie shepherd trying to herd a group of small children? They were bred to herd sheep.). Those kinds of instincts tend to be passed from parents to puppy. Many puppy mills breed without regards to temperament, so you get a breed where the breed standard is "friendly and outgoing" and a puppy mill or pound pup that is naturally very shy. Another example is that pound or puppy mill Boston Terriers tend to be extremely hyper, whereas well bred ones tend to be energetic and love to play, but not extraordinarily hyperactive. A reputable breeder will also make sure that her puppies aren't separated from their mothers and littermates too early and will be properly socialized. Dogs who are separated too early can have all kinds of socialization and anxiety issues. If you let a breeder know you are looking for a specific temperament, and the breeder guarantees that, and the dog does not develop that temperament, oftentimes the breeder will give you a refund and rehome the dog to someone who wants a pet of that temperament. It is important that the personality of the dog suits it's home life. My dog's breeder guaranteed against PRA (a type of progressive genetic blindness that is common in papillons) and luxating patellas (knee problem that causes lameness), because the breeder was responsible and DNA tested all her breeding and show animals for these diseases. When you pay a reputable breeder for a puppy, you're helping to pay for genetic testing that keeps the breed healthy.