The young pup is almost two and half years old now- a big, strong yellow labrador with a heart of gold. I know everyone thinks their dogs and pets are pretty special, but I swear this furry guy is unlike any animal I’ve ever known. I’m thinking about having a round of tests performed on him to consider breeding. He’s not a show dog or champion field trialer, but he has good lineage and beautiful form. His personality is amazing in so many ways, and if he could contribute to the breed I think that would be a good thing. Have you hugged your dog today? More importantly, how about your kids?! For some folks they’re the same…
Interesting that you can actually clone your dog these days for the princely sum of $150,000 dollars. Can you imagine? Perhaps if money was no object someone could consider that, but it seems, well… ethically selfish to me I guess, among other things. It’s a free country, but you can help an awful lot of people with that kind of money. I do understand loving an animal that much, but it’s hard to rationalize spending so much money for that purpose. Of course I say that, but based on how I feel about my own lab- if it didn’t cost very much I might consider getting another pup just like him too. Heck, twenty or thirty years from now who knows what we’ll be able to do. For now I just appreciate that he gets to be part of our family.
Don’t you just want to give him a big hug?!
Maybe I should’ve titled this ‘The Dogs We Love and the Birds We Don’t” or “Cute Dogs and Ugly Birds.” On a different note it’s about time to take the bird feeders down, and as if on cue the Brown-headed Cowbirds showed up for a party to pick through what was left. Okay, maybe they’re not ugly, but they sure act that way. Research has shown that they can impact songbird populations negatively through brood parasitism. They’re the only species in our region that sneaks into other birds’ nests and lays their own eggs. So a hapless goldfinch or flycatcher ends up feeding and raising a cowbird usually instead of their own young since the cowbird is bigger and has a voracious appetite.
Well over a hundred species of birds end up raising cowbirds in this manner and there’s quite a debate regarding how destructive or natural this is. We typically see them grouped up in spring while they migrate through in flocks. Soon they disperse to look for a host nest, and we only see or hear them as solitary birds. What a strange critter and survival mechanism- kind of looks like an unruly mob!
