Fodder for the anti-backyard-breeder crowd

[jmowreader]

This guy was like the poster child for the no-solicitation policy.

One of our duties at The Home Depot is to occasionally check our parking lot to ensure no one is selling things out there. Sometimes we get some real winners, like the guy who went to Builder's Bargain Center, bought a truckload of number-three lumber, then sat in the parking lot and sold it for less than ours was going for. Nice idea, except that we called the police on his ass.

I would say that the most popular class of people we've got to run off is Backyard Breeders. Normally it's just pits and boxers they're brewing up and selling for $25 or $30...totally worthless dogs, some so misformed they don't even look like the breed they're supposed to be. We'll chase the guy off, he'll go next door to Target who runs him off so he goes to Petsmart who runs him off and eventually he gets rid of all his puppies before he runs out of stores who haven't chased him off yet.

On Friday I didn't even bother going out to chase the guy off. I just called the police and Animal Control: "Pit Bull-Rottweiler Mix Puppies $50." Unfortunately, he had sold seven of these time bombs by the time the dogcatcher got there to haul them off, so the dogcatcher only got three. I wish he'd have been able to get them all.

I can just imagine the disasters these seven people have waiting for them. (OTOH, I can also imagine the fences I'm going to sell to these seven stupid bastards.)

Even the most ardent pit bull and/or rottweiler fan knows that Careful Breeding is the most important thing when dealing with dogs of this nature. A breeding so random that there are two different breeds of potentially-dangerous dogs in it is an accident waiting to happen.

[expatriot]

1. breeding animals in general sickens me.....

for one, the idea that a "full bred" is somehow better than a mutt pisses me off. secondly, there is already such a population problem with animals, with the puppy mills and the backyard breeding... it is just sick and wrong. what is people's fascination with "full breeds?"

Also, a lot of time full breeds are less healthy than mutts.

[jmowreader]

4. A competently bred purebred can be very healthy indeed

Hang out with some serious dog breeders and you'll see that this isn't some random thing. These folks don't just stick two dogs together and start counting the cash from the puppy sales.

The first thing they'll do is to choose a foundation bitch, and that's no small task. They research the dog's whole heritage..."this bitch produces puppies with a really nice backline, but there's some hip dysplasia in some of her puppies. Now, this bitch has never whelped a puppy that went dysplasic, but they all look like Greyhounds and this is a German shepherd. And this bitch produces good healthy puppies who look like German shepherds, but some of 'em are a bit small." They'll keep on going until they find exactly the puppy they want to work from. They'll then pay $1200 or more for it.

Then they do the same thing with the sire. Here they're also looking at performance on bitches similar to yours.

And finally, they investigate the potential owners. There's a fine art to this dog breeding thing.

This is in complete opposition to the dog breeding school which goes "I was stupid enough to leave my $25 pit bull outside while she was in heat and the neighbor's $40 rottweiler jumped the fence? Cool! I bet I can go to Home Depot and get fifty bucks apiece for these puppies!"

[cornermouse]

8. There are other reasons to go with purebreds.

For example, generally speaking you don't want to put a hunting breed or hunting breed mix in the middle of a bunch of poultry.

[China_cat]

25. You forgot about the testing

Waiting until both the bitch and the dog (the RIGHT dog that has the strengths the bitch lacks) are 2 years old or more so they can be OFA'd for hips, elbows and hearts; CERF for eyes and other breed specific genetic problems like wobbler's, sas; careful evaluation of the temperament etc. And maybe having to start looking all over again when one of your foundation doesn't pass some of the tests, having to have it neutered and finding a pet home for it.

Then there's the feeding, conditioning, vet care and vaccinations. All the things that go into making a good pup.

Continue to the contract and the one thing that ALL good breeders will offer...a home for life for any puppy they breed. If anything should ever happen to me, my Dot's breeder (Dot is spayed, btw, I just happen to like this breed) will take her back no matter what her age.

[jmowreader]

36. And they track out the genealogy of your puppy, too

I know one breeder (Labrador retrievers) who is a huge fan of the BARF diet. No, it doesn't mean dropping a bowl of puke in front of your hound; BARF means either "biologically appropriate raw foods" or "bones and raw food." It's quite complicated but it can be done. (See http://www.touchmoon.com/dotters/raw/index.shtml for info on it.) Right in her contract is a stipulation that you won't feed anything but BARF to your dog, and she tends not to sell dogs to people who aren't already feeding BARF to their dogs.

Then again...we're not exactly talking run-of-the-mill dogs here. This is a very close-knit society that's hard to get into because it costs about $30,000 a year to breed and show this kind of dog. Her dogs cost $1500 each--at least, the ones she sells do. The less-than-perfect ones go to Guide Dogs for the Blind. She produces two litters a year from six bitches--no, not 12 litters total, she breeds any one bitch only once every three years. And this is a break-even enterprise.

[China_cat]

38. Yes, I know what BARF is.

And good breeders. My Dotty (Echo's Automagic Valiant) is one of only 2 litters ever from her breeder. She was never meant for the show ring and, by contract, I had to have her spayed before I could get her registration.

I paid $900 for her 8 years ago and only got that price because of a friendship with the breeder. She's 1 of 2 Bouvs that I've gotten from a breeder in the past 30 years. The rest have been rescues and have come to me as adults except for one rescue pup.

[BikeWriter]

44. Thank you from a former Chow breeder....

I gave 100% lifetime written warranties on my puppy's eyelids, hips, and temperament. I never had to buy a dog back.

[central scrutinizer]

2. Irresponsible pet owners - rant

We had neighbors whose cats were not neutered or spayed. There were always loud, vicious male cat fights when the females were in heat. I like to sleep with the windows open but many a night's sleep would be interrupted and ruined by blood curdling snarling. Then they would produce new litters all the time; fortunately most of the kittens would die from distemper since they never were vaccinated. We had to spend a lot each year treating our cats for abscesses they received in fighting off their cats. They would also let their dogs out early in the morning so they could shit in other peoples' yards - their own yard was completely covered with broken down cars and other junk. They were pretty poor with five kids (apparently they applied their lack of contraception to their pets as well - the three oldest kids, all boys, are all in the juvenile justice system for various offenses) so we offered to pay to have their cats neutered. They got so pissed off at us for our implied disapproval that they stopped saying hi or anything. Finally they moved, but left what was left of their cats behind. We now have to try to trap them and take them to the pound. Thanks a lot, neighbor.

[radwriter0555]

3. I had an actual law written to specifically deal with one 'puppy peddler'

at the city I worked in.

He would find them for free, the cutest ones he could, 2-3 at a time. Then he would walk around with them, up and down the Sunset Strip and bully people into buying them for hundreds of dollars. He wouldn't feed or water the pups and handled them like slabs of meat.... He was mean and nasty, and abused the puppies, saying things like he was going to feed them to his snake if they didn't buy it; he's slap the dehydrated ones to wake them up, they'd be all nodding off. We got countless reports of wormy, dying puppies who ended up in the hands of people who just wanted to pay anything to get them out of the hands of this freak. We got hundreds of phone calls from horrified people about his treatment of the animals.. but it was always at night when Animal Control wasn't around to do shut him down, so we had to empower the local policing agency;

So we wrote a new law: No animals are permitted to be sold on the public right of way. Wow, did that piss him off. He made up a name for himself, "The Prince of Puppies.' He'd had his photo taken with a couple movie stars and made big posters about how he was being victimized for being black. So I called the wives of the movie stars -- who I just happened to know -- and they called their lawyers who called HIS lawyer and SHUT HIM DOWN.

It stopped him for a couple years. He moved on to Venice Beach, Melrose, Santa Monica, and each time, I contacted all the necessary agencies to shut him down.

Haven't seen him in a while now...

I hope I did some good for caring.

[MadHound]

5. Geez, this is so full of misinformation, I don't know where to begin

Well, let's start here.

Give whole breeding dangerous dogs routine a break, OK friend. Get it through your head, it isn't the breed of the dog that is dangerous, it is how the person raises them that determines whether or not the dog is a danger. For example:

"The most horrifying example of the lack of breed predictibility is the October 2000 death of a 6-week-old baby, which was killed by her family's Pomeranian dog. The average weight of a Pomeranian is about 4 pounds, and they are not thought of as a dangerous breed. Note, however, that they were bred to be watchdogs! The baby's uncle left the infant and the dog on a bed while the uncle prepared her bottle in the kitchen. Upon his return, the dog was mauling the baby, who died shortly afterwards. ("Baby Girl Killed by Family Dog," Los Angeles Times, Monday, October 9, 2000, Home Edition, Metro Section, Page B-5.)"

Do you realize what ten kinds of hell you have to put a pit, rotty, or any other dog through in order to make them into a killer? It isn't something that comes naturally to a dog, it has to be reinforced through constant training. Most pit handlers who want vicious dogs torment them, starve them, abuse them, tease them with "bait", have them attack humans in padded clothing, the list of horrors perpatrated on a dog in order to make it mean is literally endless.

Yes, pits have a bad rap right now, for the they are the favorites with the drug dealers and street punks, the bad dog du jour. In the past it was Dobermans and German Shepards. And guess what, in the first half of the twentieth century, the pit was considered to be the ideal dog for children. Go watch Little Rascals sometime, and check out the breed of their loveable dog. Guess what, it's a pit.

Granted, from the sounds of it, these people we're selling the pups to thugs who want mean dogs, and who will train them to be such. But I would lay good money down that I could easily take a pup out of that litter and raise it to be a loving, loyal dog that is well socialized and good with children. And it wouldn't be any more trouble to do so than what you would have with any other dog breed.

So please, please, stop spreading the myth about certain breeads being bred to kill. It is absolutely untrue, it exposes your general ignorance about dogs, and it gives perfectly good pets a bad rap. If you've got to go after something concerning this situation, go after the bad owners who take a perfectly good dog and turn it into a vicious bloodthirsty beast.

[purr]

6. Thank you thank you thank you

I dont need to add a word to what you posted.

[jmowreader]

7. Okay, let's go at it from this angle

No one would create a pit-rot mix on purpose. They just wouldn't.

I live in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where purebred pits and purebred rots are extremely common. Go out on Fort Bragg and easily half the dogs there are one of the two breeds--and they're kept specifically because of their rep.

So if anyone wanted to breed a pit to make money from the get, it would not be difficult to find a sweet-natured male to breed to your sweet-natured female to produce sweet-natured puppies.

'Course, if you want to breed your pit to your buddy's pit because you can drink a 12-pack and watch the game together while the dogs are in the back yard gettin' busy, the puppies you produce may not be the models of sweetness and light some pit fans portray this breed as.

And if you decide to leave your dog outside while she's in heat so any male in the neighborhood can just randomly screw the shit out of her...well, let's just say you don't want to be in the same neighborhood as that dog.

[MadHound]

9. Oh geez, eugenics for dogs

Do I need to spell it out for you? It isn't the breed or breeds of the dog, it is how the dog is raised, trained and socialized. I don't care if the pups are pit/rotty mixes, or result from leaving your pit bitch in heat out overnight.

I've worked in the humane society, a no kill shelter, and a vet hospital in my life. I've seen all sorts of breeds, crosses, and outright mutts. And there is no, I repeat NO breed, cross or mix that is inherently dangerous.

Granted, many people do cross pits and rottys because they make a formidable looking dog. But in order to turn that formidable looking dog into a killer, they have to abuse it, bait it, torment it, brainwash it. If you take any dog, pure, cross or mix, and raise it with disipline, love and proper training, the dog will turn out to be a wonderful pet. If you take any dog, and I do mean any, and raise it abusively, tormenting it, baiting it, and teaching it to be overly aggressive, you are going to have a killer dog. It is that simple.

But the myth that there are dogs, pure, mix or cross bred, that are natural born killers is simply that, a myth. Stop spreading it, for you're doing more harm than good. It is people like you who make it hard for responsible dog owners like myself. Do you understand now?

[Modem Butterfly]

10. He backed into a good point, though

Uncontrolled females in heat create problems.

[MadHound]

12. Sure, uncontrolled female do create problems

Dogfights break out, etc. But what I'm trying to get across is that those problems aren't bred in. A puppy is a puppy is a sweet gentle puppy, of whatever breed. That is until some damn idiot decides to turn it into a vicious killer.

Go after the damn owners people, the real culprits, no the breed of dog.

[Modem Butterfly]

13. Very very true.

[jmowreader]

37. No, it's people like THIS GUY who make it hard for you

Let me tell you what we're up against in this town.

Someone goes out and buys a randomly-bred pit bull (RBPB). They put it in their back yard. Once a day they put some food out there and the dog eats it. That's all the time they spend with it.

The dog gets bored and digs its way under the fence. So he comes to see me: "Do you have anything that will stop a dog from digging under a fence?" I sell him some chicken wire and tell him to dig a trench all along the fenceline, line it with the chicken wire and fill the trench back in. The guy goes home, puts twenty feet of it in, gets bored and goes back to watching baseball.

Two weeks later the same SOB is in my fencing aisle again. "Do you have any wireless pet fence? I can't get my dog to stop digging his way under my fence." So I sell him one.

A week later the dog has figured out how to get the collar off and he's back to digging under the fence. The guy decides his dog is bored (gee, how did you ever come to that conclusion?) so he buys three more RBPBs and sticks them all out there.

Two days later the first RBPB has taught the other three how to dig their way under the fence, and now instead of one unsocialized pit bull roaming the neighborhood scaring the shit out of the natives, there are four. And at this time, the dogs are unrecoverable--there's no training them. So back the same asshole comes looking for electric fence equipment.

Three months later, the fact that this stupid SOB put two unfixed males and two unfixed females in the same backyard comes to light when I gotta chase him out of the parking lot for selling puppies.

A month later, they're all fighting with each other. Back he comes. "I need enough stuff to make a kennel to separate four pit bulls."

If this guy would have played with his pit bull some instead of just abandoning it in the back yard, maybe it wouldn't be completely unsocialized and ready to eat someone.

This happens over and over and over and over. And Every Single Fucking Time someone comes in with an incorrigible dog, it's either a pit bull or a Rottweiler.

Now! Tell me why I should believe there's such a thing as a responsible pit owner. I've never seen one, and I believe in what I see.

[MadHound]

39. Because what you see are the idiots

The responsible owners take care of their pets, spay or neuter them, play with their pits, provide toys so the dog doesn't get bored, etc. etc. etc. They keep them inside, or properly restrained in a truly fenced yard. You don't see these dogs roaming around.

Sorry that you have to deal with idiots, it is a pain. And since most of these fools are buying these dogs as some sort of macho statement, penile compensatory pets, they're going out and getting the bad dog du jour. Right now that is pits and rots. Thirty years ago that would have been dobermans, forty years ago, german shepards.

I assure you that the majority of pit and rot owners are responsible owners. I'm sorry that you're seeing so many in the hands of idiots, but they are in the minority. Wait a few years until bad dog fashion changes, and you won't see as many pits or rots. Instead, you'll start seeing the new en vogue bad dog, the one known as the most proliferant biter around, cocker spaniels:evilgrin:

[xultar]

11. Ditto! It is the OWNERS not the pups.

[fleabert]

18. I wish I could nominate this for the Greatest page.

thanks.

[DS1]

19. This is nothing more than a re-worded arguement for legal machine guns

All guns of a typical size are equally dangerous, and it's the person behind the trigger that is what makes the gun dangerous to people or not. However, machine guns are more dangerous than handguns, even if they shoot the same type of ammo, but typically they shoot a much larger type of ammo that can do a lot more damage. So why don't we have .50 M2 machine guns for sale at Wal*Mart? Because it's irresponsible for people to have them. Pit Bulls have especially powerful jaws, much more powerful than a handgun like a Chiauha (or however those nasty little shits are spelled).

[MadHound]

23. OK, but a couple of questions for you.

Do you have to abuse a machine gun in order to get it to kill? For that is what you have to do with pit bulls, or any other dog. Can you train a machine gun not to kill? No, a machine gun is an inert tool. However a pit bull, or any other dog, has to be properly raised and trained. If you do so, you will have a loyal pet/friend for the rest of its life, one who is kind, gentle, well socialized, loyal, and not a danger to anybody.

That is the difference between machine guns and pits.

[DS1]

31. The difference is that so much depends on the owner

that it's simply impractical to have any at all, IMO.

Machine guns are simply tools, just like any other gun, but they are inherently more dangerous due to some of their characteristics. How many other breeds have a locking device for their jaws?

[MadHound]

34. Let's see here friend

First off, disavow yourself of the notion that pits have "locking jaws". They don't. Yes, they have an incredible grip, and jaw pressure approaching 1500 psi. But this is due to the physics of their jaw structure, which they share with other "bully" dogs, like bulldogs. It isn't, however due to some sort of ability to lock their jaws. That is an urban myth.

Now then, down to some cold hard numbers. Not even counting murders, there are 1500 death due to gun accidents every year, yet we have a constitutional right to guns. However there is only 20 deaths due dog bites each year, but people are going apeshit:shrug:

Look, if you want gentler, safer dogs, go after the owners. There are virtually no laws regulating how one treats a dog. Criminalize, with stiff penalties, the abuse that makes a dog vicious, and you will see the rate of dog attacks go down. But you can't legislate stupidity, so I guess that gun death rate will stay up there.

[Cyndee_Lou_Who]

35. Oh, DS1... that "locking device for their jaws" thing is a myth.

Like the Easter Bunny or the Boogie Monster.

[Cyndee_Lou_Who]

27. Hey.... real quick....

:applause:

[China_cat]

32. Sorry, but nurture doesn't do much

for a breed that WAS bred for killing and has hundreds of generations of that breeding behind it. Of course you'll get individuals that don't live up to the breed 'standard' but it doesn't negate the fact that the 'pit' dogs were bred for violence. Bair baiting, badger baiting, bull baiting and dog to dog death matches. Ignoring the history is NOT the way to make them more acceptable or abate the public fear of these dogs.

Breed bans are also not the way to go. When you try that all you end up with is the absolute worst of the breed, bred in secrecy and with even less care for the temperament. With careful breeding, this aggression could be easily lessened or even obliterated in 30-40 generations.

I have Bouviers. Some years ago a 'breeder' decided that he was going to breed Bouvs for aggression and he succeeded. His lines became aggressive to the point of being dangerous. We had one of his end line 'softer' dogs...who could not be trusted with anyone outside the family. He finally went out of business. It has taken the last 30 years to bring back dogs with his lines to the typical Bouv temperament. A hard job but it was done.

It could also be done with the pits.

[retread]

33. Breeds have traits!! That is why you see very few Greyhound Police dogs!

There are "soft" breeds as there are "hard" breeds. There are exceptions to this, but generally the treatment these morons subject these dogs to in order to make them vicious would turn some breeds into a quivering mess.
Few dogs are born killers. It takes a special kind of animal to turn them into one. There is a circle of hell reserved for these people!

[Vektor]

47. Amen, amen, amen! Thank you.

Nothing truer was ever said.

[BiggJawn]

14. So who buys these $25 dogs, anyway?

People looking for a dog that's "Good With kids" or are they looking for a dog that'll make up for what they lack in the Penis Department?

Pitbull-Rotweiler "mix"... Oh, Yeah, first on *MY* list of what I'd want in a good "family" dog, f'sure!


"Ay! Ah gut me a Dawg frum sum guy at th' lumber yard. He sez they-uns is gonna be sum mean-assed dawgs whene they grow up! Momma wuz a Pit-bull an' daddy was a Rotty...Ah'm gonna keep it out behind th' garage an' kick it every day, so it won't fergit who's th' BOSS!"

[MadHound]

15. Hell, I might buy one of those, just to get it out of the hands of the

Sort of people you mentioned. And I could, and would, take that "killer, vicious" mix, and come up with a dog that is sweet, gentle, loving and good with kids. After all, I've done it before. You see, rarely have I had pure breds, those dogs can get homes anytime they want. I go after the abused dogs, the neglected dogs, the so called "killers" that everybody is afraid of. And all of my dogs, no matter what their breed, have turned out being sweet, loving gentle hounds that were and are good with children and well socialized.

[BiggJawn]

16. It all depends on how you raise 'em.

But I think it'd have to be one BUTT UGLY dog, don't you?

I just can't understand what is supposed to be so "manly" about having a dog that you've abused to the point where it'd take out anyone it got near.

[MadHound]

21. Oh they would be so ugly that they would be cute!

I had a pit bull/great dane mix, brindle colored. Very good, gentle, intelligent dog, but some considered him butt ugly, others thought he was so ugly he was cute. I came down on the latter side, for in any dog, if they are kind and loving, the beauty on the inside comes through.

And no, I don't understand why people think it is macho to have a vicious dog. I put in the category of other penile compensatory behaviours, like SUVs and trophy wives. Most dogs are naturally territorial, and will guard their house/family without any special training. Just raise them right, with lots of love, and you'll have a loyal friend for many years.

[B3Nut]

22. Don't know about ugly...

One of our dogs is a pit-rottie mix, she's very ladylike and attractive. Of course, she's the most conceited self-important dog I've ever met, and too smart for her own good. :) Clingy too, loves to snuggle. She's one of our humane-ed dogs, she knows around 50 commands and hand signals.

Weezee -> http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=110763&j=t

We're fostering another pit-rottie, Bruce. He's in need of a home, he'd make someone a wonderful pal. He loves to play and hang out, and he even likes Republicans! :D

Bruce-> http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=110800&j=t

Todd in Beerbratistan

[MadHound]

26. Oh she's a sweety!

Kind of looks like my Rot/Husky mix, except for shorter hair, and a bit shorter snout.

I would love to take Bruce off of your hands, but I've got four dogs already, along with three cats, and just can't handle anymore for awhile. I hope you find a good home for him soon.

[Cyndee_Lou_Who]

29. Hee... "Beerbratistan" - love it.

K, I cannot show your petfinder site to my 14 year-old until I am literally ready to drop everything and go get one of these sweeties from you.

Jeebus, I want one!!

[Modem Butterfly]

30. What a terrific dog!

What a sweet li'l girl. Who on earth could look at that angel and say that she's a ticking time-bomb?

[Modem Butterfly]

17. I disagree with you there

Our shelters are full of pure-breds here in Atlanta. I've adopted two pure-bred Chows and two pure-bred Shar-Peis from our shelters. I've seen lots of mixes, but also pure bred bulldogs, Samoyeds, Irish Setters, Collies (one sweet old gentleman who at 15 was turned out of his house for shedding!), Dalmatians, Huskies, a Weimaraner, a pair of Shiba Inus and even a Coon Hound (very valuable hunting dogs). I like to tell anyone who's thinking of buying an animal to check at the shelter first.

[MadHound]

24. Wow, I stand corrected

We get some pure breds up here in Missouri, but they usually get snapped up pretty fast. Most of our dogs, roughly sixty five to seventy percent are all American mutts, who hang on for weeks or months before they're adapted, if ever.

It is good to get any dog out of the shelter, or off the street. Glad to see that you're getting pound puppies, more people need to.

[Modem Butterfly]

28. I'm not even allowed in certain pet stores near my home...

My partner gets his haircut near a petstore. I used to go in and tell prospective puppy buyers that they could get a similar breed at the animal shelter for $50 bucks and the price of a spay or neuter. When people tell me they might want to breed the animal later, I remind them that male dogs mark and female dogs have very messy periods (you'd be surprised how many don't realize this last point). I've talked more than a few into putting down the puppy and heading over to the shelter (I keep a few copies of their website map handy). I've been told that if I come near the place again I'll be prosectured.

You might have guessed that I'm sort of humorless on this topic. I think that it is foolish to waste money on buying from a breeder for most people because the one big advantage of buying from a breeder, papers, won't benefit anyone who won't breed the animal themselves (most people lack the time, energy and inclination to show). I also believe that buying from pet stores just helps support the puppy milln industry, which in MO, is probably where your purebred strays and owner turn-ins are going, unfortunately...

[Scout1071]

40. I adopted this little guy in Jan. He was rescued from one of those MO

farms:

Senator Spike Boxer

[Modem Butterfly]

41. Adult dogs make te best pets

You know how big they'll get, they're (mostly) past the chewing stage, and they sooooo need homes.

[AlienGirl]

43. Also usually housebroken! n/t

[BlueIris]

20. Okay, still mad. What I read: "fodder for the anti-breeder crowd..."

I was so excited to post here, I was giddy. Then, I found out this was about breeding dogs. So disappointed.

[jmowreader]

42. I'd imagine I can gin up a terrible-parent story...

Oh, here's one:

On the aisle where I keep the dimensional lumber, I've got 2x4s and 2x6s on one side, and 2x8s, 2x10s and 2x12s on the other. If you look at the wide-stock side, the rack is arranged thusly:

2x12 (1 bunk) (16 feet from the floor)
2x10 (2 bunks) (12 feet from the floor)
2x8 (2 bunks) (8 feet from the floor)

- - - - - - - split between overhead (above) and salesfloor (below)

2x8 (1 bunk) (5 feet from the floor)
2x10 (1 bunk) (2.5 feet from the floor)
2x12 (1 bunk) (6 inches from the floor)

Okay, here I am about 8:30 one evening helping someone with roofing when I heard someone yelling "Throw down another one!" followed by a board hitting the floor. I excused myself and ran around the corner.

Some dumbass mouth-breathing freeper in a Bush t-shirt was standing there while his kid, who he let crawl up to the 2x10 level in the overhead, was throwing 12-foot 2x10s down to him, breaking about half of them in the process.

What can you do? Well, if you're me you tell the kid not to move, not to throw any more wood down, to just sit down on the wood and wait till we get a machine in there to get him down. Then I got on the intercom and used the special codeword to get a manager over there.

The first thing the dipshit said was that he didn't like me telling his child what to do. "Ah sent mah son up there because y'all didn't have the wood I wanted down on the shelf." Uhh...there is a whole bunk of that sitting right there, it's so fresh the shipping bands are still on it. "Those are 2x12s. See? The tag says they're 2x12s." I put my tape across one of them--nine and a quarter inches, just like a 2x10 should be. (At some point you just want to look at these idiots and ask, "do you have any fucking idea what the thing you're trying to buy looks like?")

The manager came around the corner. "Oh fuck." He called the loss prevention guy, who at the time was this enormous Puerto Rican gentleman, to guard the guy until we could get the cops there. Then the manager and I went in search of an orderpicker.



This is an orderpicker. We normally use it for pulling doors out of the overhead and other things you don't want to use a ladder for. You stand on it, push a button, and the machine raises you up as high as you want to go.

Anyway, we blocked off the aisle, ran the orderpicker up to the kid's level and waited until the cops arrived to see where he was.

Two police officers arrived and were taken to the incident site. It's not often that a cop will shudder at something, but this was an exception. They saw where the kid was, saw the big pile of broken wood, and charged the guy with child endangerment and destruction of private property. Then I got the child down. The police took the father and the child away,

[BlueIris]

45. Wow. Good for you and your staff for taking action. Holy shit.

"The first thing the dipshit said was that he didn't like me telling his child what to do. 'Ah sent mah son up there because y'all didn't have the wood I wanted down on the shelf.' Uhh...there is a whole bunk of that sitting right there, it's so fresh the shipping bands are still on it."

Auuuuggggghhhh.

[Vektor]

46. The dogs aren't worthless - the piece of shit exploiting them is.

Every puppy dog is precious. Puppy mill breeders aren't worth the shit these dogs leave in the backyard. It is a travesty what is being done to these animals, and the worst thing is the damage that is being done to the reputation of these noble, YES NOBLE breeds by these assholes. Pit Bulls are not bad dogs - nor are Rotts, or any other breed. The people who mistreat them are the bad ones. I adopted my Pit from the shelter, and she is, by far, the best dog I have ever encountered. Gentle, affectionate, smart, loyal. She wouldn't hurt a soul, but I'd sure as hell be willing to lay waste to anyone who implied she was "worthless." A dog's "worth" is not determined by it's breed, or it's given price tag.

As for these "time bombs" - they are living breathing creatures who deserve compassion. Maybe they will be wonderful pets like my dog is. I'm GLAD the dog catcher didn't take most of them, because that usually means they will end up getting put down. It's the animal abusers who ought to be euthanized.

Any breed of dog is equally "potentially dangerous". ANY.

I have loved, owned, raised, rescued Pit Bulls all my life, (as well as many other "time bombs") and the only dog I've ever seen bite anyone was my mother's "well bred" $500 miniature poodle.

Save your rancor for those who mistreat animals - not the animals themselves. They are the victims in this situation, and deserve to be given a chance as much as any other innocent creature.