Stonehenge

This is in the news today, causing a stir amongst archeologists.


http://www.kansascity.com/2010/09/29/2262631/discovery-shows-stonehenge-was.html

What it means is that travelers went to Stonehenge from all over Europe, as long ago as 1,500 years B.C. (Actually, it was much longer, according to werelore.) That is long before the Romans or the Angles arrived, long before any peoples were thought to have been doing much seafaring and traveling to what is now Britain.

For perspective, at the same time the Mycenaeans were spreading over what is now Greece; in 1505 Hatshepsut became queen of Egypt; ca 1300 the Kingdom of Israel was established; we were in the midst of the Bronze Age.

Why would people travel form all over Europe to Stonehenge? Maybe archeologists will start finding answers for that. Bt is werelore holds any truth they might start finding some very surprising skeletons.

Pet Pharma

Another issue that is being hotly debated and worries many weredogs is this increasing trend of people drugging their dogs. It is done more and more with all pets. But dogs are the main recipients.

More and more weredogs are showing up at pack meetings loopier than a cooped up kitten. At first we did not know what was going on. We thought some were somehow getting into drugs. Well they were. Through their families, the people they trust.

I have been involved in 2 dog interventions. These are more difficult than those with people, for the simple fact that it is next to impossible to get the people on board.

The main reason people are more drugging their dogs is the desire to have their dogs act more like people, not like their natural temperament directs them.

This is another of those unfortunate and troubling outcomes of domestication and civilization.

An again, people are also doing the same thing to themselves.

Sled Dogs Recognized

Reading the paper today I came across this story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/science/28polar.html?src=twr&scp=1&sq=amundsen&st=cse

This hit me like a .40 cal round, hard in the chest. I knew 2 dogs that were on these teams. He was on Scott's team. She was on Amundsen's. They were in love, not just lovers, for a long time. Since it was still rather taboo for weredogs to get so involved they kept it secret. More or less.

When Scott did not return she went a bit insane. It took her a year, but she went back, to find him. Her team was comprised of sled dogs, weredogs and werewolves. This was at a time when it was very taboo to mingle with werewolves. It was one of the first and earliest joint dog and wolf operations. No one knows how she talked them into it. The survivors never talked or shared any details. The rest of her team made it back, all of them, except for her. They say she is still down there, running around the arctic desert, howling, looking for him.

I knew them both.

I wonder if there are any weredogs on this Air Force colonels team. Someone needs to give him a big dog thank you.

Dog Diets and Domestication

I shifted and got into the fridge this morn. Gave Flecka some leftover beef. She needed it. And some milk. Just a bit. She is old and frail and getting weaker and needs more than the doggy chow we get.

One of my ancillary duties has always been, as a dog in modern society, to provide supplemental diet to dogs, and sometimes cats. Dogs and cats at one time were the top predators in most parts of this planet. One would not know that by how we are fed.

I have often heard dogs, and weredogs, bemoan the waste of roadkill. "If only I could get my teeth into some of that," I have heard so many times driving by a deer down by side of the road. It's already tenderized. Who gives a shit about a bit of road gravel?

Don't get me wrong. I love Kibbles and Bits. And Science Diet is, I admit, put together in a very nutritious way. But eating dry dog food day after day would be like a person eating only oatmeal boiled in beef broth day after day. Gets old.

Me, I get out now and then. But most dogs do not, unless they live with a person with a more crazy and non-mainstream attitude toward feeding his or her dog buds.

In spite of this, many dogs, and cats and even horses, have learned to become obese. These are other fruits of domestication. And I cannot believe the things that people eat, things with scent that I do not want even to be in the same room with.

There is a couple that lives two streets over who are avid runners. They are thin, too thin. But their dog and cat are obese, way obese. Both have guts that drag the floor. The people eat vicariously through their pets. What the hell's up with that?

This is all affecting people too, obesity and bad diet, or obsessively good diet. It ties in with lack of or no activity or diet.

We are predators, dogs, cats and humans. We were meant to stalk and hunt and move and shred and tear and eat. Our bodies are responding to domestication and civilization in ways not anticipated.

Bo and the Coyotes

The 2 coyotes led me to Bo. She was laying amongst some brush in a nearby field. She did get up as I approached. One of the coyotes who led me there made the introductions. He explained that Bo is the leader of their pack, a local and rather large pack, and elder leader for a large area, which included several other packs.

"So, this is what a weredog looks like in dog form," she said. I just snarled an acknowledgement. "Can I see you shift into a weredog?" she said. I said no, that was not possible just then.

"What do you want?" I said.

"We need to work with you," she said.

"About what?" I said.

"Neo's," she said. "And some other issues that are even more dangerous, to us as well as you."

We arranged a meeting. I will take several weredogs, and werewolves, with me. I do not entirely trust coyotes. They are they most devious of all canines.

"By the way," I said, "attacking the dachsund was just a ruse, right?"

"He was supposed to be my breakfast," said one of the 2 coyotes, disappointment heavy through his teeth. "If not for the girl I would now have a full belly."

I snarled. "Pay attention. If any harm comes to any of my house pack, cats, dogs, any species, I will take it very personal, and make it my personal vendetta to find him or her who is responsible. It would not bide well for our working together. I hope I make myself clear."

Bo snarled. "Fine," she said. "We know where you live, who you are, who are in that house." I nodded, then turned to go. "We do not like to be threatened," said Bo.

I turned back, said, "Good," then trotted off.

Coyotes, gotta admire their moxy. But don't dare turn your backs on them.

Follow-up: Rescue from the Old Lady

All the dogs were rescued and taken to foster homes or no-kill shelters. We slipped in and got most of them, late at night while the old lady was asleep. Took us an hour. Too long. The rest were rescued 2 days later by SPCA and animal control officers.

The old lady was take to a nursing home. It was quickly determined that she was not competent to care for herself, much less the small zoo of cats and dogs. She has no family left, no sons or daughters. Some nieces were tracked down. But none wanted to get involved. The county is no determining her fate. If she is lucky she will die before a decision is reached.

We feel OK about this because all those animals had to get out of that house. One of the dogs I carried out, because she could not walk, was a 4-year-old collie mix with the worst mange I have ever seen.

The old lady did not understand what she was doing, the misery in that house. She has slipped too much mentally. Dimentia, and insanity, such things weredogs do not quite grasp. Dogs do not understand it at all, except that when their people fall to it they change, to someone, or something else.

I feel sorry for that old lady. She has no one. No family. No pack. No connections. Maybe that is what drove her out of her mind. Loneliness can do that.

The new cat is harassing Bailey. Even Rooster does not know what to do with him. But Rooster and Bailey are old. Both are losing weight and slowing down. A year ago Rooster still would have put this young cat, Chase, in his place. Not now. Too tired.

Composting

This morning Sven threw an apple core out the back door. Jack said "What the hell was that?" Sven said, "Compost." That led to a big yelling match.

Sven was testing Jack. I could smell it on him. But I could have seen it. Jack did. It was obvious.

Teenagers are in many ways temporarily insane. They do things that boggles the mind. Even teen dogs, and cats, and I suppose teens of all species, act like numb-nuts and ding-a-lings. But this is natural. I have seen it many times.

Teens need to test their world, understand the rules and limitations, within their family and home, and in the broader world. It is so with people and with pandas, with all species. Well, maybe just mammalian species. I'm not sure. I am a bit biased toward mammals. We dogs tend to be that way.

The challenge for any parent is how to respond. Too little is bad. Too much is also bad. But where is the balance? It is different for every kid and every parent.

Dogs also have to learn and figure out how to play their teenagers, both pups and people. Think that's funny? Ever family dog learns his or her family and comes up with a strategy for each. This does not just include how to deal with teens. It also includes how to get handouts and scraps, how to get up on the bed, how to get walks, or get loose and run the hood, or what to do when left in the house too long and she or he cannot hold it. Nature calls. You can't always just not answer.