Original Title: Eight below…hmmmm.
:s
Am I the only one worrying that this movie is going to cause a huge dumping of Huskies a year from now?!
Of course it will. :fume:
are you worried that this means people will adopt huskies in this year of the dog, only to abandom them later?
if so, i couldn’t be more understanding.
i read that huskies are one of the top ten breeds in taipei. while i was there for the month of march i only saw 1 or 2. last year i saw 2 or 3. i think most people in taipei prefer the small pomeranians, terriers, poodles, and other miniature dogs, which makes sense.
i know a large percentage of dogs adopted this year will be abandoned or given back to shelters after their novelty wears off.
i hope that people who adopt a husky realize that they are not just adopting a dog, they are adopting a member of the family (as all dog adopters are). huskies are such amazingly smart, loyal, devoted, vocal creatures.
if you are adopting a husky, you might as well be adopting a child.
i hope people realize the responsibililty that goes with adopting any dog, but particularly a husky.
i would hope that anyone who adopts a dog this year (or any) would fall so deeply in love with this animal that giving it up or abandoning it would never fall into the realm of possibility.
adoption of a dog is for life. sadly, large dogs like huskies only live on average 10-14 years, as opposed to small dogs, which may live 12-18 years.
anyone interested in adopting a husky should first research shelters, then also the “husky rescue” site. you can google it.
there was also a post on this topic in february.
fad dogs don’t exist. huskies are not gucci hand bags, they are not levis jeans, they are not trucker hats. they are the most incredible animals you could ever hope to have a relationship with.
movies come and go. after “snow dogs” everyone said the same thing to me, “oh, he looks like so and so from snow dogs”.
no, sorry, he was not in the movie, he’s my boy.
jm,
It would be great if that were true. How many huskies have you rescued Sean? Still just the one? :s
common phenomenon in Taiwan…a LONG time ago, there was this 8 o’clock soap opera which featured a orangutan…guess what is the lastest fad at that time? pet orangutans…can you imagine a wild ape being raised in some tiny concrete apartment??? Then there was that Taiwanese supermodel and her stupid little dog featured in that yogurt commercial…pet stores started to carry them everywhere…Then there was that Japanese movie about that seeing eye dog…guess what all the pet stores carried? labradors…they become popular, people buy them because there is some frenzy for them for a short period of time, realize the responsibilities and realities of caring for them, then toss them out in the streets…
It would be great if that were true. How many huskies have you rescued Sean? Still just the one? :s[/quote]
We rescued one, helped home another, and have two other stray huskies we’re trying to help. Every time I go to the Neihu dog pound, I see at least two huskies.
This is not a local problem - it exists worldwide. The makers of these films have a responsibility to advise the viewers that the animals in the film have been trained by professionals and have the right living environment - you can’t just take a husky puppy home and expect it to be as noble and well-trained as the ones in the movie.
The fashionable strays so far:
Dalmations, after 101 Dalmations glorified them as cute, intelligent dogs - in fact, they are one of the most difficult breeds
Labradors - after the Japanese movie about guide dogs. Now seen as strays and abundant in the dog pound because they do not suit living in confined spaces
Beagles - after the Disney cartoon about cats and dogs. Disney negelected to show how beagles need to be working, seeking out things, be part of a pack, and alert other pack members of everything that goes on aroound them. Now abundant in the shelters because of their excessive barking and need for exercise and stimulation
Huskies - after a couple of movies and the case of one apparently rescuing a drowning newborn baby from a toilet bowl. Not the kind of breed that does well left alone and without an adequate amount of heavy exercise each day, huskies are the fashionable breed of stray right now, and it will only get worse after the current movie
What you won’t see as strays are the red-brown poodles that the model carries everywhere. As with other small breeds, they suit the Taiwanese lifestyle and are rarely abandoned to the shelter or streets. When they are, they are soon snapped up. We need more movies about small breeds that require little training. These dogs do require attention, but they are easily taken care of by extended family members when the owners are at work or away.
Who wants to help me make a movie about heroic, cute, intrepid Maltese poodles?
Huskies aren’t exactly suitable for Taiwan’s climate, are they?
It’s just a thought, so I’m possibly wrong. Maybe they do have the ability to adapt to Taiwan’s hot, humid summers. My common sense tells me no, but I might be wrong.
Huskies. Beautiful creatures.
That is not the reason they are dumped, but you are right. Huskies are probably the worst suited to all aspects of the environment here: inadequate time for training, inadequate time and space for exercise, inadequate means of stimulation and companionship, and a highly inadequate supply of cool/cold weather.
you are correct sandman,
i should have said “fad dogs should not exist”. its a shame they are considered on a whim, and then when the whim dissolves, so does the responsibility to the new family member. sad.
not that huskies would enjoy taiwan, but they are very adaptable, and i understand their insulative coats not only protect them from the extreme cold, but also protect them from the extreme heat. i guess because their body is shaded and insulated from the outer temps, whether its cold or hot. their bodys’ internal thermostat keeps them around 100F regardless of the ambient temperature.
but i think huskies are not suitable to taiwan because of the lack of areas in the city to run, dirty water, and things like puddles of antifreeze on every corner.
more to the posts content: why are people such sheep? why are they so materialistic that they must possess everything they see? why do they have such short attention spans that they could just take on a new whim later, and then disregard the dog they made a commitment to?
jm
Oh, I have my theories, but I’d probably get banned from these forums or at least accused of being un-PC if I voiced them. 
And she’s doing great, SD, thanks! 
Great first post, John Moss.
I haven’t seen Eight Below yet, but I hear that at the end of the movie (in Taiwan) is a message basically telling people that huskies aren’t suited to Taiwan’s climate, and that raising a dog is a large responsibility, so people shouldn’t act rashly. That’s a good move (someone cares, at least…).
Unfortuntaly, I’ve also heard husky sales have gone up sharply in the last few weeks. :fume:
My husky gets quite hot in this heat, but I think its mostly the sun (she has black hair), and not the temperature. If we’re hiking in mostly-shaded area, she can go for hours, but if she’s in direct sunlight, she’ll SERIOUSLY need a rest after maybe 20 minutes (of just walking!).
But if you’re a responsbile owner, they can still be quite happy in the city. There’s enough moderate sized parks around my house, and the large dog parks, hills, etc. If you take them out often enough, they’ll do great…
Actually I saw a trailer for this movie last night and there’s one part in which it seems a dog gets et by some kind of giant loch Ness monster-type thing. Or a dinosaur or something. Maybe it’s a large sock puppet. I’d REALLY like one of those. Anyone know a pet store that has them?
Had a very interesting discussion on this subject over lunch today with a guy who was head of the Taiwan Orangutan Foundation for a number of years.
“Orangutans,” I asked him, “does Taiwan have wild orangutans?”
“No,” he explained, but about 1987 or 1988 there was a popular TV show in which one character had a pet orangutan, so all of a sudden everyone in Taiwan wanted a pet orangutan. At the time there were only about 10,000 wild orangutans left in the world, all in Indonesia, but about 1,000 baby orangutangs were smuggled into Taiwan to meet the huge demand. They were smuggled in by fishermen and sold to pet stores who sold them to locals who wanted the latest fashionable pet/accessory.
Of course most of them died, but the Orangutan Foundation succeeded in getting about 50 of them shipped back to Indonesia and others placed in zoos and did their best to put a halt to the smuggling, though it probably would have died out anyway as people tired of the craze and became interested in having a baby koala or penguin or whatever was next.
Why don’t we make a movie about a trash can. Maybe that would become a craze too…
Or a little bag that people spit beetlenuts in…it can go on strange travels, and do strange things…like…hold spit.
After Stuart Little, everyone wanted to adopt me. I’m not even a mouse, for fecks sake.
I think that any working dog doesn’t belong in taiwan, they’d die of boredom. I brought a boxer, sharpei tugo cross home with me and I can’t imagine him being an apartment dog he is so energetic, but nothing compared to a husky! Silly people need to get dogs that match their lifestyle.