LIVING

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• ditto

  When someone makes statements as incorrect as those in the first couple of paragraphs, I find it impossible to believe anything else he/she writes. Different breeds have different exercise requirements. Period. A dog is not "lucky" to play with other dogs, it is necessary for them to be balanced and well-socialized for general interaction with other dogs. Please do better research or don't write about subjects about which you have no knowledge.

  Posted by Jennie August 07, 2011 15:31:44

• Agreed...

  I agree with Jeremy - to say that dogs need very little exercise cannot be true. In the wild, maybe they conserve energy in order to expend it hunting, but I don't think there's much energy spent in toddling over to the bowl of food in the corner of the balcony.
  
  Apart from being cruel, in my opinion, to have a larger than Yorkshire Terrier sized dog in Barcelona, I think it causes horrible degredation to the city itself. The buildings are bleached from dog urine, smell horrible, and then there's the dog poo all over the pavements as not everyone clears up after their pet. Not to mention the incessant barking of dogs kept indoors all day...

  Posted by Megan June 24, 2010 13:41:54

• Misleading

  To report that "dogs need very little excercise each day" sends all the wrong messages to a community that habitually leaves pet dogs on balconies, or locked in all day, or for longer. Excercise is vital for a pet or companion dog, for health (and obvious toiletary needs), training, mental stability and for bonding with the owner. The trainer interviewed referred to wild dogs resting, and wild dog is what you will get following his irresponsible advice.
  
  You have been sold a pup with the refuge interview that states "A lot of foreigners leave their dogs with us, especially the English". It misrepresents the reality, that English people have abandoned once in three years, compared to hundreds of local families, in my experience. What is my experience? Volunteering for three years with the very named charity, on all days of the week in all five sites they have occupied.
  
  It also throws a brick in the face of English people who have slogged their guts out, given all their spare time and compromised their work, all over Spain, to try to alleviate this very local problem. In southern parts of the country and Balearics the English are running the refuges, in the face of indifference and frequently outright aggression of the local communities.

  Posted by Jeremy Newman October 11, 2009 00:23:09