But to bring it back to the thread -- the strange thing is, if that 4 lb Petersburg Orchid were, uh, ok, artificially inseminated by 280 lb Maximus, and somehow a puppy lived to term without killing the mom, it would result in a dog.

It might not LOOK like a dog, but they are the same species! The genetics of the dog allow it to vary from 2 lbs (the tiniest teacup chihuahua) up to your 280 lb defensive tackle there.

I go back to a teacher of mine waaay back who said that an awful lot of evolution can happen without even any genetic mutations.

The next question: are there genes present in the human genome that are so recessive that they have basically never been activated?

on that note, we had a little Basset Hound that SOMEHOW got impregnated by the neighbors Irish Wolfhound mix. It was proabably a 145 lb dog. Don't ask me how that happened, but they ended up having to abort the pregnancy, or our dog wouldn't have survived (or so my dad said at the time). She was carrying 11 puppies. That would have been a strange mutt.

Fair enough. My dog Molly is dumb, dumber than a box of rocks, D-U-M dumb. No kidding. Really dumb.

But she's also a giant ball of love. Her favorite thing in the entire world is to climb onto the couch and lay her gigantic head in my lap. She likes it even more than food - sometimes she doesn't eat, but she never misses an opportunity to flop on the couch with me.

Do I feel that she is inferior? Well, yeah, I guess so. She'd be lost on her own in the wild, I imagine. No mighty huntress is Molly the Big Dumb Saint Bernard. We didn't get her to be an equal partner in our house, we got her because we like dogs.

And that's what she is - she's our dog and our friend and the source of lots of laughter and love. And maybe I just can't see it the way you do, but that doesn't sound like slavery to me.

Besides, my GOD, what a cute puppy she was:

Well, this thread has degenerate into something bizarre now.

My dog is also totally dumb. I used to think that four legged animals wouldn't trip and fall like us humans sometimes do, but alas, she proved me wrong.

shes a cutie tho. im thinking of getting a beagle or a mutt that gets to be about the same size (as a beagle). dont want too big of a dog, but i dont want a lapdog either.

~james

BTW, I'm loving the dog shots, folks. Some people say pics of pets on the internet are dumb, but for some reason, I like seeing all these puppies that people are happy to share their homes with. It's comforting.

My dog is getting ornory in her old age. When I went home for thanksgiving I ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room which my dog usually sleeps on during the night. She slept on the floor that night and seemed content. Now you have to realize that she rarely gets on the couch when anyone is around, but the next night she got up long before everyone went to bed. Obviously claiming her spot. After I had moved her(I felt terrible) she decided to climb onto my moms good couch. Luckily my mom understood and my dog didn't get yelled at so it was okay for us to laugh.

Stupid Dog Email that Showed up at an Opportune Time
 

How many dogs does it take to change a lightbulb? Just one, but if it's a:

Golden Retriever: "The sun is shining, the air is fresh, the day is
young. We've got our whole lives ahead of us -- and you're inside worrying about a burned-out lightbulb??"

Border Collie: "Done. And by the way, your wiring is not up to code."

Lab: "Oh, me, meeeeeeeee! Pleeeeeeeze choose-me-choose-me-choose-me!"

German Shepherd: "Back off. That's MY lightbulb."

Dachshund: "Can I get a little boost here?"

Toy Poodle: "I'm sorry, I can't help -- my nails are still wet."

Rottweiler: "You talkin' to me? Are YOU...talkin' to...ME?"

Shi-tzu: "Puh-leeeze! We have people to do that, you know."

Jack Russell terrier: "I just KNOW I can reach it! Another twenty
jumps..."

Hound Dog: "zzzzzzzzzz"

Pointer: "The new bulb is riiiiight over there..."

Chihuahua: "Hey! Watch where you're walking!"

Greyhound: "If it isn't moving, I don't care."

Kelpie: "LOOK! I put all the light bulbs in a little circle!"

Chow: "Does this mean dinner will be late?"

Sheepdog: "It doesn't look any darker to me..."

Weimeraner: "That light bulb you threw away? I brought it back."

Re: Stupid Dog Email that Showed up at an Opportune Time
 

That was great wolf, I loved the lab one. Though the german Shepard one I don't agree with, I had a German Shepard once she was the gentlest dog you could find. Wouldn't hurt a soul.

Me too! That's Al all the way... if he's been in his kennel for five hours, and has to piss like a racehorse when I get home, the first thing he does when I let him out is give me about ten seconds of hyper-excited puppy lovin' before making a mad dash for the back door.

This was a SteveDallas Random Thread Picker pick. It's interesting to read in light of the recent chimp attack (though I only read about the first 30 and last 10 posts - the dinner bell is ringing).

All that animal talk and not a single recipe?? WTF????

There's not enough meat on a Petersburg Orchid to make anything useful out of it.

Well, I suppose you could zip up some sort of stew if you slaughtered a whole herd of them, but that's a lot of skinning and deboning for one bowl of stew. Screw it. Open up a can of Dinty Moore. That pretty much tastes like dog anyway.

Hey ... what ever happened to Tobiasly? Anybody know?