Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Dogs and Other Pets on Bicycles and Motorcycles


Miss Almira Gulch in the Wizard of Oz had a pretty nice rig!

  • My bicycle has been collecting dust for too long. Maybe what I need to do is add a decent terrier box off of the back. Of course, if you have money or can weld, you can carry a lot more than a terrier on a bike -- I think a Great Dane is well within the bounds of possible! Check out these extended- frame bicycles. For those with terriers, the options are simpler, from jury-rigged plastic milk crates to fancier rigs like this, or this, or a well-mounted wicker basket like that in the Wizard of Oz.

  • For those who motorcycle, check out these options, from dogs to cats, and from monkey to sheep. Back when rocks were soft (and so was my head), I occasionally commuted to work at a Maryland boat yard (we built big cruising sailboats) with another fellow and his massive Labrador-cross named Kilgore. Rich would drive, I would sit behind Rich, and Kilgore would lay cross-wise between us, with his front paws on the right and his back paws on the left. We never had a problem.


Photo out of China. Amazing!
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5 comments:

Retrieverman said...

The dog "hanging 20" on the back of the bike in China looks to be an unimproved Chow-chow. http://stephenbodio.blogspot.com/2009/10/qualzucht.html

Yes, that's what they look like in their home country!

PBurns said...

I assure you that this dog, and the other one on Bodio's site is not a breed; they are simply versions of the generic yellow dog found all over Asia and frequently seen in the markets, packed into wire cages, waiting for the stew pot. Sometimes they make a life as a pet if they are very lucky.

See >>

http://www.dogmeattrade.com/library_articles/international_dmt.html


http://www.animalsasiafoundation1.zoomshare.com/my_images/dogs_jumbled_in_cage-caaf_thumb.jpg

http://www.securepet.biz/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/many-dogs.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/29/xin_09010329140372576135.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/29/content_516375.htm&usg=__jVvJNLn_9UH6mI0ZiZKA1nKWQHU=&h=334&w=278&sz=94&hl=en&start=20&sig2=tXeTWTErtwwHscdegDvgZg&um=1&tbnid=p6UwU9oT1LyYWM:&tbnh=119&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddog%2Bmarket%2Bchina%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=DtADS4atN8-CnQfEkb01

P.

PBurns said...

Here is what a chow in China looks like and pretty much always has >> http://lh5.ggpht.com/fisherwy/R11JGazeUGI/AAAAAAAAL8Q/gxUxHWHoptE/chauffeur+chow+chow+dog%5B2%5D

P

Retrieverman said...

I have to say that I'm not an expert on the dogs people eat.

However, I did figure out that the Pekingese didn't always look like we breed them in the West.

Konrad Lorenz had a Chow that looked a lot like the dog in the photograph, though.

PBurns said...

Chows originally came from Mongolia, where they were called "Lion Maned" dogs.

The most common Chinese and Korean eating dogs looks to be a shepherd-collie looking dogs, and though they can come in any color, they are most often yellow. The fur is fairly long, in part because eating dogs is most common in colder parts of asia where dog meat is supposed to help "warm the blood" and alleviate arthritis. They are a bit bigger than a pie dog (shepherd size) probably because you get more meat and better cuts. Too fine a point can be put on this, of course: these dogs are not a breed, but a broad type and there is a lot of variation along the edges.

I have walked through two of the largest markets in Asia and seen crates of dogs, tubs of turtles and eel, steaming tubs of pigs head, bizarre fish of every kind ... and not a single chicken anywhere.

P