rude people?

Sometimes rudness is called for: such as, when posting questions like

OH MY GOD HELLLLLLLPPPP!!!!

so my dog just cut his leg off and it's bleeding everywhere what should I do????!!! I don't have money for the vet, help!

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While that is a made up example by me (the evidence is that I think I spelled all the words correctly . . .) this is a question that deserves a stern/harsh/ rude answer!

Or how about :

My 10 pound chiwawa just had sex with my 30 pound bulldog. Will she get pregnent? How will I know? How long are dawgs pregnent for?

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Again, a completely "made-up" question but this is what it would look like! And we are supposed to be cheerio with someone like this??!!

I have posted several questions on here and I expected to be reemed a knew one about my aggressive dog. I sent anemail to one of the answerers commenting on how nice and helpful people were. I didn't get ONE rude answer. Her response: people can tell that you care, people can tell that you really want help, people were getting lots of info from you which helps us help you, in short - people can tell.

It's quite obvious that many people on here are simply looking for validation for their crappy way of treating their dogs. For their inability to deal with emergencies (e.g. it's ok you don't have money, you still love your dog would be chosen best answer!). So see, rudeness comes when people ask questions but really don't want the truth, they really don't want help, they really don't want to know! People that have been doing this awhile can tell which type of person it is. Is it a person really seeking help or validation? Validation seekers are the ones that get rude answers. They don't want the truth.

Vets and vet techs are not always pet experts. Goodness!!! Do you know how stupid some techs are? It is right down scary. Vets are better, but many of the young ones don't even know the difference in breeds of dogs. There are some brilliant people here. Some more knowledgeable in some subjects that others, but brilliant. You honestly do get some better advice here than you could from some vets and almost all vet techs.

I just saw a question on feeding chicken liver to a dog. One person, DP had the right answer. (it causes heart failure) ONE PERSON!!! among all the vet techs and other "professionals". And they had something like 4 thumbs down from the people who knew nothing. There are brilliant people on here among the others in certain subjects. It's kind of amazing.

And I do agree that people are rude sometimes. Sometimes it is accidental, but sometimes it is on purpose. Just get a thicker skin and ignore it.

Sometimes the truth hurts, and some of us have a harder time sugarcoating it (maybe we don't want to).

I respect others' opinions and experiences and want mine respected as well. I know I'll get a thumbs-down by saying "go to the vet" when someone says "my dog's head has been severed" or something like Believer mentioned. The rude answers are often a way of saying "this is the wrong place to ask."

For example, housebreaking questions are frequently asked, and this is a good forum for that. Those with dogs have done some form of training to teach their dogs where it is and isn't acceptable to "go." You'll get contrasting opinions, tips, and stories from dog owners, which is what you want.

Breeding questions, however, should be directed to breeders and veterinarians with experience in breeding.

I too wish people would search or use Google a bit more, but I try to be helpful despite that. I have asked questions that elicited strong answers (along the lines of "stop that NOW or you'll mess up your dog") and haven't thought "OMG that was the RUDEST THING EVAR."

In short, I try to be as helpful as I can but am often frank (as are others, I've noticed) and, when all else fails, getting offended on the internet isn't exactly serious business. Maybe your question wasn't exactly suited for this format.

DP, I agreed with you right up until the last sentence. I can see no evidence to suggest that the person asking this question is stupid. (Apart from that - best answer so far)

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It is extremely frustrating when we live in a world where dogs are neglected and abused, to see people clearly continuing that neglect/abuse.

I don't know which questions/answers you are referring to when you mention rude people, but when you see questions like:

"Help, my son has just thrown our 4 week old puppy against the wall and now it can't move?"

or "my puppy has just been lying on the floor now for 3 days, occasionally twitching, what should I do?"

When you suggest taking the dog to the vet, they complain that they can't afford. Or that the vets are closed and they don't want to bother the emergency vet.

Or those that have already decided to breed their dog despite knowing little about the breed, nothing about whelp, no idea about health testing or how to find suitable homes etc... (and so the dogs are likely to lead miserable lives because somebody decided that the puppies would be "cute").

Or those who use this site to advertise their poorly bred puppies.

BTW - The questions above are ***NOT*** made up. They are actual questions I've seen on here.

It's worth remembering that many people who post questions on here aren't actually after an answer from somebody knowledgeable, they just want somebody to validate their opinion, or encourage them down a road to potential disaster (if not disaster for them, then for their dog/s).

Some people will be rude in an attempt to shock people out of doing whatever disastrous thing they plan to do.

If somebody posts a genuine question, I'll do my best to be as helpful as possible. Every so often, somebody seems to actually take notice of what you say. They are open-minded enough to accept an answer that comes from a different perspective. I'm really thankful for those people.

I find it very difficult however, to be polite to puppy farmers, backyard breeders or other people who are determined to abuse their dogs.

So we should just help people breed dogs that have not been screened for health and genetic diseases that are specific to the breed and are only doing it for the money they will make? I don't think so. This is not where research should begin and if they wanted to learn there are more appropriate places, such as a vet, to ask what the dog should be screened for, breeders, who have been doing dogs for years and know what they are doing and joining clubs where many people are knowledgeable and are willing to help if one is really interested in putting in the work.

Also, if you have a sick dog the person to ask is a vet, not YA. There is too much bad info passed out and if you do not have a clue, how do you know what advice to follow? If you follow the wrong advice, you could cause more harm than good.

I have no problem helping someone with a training, behavioral or even a minor health problem but if your dog has been hit by a car, has had diarrhea for a week and is not eating or something more serious, I will direct you to a vet. I will never help someone with dog breeding questions because if you have not bothered to prepare yourself for breeding by learning before you do it, you should not be breeding.

You know most people are not pet experts but reading a book or two and gaining some knowledge prior to getting that cute puppy is always a good idea. As a matter of fact if people took the time to research before they got a dog maybe we won't have so many dogs dumped in shelters rescues and pounds just because people did not bother to learn. In most things that you do in life you need some basic knowledge, so why should taking on a living creature that you are suppose to be responsible for be any different?

Perhaps its because the people who know what they are talking about aren't being listened to? The same questions keeps appearing over and over again. The best answers picked are the worst possible solution. Our concern is not for the people but the dogs. If askers want to hear how wonderful they are as owners then they shouldn't be asking what to do. This is supposed to be a forum to assist those that truly don't know. Yet, time and time again they pick a potentially harmful answer because it is either the easier, cheapest or flattering answer they "want to hear". It kills me to see some of the neglect and cruelty that both the askers and answerer's put on this site. God help the dogs! Our hopes are that perhaps a good shock or jolt may knock some sense in to them.

I answer questions as best as I can. However, if I see another poster give horrible advice I'm going to point it out. Some people may see that as rude.

I don't care about getting thumbs down. I know for example that the pro-breeder and petstore folks will do that to me because I'm pro-rescue. Doesn't bother me a bit. I just hope some of what I have to say gets through to the original poster.

And oh yeah, vets don't have all the answers either. Try finding a vet who knows a lot about guinea pigs. It ain't easy.

The people who answer questions aren't always the rude ones ...

I've seen folks answer questions with answers the inquisitor didn't really want to read. The asker would then add very rude comments directed at the answer and the person giving the answer. The comments are sometimes laced with profanities.

Just pointing out that we live on a two way street here at YA.

Mike Hunt. I used to work for a company where one of the sales reps came in almost wetting himself with laughter. He had been to see a client, a Mr M Hunt but he didn't know what his first name was. The receptionist at the office greeted our rep and then started to try to track down Mr Hunt. It was only when she called to a colleague "has anyone seen Mike Hunt?" that our rep lost it completely!

Hi there l don't think any one is being rude, when it comes to ignorance regarding an animal people will get angry & frustrated with you, no-one can be that stupid to neglect there animals... So if you cant handled the truth dont ask for any help? because thats what everyones here for...

There are very few people who actually go out of their way to be rude here, but agreed there are a few. DP for sure you are NOT one of them.

As it's been stated several times it's so frustraiting to go over the same thing time after time, to do your best to give the best answer possible only to get the ones that just agree with everything the asker has said to be deamed the best answer. Many of them are not even real questions but someone saying what they plan to do and you are supposed to bow down to them and say that everything they are saying is right.

Also people who know nothing about a situation giving a thumbs down to an answer which is in fact correct to me is ruder than most things I have seen posted here. One little instance yesterday. Someone who should have had the dog at the vet rather than being on the computer was giving discriptions of classic signs of seizure. I posted to this effect and said the dog needed to get to a vet right away. I got a thumbs down for that. I have seen many dogs my own and fosters have seizures. I did say it maybe something else, but every unlikely, but how stupid of someone who obviously knew nothing about seizures is a dog to give it a thumbs dwn and put doubt in someones mind over something so very serious. I can get a million thumbs down and it does not bother me personally, but in some cases that person may have been thinking of doing the right thing and going to a vet then "Idiot Joe" puts doubt in their mind and that animal may have died. Unlikely, but someone without the sense to take sucha seriously ill animal to a vet my just have fallen for it.

I'm sorry I will never praise or agree with someone not taking a sick animal to the vet because they can;t afford it. If they can be affording to sit at a computer with internet access they can afford pet insurance or to put a little by each month for an emergency. Yes cercumstances can change in an instant, but if they do any vet you have been working with on a regular basis will give you a few days to sell that computer to save your dogs life.

After rescuing close to 400 cats and kittens over the years and several dogs/puppies too I won;t agree to people who don;t even know the correct term for a dogs "period" or how long a pregnancy lasts breeding. Not only would that be wrong to me it would be immoral.

I never ever go out of my way to be rude, but I have had people rude to me for standing up for the animals who can;t speak for themselves. I never have and never will be a rude or ignorant person. If anyone see's me that way I guess they just don;t know the difference between rudeness and an opinion.

Each and every person has a right to their own opinion, but they don;t have the right to expect everyone to agree with it.

I am not a pet expert nor do I claim to be. Very few people here are. Maybe a couple of vet techs that I truly believe are what they say and that's about it, but some of us have done more than just a little research and do try their best to offer the best solution to a genuine problem to the best of their ability. If that makes them rude so be it.