People from Foreign Countries

There are a decent number of regulars on here that are from industrialized countries outside of North America (Western Europe, Australia). Typically, they share the same value system as most of us. They understand proper nutrition, veterinary care, and even know some of the brand names that we mention. It is great that Chaz has such a far reach.

However, we also get the occasional poster from a developing country or another country with an entirely different attitude towards animals. These people make the effort to come on an internet forum to either share their experience or seek help for their dog. From what I've seen, we all-knowing Chazhound members chastise them for not taking better care of their pets. We tell them to drive to the emergency vet, feed Innova EVO, or re-home their dog to a no-kill rescue. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't have access to any of these things.

I think we should try to give more credit to people that come on here looking for help, especially those in the Health section. There was a recent poster that was looking to confirm that his veterinary treatment would work and instead of anything useful, people told him that his post was SPAM or that he should go to the emergency vet. Turns out, the guy was trying his best and people didn't even give him a chance.

It isn't always obvious that posters are from another country, so here is a short list of indicators that I can think of (keep in mind this does not mean that the person is definitely from another country, but it doesn't hurt to ask):

-"I feed my dog biscuits" - This is completely different than the cookies we use as treats.

-"The vet prescribes tabs _______" - Tabs isn't a term that is typically used in North America, so if you see this ask where the poster is from.

-Several posts are made at between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. I know some of us stay up late or wake up early, but for a first time poster this usually indicates they are from a foreign country.

-"I chain my dog to the house while I am gone." - Hard to swallow, but it's a heck of a lot better than the dog running through traffic.

-"My doggy likes chocolate!" - Believe it or not, people in other countries feed their dogs milk chocolate all the time.

-"The dog eats whatever we eat." - That happens in the US, too, but is very common in foreign countries.

-"I give my puppy one bowl of milk..." - Yes, people might give their growing puppies milk instead of Innova EVO super grain-free high protein raw diet ultra food.

That is all I can think of for now. Please feel free to add to this list if you think of anything. I know this thread isn't as fun as some of the others but I hope that people might think twice before bashing the next poster. It's one thing to slam someone that shares your values/culture for not acting the way that you would, but can you really impose your beliefs on someone 10,000 miles away?

Great post!

bump...

I tried very very hard not to reply to this.....but apparently I'm weak.

I can't speak for others here but I for one have been to every continent except Africa, spent a week in India, have seen feral dogs in places as far flung as mexico, Indonesia and yes even Canada! Yes, values and customs are different but a medical emergency is a medical emergency no matter where you are. A dog will die from rabies just as fast in the middle of the Congo or in downtown toronto and nobody on a message board in the great unwashed vastness that is the internet can do a darn thing about it.

Maybe some of the posters found it difficult to offer anything "useful" as you put it, because the answer was extremely obvious or because nobody knew how to fix such an issue with duct tape and some baling wire.

I find your post not only condescending to the members here but also to the original poster. Oh and especially to those unfortunate poor and destitute know-nothings in those God-forsaken "foreign countries"

Anyway, this is simply my opinion and I haven't been here long so perhaps I should've kept my mouth shut, but as i said..I'm weak.

bumping your own thread? nice

btw..does this mean anything ? http://chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53052

I have to say that unless someone has on their profile or states in their post what country they are in, it's kind of hard to know whether or not to respond in a way that assumes there are the kind of resources and facilities that I'm familiar with or not. People in this country despite the resources we have, do neglect their dogs so it's not like if I see someone talking about something I'd consider neglectful I'm going to automatically think, "Oh they must be from a different country." And I don't like to assume just based on names or their apparent grasp of English because lots of people with lots of various ethnic backgrounds live in the US and Western Europe and I can see someone getting pretty darn offended if it was assumed they were living in a country they don't in fact live in just because of their name.

Given that this is a U.S.-based board where the language is English, I really wish that if someone is posting from a country where the standards of care for dogs and the resources are very different from here would just say so so everyone can be of more help. Just inspecting time stamps on posts is of limited utility because so many members are in Australia and New Zealand.

A medical emergency is a medical emergency, but access to care isn't the same. Not only is access completely different, routines and customs are different as well. Do most dog owners in developing countries take their dogs to the vet for shots, spay/neuter/, regular check-ups?

The fact that you think the answers are "extremely obvious" is the reason that I made this post. The answers are obvious TO US, but not necessarily to someone with a completely different set of values.

Yeah, I'm one of them. A**hole.

It's a matter of culture and belief-systems. If you haven't figured that out already then there is no sense in me explaining it again. "Right and wrong" to us are completely different than "right and wrong" to different cultures.

I have been here for a while, and unfortunately, I've noticed that people typically stay away from threads like this. What is so wrong with a bump for visibility?

Not really. There was another post there of a guy advertising his e-book or his website. He posted it in just about every training thread. I reported it to clean up the threads and to prevent people from getting roped into scams. Nice work, Sherlock.

I agree with you. Some people do make it clear from the start that they are from another country, others don't. Just as they should tell us, we also shouldn't be afraid to ask!

and don't call me names.

**Just for the record, I never saw the other thread**

I think Herschel has a very good point. Not everywhere is the same as the US. Lots of other countries do not have the resources and freedoms that we as Americans have. You can give advise, but you can't flame a person for trying everything -known- possible.

Thanks.

Here it is. Be warned, it's kind of disturbing. He was trying to get a second opinion after his vet visit: http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63703

Hmm, wow. Poor dog. I still have chill bumps from just reading/visualizing that on a dog.

I think it was a great post! I come from a different country that yes, is developed but I think some things are still different, but by no means missing here. If someone told me to bring my dog to an emergency vet, I wouldn't be able to because there is no emergency vet. The only thing I CAN do is call my vet any time of day and she'll get the message around noon or sometime in the evening.
I didn't see the thread, but many new chazzers have been treated 'badly' and childish in the past. I ushally keep out of it, but I still read them and shake my head.
There are countries that may and very well can be a greatly developed country some day. We all started out being small and need help in some way. Some more recent and other a long time ago.
And the new chazzers sometime don't even have to be from a different country, there are parts in the US where you can't really get to any kind of Vet in less than an hours drive.

Oh and another thing to look out for if the person is from a different country:

Their Spelling. Just little common things like 'Their and There' or 'to', 'too' and 'two'. And possibly their grammer and sentence structure.



Sorry, I'm not one for 'attacking' new users... this just bugged me.

I am in the US and the nearest E-vet to me is 120 miles away. Out here in the middle of nowhere you have to wait until a vet is open.