# Dogs Rock. People Suck. (And a vet question) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 25, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955 "2009-06-25T16:47:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/1 "2009-06-25T16:47:36Z")
The tan-the-puppyhide people were saints compared to the latest sad, sick, sorry sonof… no, wait, to call him a sonofabitch would be to bestow upon him an honor that he in no way deserves, considering what he did to [this](http://sfzapp.com/) darling boxer puppy. I saw it on the local news in LA last night. She is 5 months old and the sweetest thing, totally trusting and social. For those too scared to look, the sad, sick, fuckwad apparently hung her up with rope in her midsection (that detail was from the TV report last night) while he (and yeah, I’m assuming it’s a man. Show me 3 females you’ve heard of who do shit like this and I’ll re-think it. Til then, I automatically assume the perp has a penis.) sliced off her ears, her lips, her toes, her tail, and this…this is the sick, cruel, INSANE FUCKING MADNESS of all of it: HER NOSE. HER GODDAMN FUCKING NOSE. GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!!! If you know anything about dogs, you know that a dog is mobility system for a NOSE. Everything a dog is about is its nose! HOLY FUCKING CHRIST YOU SICK FUCK!!! It would have been better to take off a leg, asshole! TWO! Dogs with two legs and a nose are more of a dog than a dog with four legs and no nose! Someone go stomp the shit outta that guy and cut off HIS fucking nose! And feed it to a dog! ARGH! Now…the beautiful, heartbreaking thing is that this dog is sweet as pie. Just darling. She licks everyone, she’s trusting, she’s loving… and that’s even more maddening. It’s one thing to have done this to her and have her understandably respond by becoming fearful, suspicious and aggressive. But for her to become even more submissive and sweet… well. I love dogs. Dogs are amazing. Now…the vet question. I know how dangerous and damaging it is for a person to lose their sense of smell. (I had a terrible scare some years ago…with Zicam, so I looked into it. People who have no sense of smell tend to have a shorter lifespan, interestingly. You rely on your nose a lot more than you realize.) But a dog? Wow. Do any vets know of a case like this? And finally, I do have a smidge of sadness for the fucktastic asswipe that did this. Because it must really suck to be that internally twisted. ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Black\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/2 "2009-06-25T17:46:07Z")
That’s completely fucked up. I will never understand people who go out of their way to hurt things. But, the silver lining is that she’ll likely get a wonderful, caring home now and live the rest of her days in peace. And for those who are afraid to click on the link (I almost was) there are no gory pictures, and strangely, she’s still really cute! ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/3 "2009-06-25T17:56:33Z")
She is, totally. But on the news last night she looked a little more disturbing, because evidently a vet opens up a hole in the space where her nose is supposed to be about once a month. That seems kinda strange to me, but I guess he knows what he’s doing. I would imagine that they are going to look for some long term solution for that. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/4 "2009-06-25T18:28:04Z")
> [@Black\_Sunshine](#): > > And for those who are afraid to click on the link (I almost was) there are no gory pictures, and strangely, she’s still really cute! Agreed. I almost didn’t click on the link, 'cause I love dogs… but that is one adorable pup. The most astounding thing about dogs is that they can go through shit like that, and still love unconditionally. Excuse me. I have to go hug my dogs now. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/5 "2009-06-25T20:17:54Z")
Oh shit, I can’t believe she even LIVED through that! That is one tough pooch!!! (And adorable!) I think I’m going to cut Lexie some slack, the next time she starts barking incessantly. ---
**Author:** ![StaudtCJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@StaudtCJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StaudtCJ)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/6 "2009-06-25T20:45:41Z")
Ugh. Torturing a dog is unacceptable. I’m glad she’s still sweet and adoptable. Hopefully her new owners will take excellent care of her. As for the idiot who tortured her… Someone ought to shoot him 10 times and take his hide for a belt. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/7 "2009-06-25T20:47:29Z")
That’s so awful. Poor doggie. Is it really dangerous for a human not to have a sense of smell? What’s up with the shorter lifespan? (Is it something like, humans who have no sense of smell have other health problems that would cause shorter lifespan?) ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/8 "2009-06-25T20:53:59Z")
I can’t remember all the details, but it’s not a single thing, it’s multiple things. If you have no sense of smell, you can’t detect gas leaks, rotten food, any poisonous substances that you would normally detect and avoid by noting the smell. You can’t smell smoke from a fire… if you think about it you realize there’s a lot of things you rely on your nose for that can keep you safe and healthy. So looked at as a group, the overall trend is evidently for people who lack that ability to succumb to things that they might otherwise easily avoid, lowering the life expectancy for people thus afflicted generally. And almost as bad, food doesn’t taste like anything except salt, bitter, sweet and sour. I’ll bet that umami is in the nose as well. (that’s the supposed 5th taste, the taste of meat.) Because, for those who did not know, the subtleties of the tastes of food are all in the nose insofar as they go beyond those basic perceptions. That’s why food is boring when you have a cold. ---
**Author:** ![StaudtCJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@StaudtCJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StaudtCJ)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/9 "2009-06-25T20:56:12Z")
The condition is called anosmia. [http://www.anosmiafoundation.org/intro.shtml](http://www.anosmiafoundation.org/intro.shtml) It appears that aside from the problem being symptomatic of deeper, more dangerous issues, the nose helps us with numerous danger signals. Maybe the reduced age is a symptom of failure to detect these dangers? ETA: Sorry, looks like I was beaten to it. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/10 "2009-06-25T20:56:54Z")
Not having a sense of taste would be awful. How does that compare for lifespans for people who are deaf/blind? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/11 "2009-06-25T21:04:28Z")
My dog has no nose. How does he smell? Just awful! [Cite.](http://wiki.answers.com/Q/My_dog_has_got_no_nose_so_how_does_he_smell) Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/12 "2009-06-25T21:28:38Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Now…the vet question. I know how dangerous and damaging it is for a person to lose their sense of smell. (I had a terrible scare some years ago…with Zicam, so I looked into it. People who have no sense of smell tend to have a shorter lifespan, interestingly. You rely on your nose a lot more than you realize.) But a dog? Wow. Do any vets know of a case like this? From the pictures, it just seems that the person cut off the front part of the nose (the nostrils, black moist nares part). Several slightly disjointed statements will follow: 1. It is possible that the person didn’t sliced through a significant part of the olfactory nerves and organs in the dog. IIRC, they have sensory parts further back than just the main front part (wet black nose). So her sense of smell may be untouched. 2. Dogs can get numerous tumors that really invade, destroy, obliterate the nose… Much more severe than what this puppy had done. In many cases, until it become really severe, the animal goes along with its life. Remember, dogs have owners who, in general (scum excluded) take good care of the dog and will probably get it out of the house or out of danger if he/she notices the dog in a difficult spot. 3. These dogs that have tumors and other stuff… Sometimes they can get part of their noses surgically removed… So the dog (or cat) would look like the dog in the picture, only it had a tumor that was removed. 4. Dogs (and other animals) have a different sense of “taste” than humans. As indicated by the fact, for example, that they enjoy things that would make you puke. 😉 They have different numbers and types of taste buds, among other things. It may be that the smell part is not affected enough to interfere with the taste part… and that while the smell part may be important… the taste one not so much (compared to the other). 5. Dogs do rely more on the sense of smell than other organs (and probably more than people do), but I’m sure that a well taken care of dog with anosmia that only eats what the owner puts out and is taken care of by a very attentive owner, is not going to have a significant decrease in its life span (other than if the loss of smell came due to a tumor). I’m not even sure you can measure “loss of smell” in dogs… Loss of vision, yes, loss of hearing, yes.. Loss of smell or taste… hmm, not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/13 "2009-06-26T16:17:33Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I know how dangerous and damaging it is for a person to lose their sense of smell. (I had a terrible scare some years ago…with Zicam, so I looked into it. People who have no sense of smell tend to have a shorter lifespan, interestingly. You rely on your nose a lot more than you realize.) But a dog? Like **KarlGrenze** , I’m not sure this dog has lost her sense of smell. I know SFA about dog anatomy, but my WAS is that the actual sensory organs must be much further back. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/14 "2009-06-26T16:28:08Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > (and yeah, I’m assuming it’s a man. Show me 3 females you’ve heard of who do shit like this and I’ll re-think it. Til then, I automatically assume the perp has a penis.) Outside of bizarre news reports like this, I’d be hard pressed to find even one male who would do something like that. A sick fuck is a sick fuck regardless of genitalia. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/15 "2009-06-26T16:44:36Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Like **KarlGrenze** , I’m not sure this dog has lost her sense of smell. I know SFA about dog anatomy, but my WAS is that the actual sensory organs must be much further back. I think the problem may be airflow through the nasal passage to the olfactory nerves, rather than loss of the actual nose “piece”, which doesn’t have any sensory apparatus in it at all, IIRC. Looking at the pictures, it appears the nasal passages have been closed off, either as a result of scar tissue buildup or corrective surgery. She _is_ adorable. Is there anything known about the perp, or was she just found that way? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/16 "2009-06-26T18:06:24Z")
She was just found that way. And apparently the vet opens up her nose about once a month. On television she had a hole the size of a quarter where the scar is in the pictures, and that’s what they explained as the reason. I imagine that’s a big part of what the rescue people were referring to in terms of medical issues. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/17 "2009-06-26T18:11:25Z")
hugs to the puppeh, a feet-first trip to the woodchipper for the scumbag. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/18 "2009-06-26T18:38:36Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > She was just found that way. > > And apparently the vet opens up her nose about once a month. On television she had a hole the size of a quarter where the scar is in the pictures, and that’s what they explained as the reason. I imagine that’s a big part of what the rescue people were referring to in terms of medical issues. Why can’t they implant a stent or something to keep her nose open? Or are they planning to do reconstructive surgery later? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/19 "2009-06-26T18:49:13Z")
> [@Black\_Sunshine](#): > > That’s completely fucked up. I will never understand people who go out of their way to hurt things. There’s a significant minority of the people in this society who are essentially sadists. During my afternoon errands today, I was behind a guy in a pickup who had this bumper sticker: “Searching for your lost cat? Look under my tires.” There’s no real way to parse that other than to conclude the guy is a massively uncaring dickheaded bastard. I once saw an SUV go out of its way to run over a turtle-after the poor thing spun down the road 200 feet like an oversize hockey puck I got out and took her to a pond in front of my university campus-she had a 2" long gash in her shell (otherwise fine). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955/20 "2009-06-26T19:06:17Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > During my afternoon errands today, I was behind a guy in a pickup who had this bumper sticker: “Searching for your lost cat? Look under my tires.” I really hope that he made that bumper sticker himself. If not, it was mass produced. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dogs-rock-people-suck-and-a-vet-question/500955.md?page=2)