I am curious whether the dog owners out there will agree

[flexagon]

I was lying in bed this morning thinking about dogs... whoa, get your brain out of the gutter, I was just thinking about my friend S and how much she loves her terrier. And every time I think about dogs, the actual physical aspect of owning them and having them around, picking them up, I think about their paws and how stiff and clawful and bony dogs seem to me.

I think this is a lot of why I like cats better than dogs. I like how cats melt themselves into blobs, when more features aren't required. Watching how their claws retract and they fold their paws up under them is the epitome of elegant engineering. And I love how, with the help of their tails, they can curl themselves into a perfect circle with nothing disturbing the outline. (Some dogs can also make a pretty good circle, but it's not quite the same and they still have claws). And then of course there's the purring, but I digress.

So yeah -- retractable claws for dogs. It would help. Get on it, you genetic engineers out there! Dog owners, do you sort of agree that it would be nice if dogs could retract their claws and be softer and more graceful the way I sometimes wish cats were bigger and would go on walks with me like dogs, or does this not bother you at all? Maybe you even prefer it for some reason.

Comments

[webrat.livejournal.com]

Considering how much I have to trim Zoe's nails, yeah... retractable claws would be good. If I don't keep it trimmed, it will hurt when she jumps or runs around the house and accidentally steps on your feet.

[nevers.livejournal.com]

ha! i can see why you like cats, but i think changing dogs' paws would take away some of their dogginess and i wouldn't like it.

[a-kosmos.livejournal.com]

I can definitely see how retractable dog claws might be an interesting modification. The only problem is that dogs are usually a little sensitive about their feet being messed with.

[silentq.livejournal.com]

I grew up with big dogs, and my dad would have to trim toe nails on a regular basis. In theory, enough walks on sidewalks would keep them filed down, but in practice we tended to go for walks in the woods, and the nail trimmers came out once a month. He'd always, always, mess up at least once and cut too far into the quick and the blood would get everywhere. :/ No one enjoyed it.
There's something about the click-click-click of a dog walking on a hard surface that I'd miss, but in general our dogs never caught us with their claws (the most they'd do was put their paws up on our shoulders, no lap sitting for the 90-145lb beasts we had, and Dad picked them up about once a year to do a weight check using the bathroom scale).

[webrat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I screw up with my dog's nails too. :/

[perfectbound.livejournal.com]

i am in favor of retractable claws for dogs (which i like, but not as much as bunnies or cats) and also bunnies, though i find all bunny feet to be cute despite clawfulness. bunnies are also good at being circular, or at least loaf-shaped.

[birdofparadox.livejournal.com]

I would appreciate the shedding of overly long claws (like cats often shed huge claw sheaths) in a dog, but as a cat and dog person, I love the big goofy sunshiney toddler movement dogs often have, like they're wearing their parent's shoes. I also love the tapdance of a happy-to-see-you doggins.

[flexagon]

Haha, that's really funny! I strongly dislike both those things. But I can see how someone might like them, if they were not me.

Whenever I find a huge cat-claw sheath, I know that one of our kitties has a brand-new supersharp claw. It's a worrisome thing. :-/