# mistreated pets



## Dragonheart (Jan 8, 2014)

This poll is mainly just for an assignment I have to do for a class, where i have to do primary research (bleh). In general my topic is about the mistreatment on pets, whether it be about neglect, abuse, or any other form mistreatment. So if you guys can take a couple of minutes to do this it will help greatly.


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## Dragonheart (Jan 8, 2014)

I would also like to add, that it's sticking around till the 18th of Dec. Also any other help on the subject would be greatly appreciated, and just post whatever you feel you need to add. Thx


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

I don't think the poll is clear on what you are asking. 

What mistreated pets? In shelters? Privately owned? Are you asking if people go out and try to adopt mistreated pets intentionally? Steal them from their abusers? Rehab and rehome or keep them forever? Euthanize to release them from their demons? Start a rescue for them? Warehouse the unadoptable ones in a sanctuary? 

More importantly, even in rescue, we don't always KNOW which ones have or have not been abused. Some dogs are just shy by nature (even some owned dogs who've been in good homes from puppyhood), but people wrongly assume it's because they were mistreated.

There's also a huge conceptual gap between dogs that have been neglected and those that have been physically abused. And even in the neglect category, there are those whose psychological needs were simply ignored (growing up without exercise or training in a wealthy home where they were otherwise fed and care for), others that were loved and got good psychological care in a poor home that couldn't afford vet care and developed illness (e.g., heartworms), and others that were left on a chain to starve to death or discarded with serious wounds on the side of the road to die. That's the spectrum of neglect. So what are you getting at?

I really can't wrap my mind around what you are trying to get out of the "data" you hope to generate.


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## Susan_GSD_mom (Jan 7, 2014)

Magwart said:


> I don't think the poll is clear on what you are asking.
> 
> What mistreated pets? In shelters? Privately owned? Are you asking if people go out and try to adopt mistreated pets intentionally? Steal them from their abusers? Rehab and rehome or keep them forever? Euthanize to release them from their demons? Start a rescue for them? Warehouse the unadoptable ones in a sanctuary?
> 
> ...


I agree--I don't really understand, the poll itself doesn't seem to correlate with what your posts say. Maybe you can clarify a bit--the poll questions seem aimed at pet owners in general and the level of care we give our animals, but not about abuse or neglect.

Susan


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

What pets? Dogs, fish, hamsters?


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## kaslkaos (Jan 15, 2003)

I'll own clicking on 'almost everything' because there is always more you can do. I've seen end of life care for humans, pretty sure you can do the same for dogs, and no, I would not send a pet somewhere to be put onto a respirator, or other 'heroic' technological measures etc.. I may have a different interpretation of what 'everything' means. If someone hires a dog walker once a day, they could hire a dog walker twice a day, or a live in care-giver for there dog to cuddle and exercise your dog while you are at work. Or you could move from your suburban home to large acreage, go into debt fencing it in, and give your dog extra room to play all day. 
Maybe I'm over-thinking the questions?
Or maybe the questions could be really specific. Rescue organizations have questionaires, how much $ do you spend per year on vet care (with dollar amount ranges & check boxes), how much exercise, do you take training classes, where does the dog sleep, where does the dog stay when you are at work. How much time does your dog spend alone. Maybe some dog rescues could show you their questions and you can set up a more complicated poll or just change the poll to a few aspects of dog care.


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## Majolica (Feb 18, 2015)

I agree with others, in that the questions don't really provide good categories with definite answers. I'm surprised your teacher didn't help you design questions. I don't really even feel like I can honestly answer the poll.


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## WateryTart (Sep 25, 2013)

To be fair to the OP, survey research is one of the hardest types to conduct. It's hard to write good, clear, discrete items that really get at the kind of data you want to collect.

That being said, yes the professor should have helped with this.

The first step would have been defining your population of pets (dogs, cats, pets in your neighborhood, etc.). The second would have been using concrete, measurable actions to create a set survey items. I would not think that you could get useful information from a single item. What's more, each item should ask a clear, unambiguous question, and the response options within each item should also be unambiguous and not overlap with one another.

I'll stop there, but I'll leave it at yeah, your instructor kind of hung you out to dry on this if they wanted you to take a poll or survey and didn't give you any guidance for how to construct a good one.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

It would also help if you showed some interest in your information gathering. Sounds like you don't care one way or another, and are only doing this because you have to. 

So that being the case, why should we all do your work for you? 

I'd be happy to participate, if I knew you were taking the assignement more seriously by putting some thought into the subject you are researching, and really cared about the results.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

WHose mistreated pets? 

I'm confused. I agree with the others that if you can describe exactly what you are really looking for, we can answer the poll better.


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## WateryTart (Sep 25, 2013)

Castlemaid said:


> It would also help if you showed some interest in your information gathering. Sounds like you don't care one way or another, and are only doing this because you have to.
> 
> So that being the case, why should we all do your work for you?
> 
> I'd be happy to participate, if I knew you were taking the assignement more seriously by putting some thought into the subject you are researching, and really cared about the results.


This might be a result of my academic background, but I know how truly hard it is to write good survey items if you haven't gotten some direction, and I ascribed more dread/uncertainty to the OP than not taking the assignment seriously. It's really hard to feel much dedication when you truly feel stuck. I am making all kinds of guesses here, but in rereading the OP, I wonder if maybe s/he is a high school student and the teacher said, "Here, do primary research" and didn't offer much guidance in how to conduct said research. That would be daunting if you are 15-17 and haven't been taught research methodology!


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Watery-Tart, absolutlly right - I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and designing proper research is devilishly tricky. 

However I believe the OP is a college student in the medical field. I've taken a few college level science classes myself over the years, so I think I may have a bit of an idea of what is expected at that level. 

But still, college is for learning, so hoping that some of the comments will help the researcher to present their question/questions in a more valid frame.


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## WateryTart (Sep 25, 2013)

Castlemaid said:


> Watery-Tart, absolutlly right - I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and designing proper research is devilishly tricky.
> 
> However I believe the OP is a college student in the medical field. I've taken a few college level science classes myself over the years, so I think I may have a bit of an idea of what is expected at that level.
> 
> But still, college is for learning, so hoping that some of the comments will help the researcher to present their question/questions in a more valid frame.


For real?? She read like a high school kid. (Sorry, OP.)

My mistake. Yeah...your point stands, Castlemaid.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Ok, so if we assume the question should read, "What do you do to take care for your pets?" We might answer,
1. Everything I can
2. Almost Everything
3. Just the basics
4. Up to a certain limit (time, money, space, etc.)
5. Not very much. 

Most of us would hit the top two, even if our level of care were perceived by someone else, because this sample is highly skewed by people who are so fascinated by our critters that we spend time reading and interacting over the net about them -- beyond the sharing of photos on Facebook.

The data in general would be skewed because most people see themselves in a pretty positive light. They may in fact believe they are doing all they can, but have not even gotten off of their dufus. For example, how many people say they do not have the money for training? And yet, the vast majority are posting from home where they pay for internet, cable TV, cell phones, and the like. They just may not see the options that they have, because it doesn't occur to them to cancel cable TV to afford dog classes, even if the dog is in dire need of them. 

On the other hand, if the question should read, "What do you do when you see a domestic animal mistreated?"

And the answers are:
1. Everything I can
2. Almost everything
3. Just the basics
4. Up to a certain limit
5. Not very much. 

I think you can see why we are having trouble with the questions and answers you provided. We may be a little more spread out in this group of questions. Most of us would like to be under, 1. Everything I can, but we may have some qualifiers on this. Some are unlikely to call authorties, but will respond in other ways. Few of us would admit to 5. Not very much. 

And then you have the answers like, "Everything I can." 70% hitting that mark suggests that we are doing a great job with pets, but "Everything I can" may actually be below minimal requirements in some circumstances -- No job, no income, no credit available and the bitch gets pyometra, and you can literally do everything you believe to be in your power, and she will still die, possibly unnecessarily. You can take her to a pound or shelter and relieve her suffering by letting them put her down. But, again, if she could have been saved, your highest grade here could be insufficient in many cases.

I hope that gives you a little help in refining your poll/data to get better measurements.


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## Malachi (Dec 4, 2015)

Gee, this question is very unclear to me...so I can't choose from the selected answers. Sorry.


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