I think you’re doing everything right. It’s definitely not a perfect system. I know I flagged a lot more spam than I ever got credit for. And I was never entirely sure if they deducted points from me for the spam I flagged that no one else did. Clearly they rely on multiple people agreeing that something is spam before it’s removed, but I think they’d have a hard time penalizing people for flagging things nobody else did, they’d too often penalize the wrong person. So I suspect you’re safe as long as you’re flagging spam. Wish I could help more. Don’t worry you will get the badge, it just takes a lot more work than they lead you to believe!

Q

Bulldog:
Incapable of normal locomotion, hampered breathing, skin folds prone to infection.

Bernese mountain dog:
Yes, exceptional strength and endurance. However, speed has been curtailed. Not to mention a host of inbreeding-related disorders, including joint problems. It’s a similar story for some related mastiff-type breeds, such as the English mastiff, Leonberger, St. Bernard, and a few others.

Tall breeds:
Today’s tall breeds (Irish wolfhound, Scottish deerhound, Russian borzoi, great Dane) are a shadow of what they once were. Today, they are nearly 3-feet high at the withers, and weigh around 120 lbs or more. However, even as recently as a century ago, they were more like 2-feet high at the withers, and weighed around 90 lbs. At that size, they were indeed powerful, agile hunters with great stamina. Today, they are clumsier and have less endurance.

In short, these animals do not burn “twice as bright.” Sadly, their flame begins to flicker long before it is prematurely snuffed out. And why? Just because some breeders and buyers like really big or bulky dogs? That’s not a good enough reason. It’s wrong.

If I believed bulldogs “burned twice as bright” then I’d be less concerned. But my limited experience with bulldogs, bernese mountain dogs, and wolf hounds has been that they are pretty ordinary dog-wise. (Of course there is that one skate boarding bulldog from the commercials, his light seems to burn much brighter, but I suspect that’s a fluke… )

Q

The only reason I focused exclusively on longevity in this post was because I sometimes like to try and reduce a more complex topic down to what feel to me like less arguable fundamentals. While some people might argue whether a particular bred-in feature is bad/unhealthy/painful/etc. few can argue the evil of a halved lifespan. And if they do argue it then the argument goes in a direction which I think is more easily countered (as well as being philosophically more interesting).

How can one justify a Bulldog living only half the lifespan of its wolf relative?

1) They can say that animals don’t know how long they are supposed to live so therefore it doesn’t matter if they live shorter lives, they don’t feel robbed of anything or suffer more. But if that were true and valid then would these people be in favor of engineering dogs which lived conveniently short lives? What about a dog that lived for exactly one year, dying just after it’s puppy-ness began to wane, just in time to buy another limited-lifespan puppy? How could this be wrong and half-lived Bulldogs not be wrong?

2) They can argue that a Bulldog has a different perception of time which makes its 6 years *feel* like the norm of 13 and so they are not cheated out of anything. The argument would presumably fall out of the observation that animals have radically different lifespans and we don’t feel like any of them are cheated out of longer ones. But of course the flaw here is that most animals lifespans and presumably their perceptions of them seem to relate to the fundamental rate at which their life is lived. Humans have a 77 year lifespan, great sea tortoises have a 250 year lifespan, and humming birds have a 3-4 year lifespan, and a casual observation of each shows that there’s clearly some connection between their perception of time and their lifespan. Hummingbirds clearly process and react to information far faster than humans can, their movements and reaction times prove the point. Sea tortoises clearly process and react to information far slower than humans do, their movements and reaction times prove the point. So, it seems likely that one’s sense of time and perception is tied to heart rate and some sort of rhythm of the brain. So for this argument about a Bulldog’s altered perception of time to work you’d really need to show that Bulldogs are radically different medically from wolves (in heart rate, brain rhythm, or the external manifestations of cognition/reaction time) and I don’t think there’s any evidence of that.

And I’m sure there are other arguments they could make as well, but those are the first two I could imagine.

Q

Tyrell: What– What seems to be the problem?
Roy: Death.
Tyrell: Death. Well, I’m afraid that’s a little out of my jurisdiction, you–
Roy: I want more life, f****r
……………………….
Tyrell: …………… all of this is academic. You were made as well as we could make you.
Roy: But not to last.
Tyrell: The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long. And you have burned so very very brightly, Roy. Look at you. You’re the prodigal son. You’re quite a prize!
………………………………..
Roy:…………….Time to die.

Wish I had some useful information to share but my project has been indefinitely delayed until I can get my finances in order. I’m hoping this summer to at least start some of the work but it’s more than a little dispiriting when you know you can’t buy the things you need to make the significant progress you’d like. I haven’t yet expanded the sides out, but I do plan to in the next few weeks or so.

Q