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Old 28-05-2015, 12:47
Dalekbuster523
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May I make an appointment for you at SpecSavers?
No thank you. Specsavers are literally the worst optician's my family have ever had the displeasure of visiting.
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Old 28-05-2015, 22:57
patricia50
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The dog seemed happy to me and it is clear it wanted to do it. Anyone who complains is just doing it because they want to find something to complain about.
The dog didn't seem happy, it was shaking. I hate seeing animals treated like that in the name of entertainment and that is not just finding something to complain about.
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Old 29-05-2015, 01:18
performingmonk
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ITV would risk nothing in regards to cruelty with an animal act. The dog will be fine and happy, you can guarantee it. Well only as happy as any dog would be going out on a stage in front of hundreds of people.
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Old 29-05-2015, 12:29
Grumpy_Alan
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I know little about the finer points of dog behaviour but never once did I see the poor creature lolling hit tongue. Most dogs do that frequently and especially when their mouth is open the tongue always seems 'active'.

Very odd.

Oh, and the dog did seem very subdued, even backstage.
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Old 29-05-2015, 17:04
davads
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I know little about the finer points of dog behaviour but never once did I see the poor creature lolling hit tongue. Most dogs do that frequently and especially when their mouth is open the tongue always seems 'active'.

Very odd.
Her tongue's not visible I don't think, cos it's under the mouth attachment...
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Old 29-05-2015, 19:21
CBFreak
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I like to think of myself as fairly adept at reading dog body language and overall I got mixed vibes from the dog.

Whilst she was seemingly sitting quietly during the act, it does not mean she was happy. What I saw was slight shaking and the dog constantly looking away from her owner. It would be slightly easier to read the dog if you could see her mouth for any excess licking but in general I got at best an indifference from the dog. The fact she walks off after being out on the floor without a backwards glance at her owner indicates to me that she is trained to sit for the act only and not because she wants to.

If you compare her reaction to Matisse you can see a world of difference. Matisse was constantly seeking eye contact with his owner, was clearly enthused to do those tricks and afterwards he was a waggy excited dog who wanted to be near his owner.
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Old 29-05-2015, 19:28
lovecat86
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I agree. The dog would not sit there quietly if it were not happy. It would be unsettled and would not have bright twinkling eyes. It is clearly a very well cared for dog and ITV have a very good track record in vetting contestants and especially animal acts. They are advised by world class experts.

I don't understand the British thing about complaining about anything that involves animals, especially in entertainment. I find a lot of women especially are squeamish about animals and unreasonable about what is right or safe and it's not based on any expertise but on emotion. Dogs are pack animals and - generalising obviously - enjoy doing things with humans taking the lead over them. They like acting and playing and they like pleasing people. Health and safety can be taken too far with children, such as preventing them climbing trees or playing rugby or going skiing, and it's the same attitude from the same sorts of people with animals.

Animals go to work in lots of ways and work hard, like humans. Horses are the most obvious example, but many dogs work on farms and for the police in airports and at crime scenes. I think wearing a mask and sitting there quietly is a lot more fun than being flown with the army to Afghanistan to sniff out bombs that regularly go off and blow your legs off.
"It would be unsettled." Yes, or sitting there quivering for the entire act.

"It is clearly very well cared for." Hard to say from two short performances. She's well groomed but she's on TV.

No idea what "British thing" you're talking about. I suspect it's your perception rather than a concrete fact.

Animals can go to work like humans. The difference is humans have a choice and get paid.


People are (wrongly) assuming that anyone who raises issues with this particular act either dislikes animal acts in general, or is trying to sabotage the votes, or is over reacting.
I like dog acts (if they're good) but I don't like this one because the dog looks unhappy - that detracts from my enjoyment because I like animals in general and dogs in particular.

I liked this act during the auditions but yesterday the dog was trembling through the act so I reserved the right to change my mind.

Finally, the dog was trembling through the entire act so, unless that floats your boat, I wouldn't consider it over reacting to take issue with it and raise concerns.
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Old 30-05-2015, 07:23
Kromm
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I like to think of myself as fairly adept at reading dog body language and overall I got mixed vibes from the dog.

Whilst she was seemingly sitting quietly during the act, it does not mean she was happy. What I saw was slight shaking and the dog constantly looking away from her owner. It would be slightly easier to read the dog if you could see her mouth for any excess licking but in general I got at best an indifference from the dog. The fact she walks off after being out on the floor without a backwards glance at her owner indicates to me that she is trained to sit for the act only and not because she wants to.

If you compare her reaction to Matisse you can see a world of difference. Matisse was constantly seeking eye contact with his owner, was clearly enthused to do those tricks and afterwards he was a waggy excited dog who wanted to be near his owner.
It's odd to distantly analyse an animal as unhappy, given the very public nature of the situation. Small dogs in particular don't like big crowds, and this one was put in front of thousands of noisy humans (who she could at the very least smell and hear). So I think it's fair to guess the dog would probably be shaking no matter what.

That doesn't mean it liked or accepts the muzzle. I'm just saying we can't necessarily interpret what you're giving as evidence as being indisputable. The fact that Matisse acted differently doesn't even necessarily mean anything, since they're totally different breeds (or even if they weren't, it's not like dogs aren't individuals too, with a variety of reactions to similar stimulation).
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Old 30-05-2015, 08:50
lovecat86
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It's odd to distantly analyse an animal as unhappy, given the very public nature of the situation. Small dogs in particular don't like big crowds, and this one was put in front of thousands of noisy humans (who she could at the very least smell and hear). So I think it's fair to guess the dog would probably be shaking no matter what.

That doesn't mean it liked or accepts the muzzle. I'm just saying we can't necessarily interpret what you're giving as evidence as being indisputable. The fact that Matisse acted differently doesn't even necessarily mean anything, since they're totally different breeds (or even if they weren't, it's not like dogs aren't individuals too, with a variety of reactions to similar stimulation).
So on the one hand, the poster couldn't say the dog was unhappy but you are able to state what a dog likes or dislikes based on its size?

Also, what a very strange argument. You acknowledge the dog probably didn't enjoy it but say we can't draw the conclusion it was unhappy. Doing things it doesn't enjoy, with no real element of choice, is bound to make it unhappy. And to argue that shaking indicates something other than a negative feeling is slightly absurd. It's a fear or stress response.
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Old 30-05-2015, 16:06
frankenstein123
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The amount of insane over exaggeration and blind accusations in this thread are ASTONISHING. He's been doing this act for over 5 years now, this isn't the first time the dog is on stage and do any of you really believe BGT would allow this to happen if it WAS cruel?

Look closely and see that the dog has been panting with his tongue out when she doesn't have the mouth-piece on or when he's just holding her in the introductory videos. It was most likely doing the same while on the podium, but since we couldn't see her real mouth, her excited panting came across as "shaking". It doesn't seem to be due to any stress caused by the mouth-piece either, she just seems to be a very excited dog.
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Old 30-05-2015, 16:32
Grumpy_Alan
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The amount of insane over exaggeration and blind accusations in this thread are ASTONISHING. He's been doing this act for over 5 years now, this isn't the first time the dog is on stage and do any of you really believe BGT would allow this to happen if it WAS cruel?

Despite a long career of doing this "act" he is still one of the poorer ventriloquists to appear on BGT.


The act might go down well when the audience is seated some distance away from the performer, but when appearing on TV such artistes need to be better than average; the audience at home are viewing in close up all of the time.


His act would have worked on radio but not on HD TV.
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Old 01-06-2015, 01:45
erin_p
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Have I missed something ? why was he not in the final tonight?
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Old 01-06-2015, 12:30
Grumpy_Alan
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Have I missed something ? why was he not in the final tonight?
Simples.


He was, thankfully, not selected.
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Old 01-06-2015, 22:39
daisydee
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I'm sure the dog enjoys it, otherwise he wouldn't do it.
If the dog was unhappy she wouldn't do the act she was enjoying it the only problem is that mark will need to work on his ventriloquism
How delusional. I'm sure it would much rather NOT have a prosthesis over its face.
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Old 01-06-2015, 23:58
tawny
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Thank goodness he wasn't n the final - it was a terrible act
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Old 02-06-2015, 00:11
gregrichards
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Thank goodness he wasn't n the final - it was a terrible act
I agree with you 100% it was shameful and an utter disgrace. Any acts involving animals particularly cruel ones like this should be banned.
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Old 02-06-2015, 14:23
Kromm
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How delusional. I'm sure it would much rather NOT have a prosthesis over its face.
To be fair, dogs rarely enjoy wearing muzzles, but they're used for plenty of legitimate uses outside of talking dog acts.
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