Butchers & Bones

Killme00

lightening wrote: »

Can I ask where these scabby butchers are? My not so scabby butcher is in East Wall in Dublin....

me too...near the church..he is great!!!

javaboy

I don't like my butcher to have any scabs at all. Or to at least wear gloves so they're not touching off my meat.

lightening

Killme00 wrote: »

me too...near the church..he is great!!!

Ah... Paddy's an old friend of mine, lovely fella, great asset to the area.

lightening

javaboy wrote: »

Or to at least wear gloves so they're not touching off my meat.

My butcher has a novel idea. He washes his hands.

javaboy

lightening wrote: »

My butcher has a novel idea. He washes his hands.

I was talking about when a butcher has scabby hands. In the normal course of things a wash of the hands is fine by me.

Bluefrog

People, people, I'm just about to have lunch here!

The butcher in question is in Fitzmaurice Rd in Glasnevin - his personal hygiene seems to be the least of his problems if he thinks its worth trying to squeeze his customers like this.

Bluefrog

BanzaiBk wrote: »

the bigger sized ones are €1.50 and the smaller ones are 50c. I think the way I saw it was you were buying a treat for the dog like, if you don't buy the bones the butcher will just dispose of them anyway. Business is business I guess.

Well its slightly better value but the point is that if people don't take them then he has to get rid of them with the associated expense.

Also, if I'm going to pay for a dog treat then I'll go for one of those 'artificial' bones made out of meat products - they make less mess, don't give off an odour and are fully digestible so we don't have to endure the emotional trauma of taking the bone away when it starts to fall apart. One that lasts over a week with Holly costs €3.99 in Petmania.

The way I see it providing bones is an extra inducement to use a particular butcher which combined with the saving in disposal should be enough for him.

Oh and for anyone who raises an eyebrow at the phrase 'meat products' because of it's vagueness I would remind them that this is only an occaissional treat for the dog - not her daily diet.

Bluefrog

I just sent the following email to the Craft Butchers of Ireland inviting them to contribute to the discussion.

Hi

I am not sure who to address this to in your organisation but I'm curious to know if you have any policy or guidelines on the topic of 'Bones for Dogs' for your members.

A couple of weeks ago my local butcher, who we would use on a regular basis for meat for our own consumption has just put up sign on his shop window saying that there is now a €2 charge for dog bones. I was pretty surprised at this move and tried to get a sense of how common it was by starting a thread on boards.ie which you can find at - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055243763.

It would seem that the general concencous from the contributors is that its somewhat mean on the part of the butcher to exact this charge. In the interests of balanced and fair discussion, either your organisation or your individual members might like to contribute their thoughts.

Kind regards etc...


They should have the right to defend themselves.

lightening

Those Canadians always get their man, your like a dog with a bone.

Bluefrog

I got the reply below from the Craft Butchers - I'm impressed!

I was passed your email regarding bones for dogs and I'm following it up.
The ACBI don't have a policy on bones for dogs, leaving that for individuals to decide. I am a butcher myself and have heard arguments for and against, a) giving bones to dogs and b)charging customers for them.
You mention Glasnevin on the posts in the forum. I live in Glasnevin myself so I wonder if you'd care to give me the name of the butcher so I could have a quiet word with him about what people feel about charging for bones?

I have forwarded on the butcher's details so we'll see what happens.

lightening

Good stuff Bluefrog!

Bluefrog

Well I got a response from my contact in the Craft Butchers. I really appeciate his intervention here.

The salient part of it was:

I contacted (the butcher in question) and he tells me that he has a large order from a restaurant for marrow bones for stock and that he has to pay to get the amount of marrowbones he needs. Therefore he has to charge for marrowbones. He doesn't charge for any other bones, but as a dog owner you know there can be problems with splintery bones, dogs choking etc., and in this litigious age we live in it can be problematic.

I have to say that while I'm no solicitor I think the 'litigation' angle is a bit weak - what people feed their dogs is surely their responsibility not the butcher's. In most cases the butcher would never meet the dog and so how could he possibly be in a position to assess the dog's bone splintering capabilities. If the butcher has such concerns then surely it's a 'no bones' policy that is required. As for his large order of marrow bone - fair enough but then why not put a sign up in the window 'no bones for dogs available'. I think it's undeniable that there's some profit taking going on here and to me it's an unfortunate development for butchery.

lurchin along

Good for you!That rip off merchant deserves a roasting!I depend largely on butcher's scraps to keep my lot fed and their 'waste' is 50% of my dogs' diet.They're delighted to see me pull up as I'm saving them a fortune in disposal costs!AND there's nothing like it for putting weight on a starved dog and keeping teeth clean on a healthy one!They need a 'complete' feed too for dietary balance but there's nothing like lamb ribs,ham bones and fat scraps for dogs!

lurchin along

Good for you!That rip off merchant deserves a roasting!I depend largely on butcher's scraps to keep my lot fed and their 'waste' is 50% of my dogs' diet.They're delighted to see me pull up as I'm saving them a fortune in disposal costs!AND there's nothing like it for putting weight on a starved dog and keeping teeth clean on a healthy one!They need a 'complete' feed too for dietary balance but there's nothing like lamb ribs,ham bones and fat scraps for dogs!

artieanna

Bluefrog wrote: »

I have to say that while I'm no solicitor I think the 'litigation' angle is a bit weak - what people feed their dogs is surely their responsibility not the butcher's. In most cases the butcher would never meet the dog and so how could he possibly be in a position to assess the dog's bone splintering capabilities. If the butcher has such concerns then surely it's a 'no bones' policy that is required. As for his large order of marrow bone - fair enough but then why not put a sign up in the window 'no bones for dogs available'. I think it's undeniable that there's some profit taking going on here and to me it's an unfortunate development for butchery.

were you ever charged for anything other than marrowbones?
Some will try anything for profit...

fair play to ya!!!

Bluefrog

Well once the sign went up I simply stopped asking for bones altogether - actually I haven't been in the butchers since. As I write here the dog is digging into one of those artificial bones which is actually less mess and totally digestable and I think that's the way I'm going to go from now on.