1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae]

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Icelander

On the other hand, it can't hurt to get ideas on how cocaine (maybe laced with something) could plausibly accidentally kill a new user almost immediately, perhaps someone drunk who tries a single snort.

It's probably too late to help, but cocaine has a pretty strong link to heart attacks, and I've heard stories (unverified) of people who had a heart attack shortly after (within an hour) their first time using the substance. So you don't really need anything special, just someone with a possibly higher-than-normal risk of heart attack to maybe take a bit more than he should and, boom, dead of cardiac arrest.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Would a Newfoundland be more or less imposing than an Irish wolfhound?

Irish wolfhound seems too appropriate for the character to go with much else - according to Wikipedia at least, they were originally bred from war hounds, and are used for hunting and guarding. For someone who was a soldier at war and now is either hunting people ("Big Bad Wolf") or is a source of protection from those that are ("dog who keeps the wolves from the door"), that's just too close of a match to not go with. Shame they have nearly as good of a reputation as Newfoundlands, although there have been some pretty nasty attacks in New Zealand I ran across trying to find an imposing picture of one (I failed).

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Irish wolfhound seems too appropriate for the character to go with much else - according to Wikipedia at least, they were originally bred from war hounds, ).

Irish Wolfhounds are pretty rare. Not so rare as Irish wolves of course but not only are they huge they have a reputation as one of the "heartbreak" breeds i.e. big dogs with short lifespans.

I had an idiot neighbor in the 80s who had a Rottweiler. He kept it on a chain because it could almost step over the 4 foot high chain link fence. It managed to get over the fence once even with its' chain. It only barked with incredible ferocity and lunged at people because it was lonely and wanted you to come play. It was perfectly friendly once it got loose.

A Rottweiler may have been rare in the 70s but not the 80s. In the 70s you might have seen a Doberman in the same niche (which I fear might be "dog for idiots").