Dogs are not toys that can be thrown away when your bored playing with them Discussions

Think before buying or adopting a dog/puppy, ask yourself these questions:
Do you have the time to house train a puppy/rescue dog.
Are you willing to work through any issues the puppy/dog might have.
Are you committed to spend the next 15 - 20 years looking after a dog.
Can you cope with a puppy/dog when you have a baby.
Are you house proud ? if so will you be able to cope with the dog fur going onto your carpet/chairs/sofa/bed.
Finally will you get tired of your dog once the novelty wears off

These are questions that everyone thinking of owning a puppy/dog should be asking themselves, its so easy to buy/adopt a puppy/dog, but is it right to get rid of a puppy/dog when they have issues, the answer is simple NO when you choose to buy/adopt a dog then its for life.

Remember a small toy breed dog can cost as much as £30, 000 in its life time that's just for food, collars, harnesses, leads, toys, beds, worming, flea treatment & annual boosters,
If your dog is ill & need regular medication that's extra (some insurance companies only pay for 6 months on going treatment) so don't just say I want a puppy/dog make sure you really want a puppy/dog, also make sure you won't get bored with it once the novelty as worn off.

You make excellent points! I rescue so I deal with a lot of physically and emotionally hurt dogs. Once I take the time, energy and love to make them well again I don't have the heart to give away my "new" furry child. Which is how I got the nickname manydogz.

Think before buying or adopting a dog/puppy, ask yourself these questions:

Do you have the time to house train a puppy/rescue dog.

- yes, but it can take months.

Are you willing to work through any issues the puppy/dog might have.

- yes, but it can take months.

Are you committed to spend the next 15 - 20 years looking after a dog.

- yes, if you wish to keep your sanity and you live that long!

Can you cope with a puppy/dog when you have a baby.

- not likely for me now!

Are you house proud ? if so will you be able to cope with the dog fur going onto your carpet/chairs/sofa/bed.

- what is this thing called house proud?

Finally will you get tired of your dog once the novelty wears off

- never never never never never. Even when that beautiful pup turns out to have a lifelong medical problem and you have no insurance.

A dog is for life, come good or bad, you do NOT give up on them.

Not if you are a real dog lover.

I too work in a rescue home manydogz & we have lots of dogs coming in with mouthing/biting issues, which we try to iron out before we rehome them, they have been got rid of because of the mouthing/biting issues by their previous owners.
We do put on kennel doors what issues the dog have (credit given to our fosterers with helping over coming some of the issues) but we are a throw away society & people would rather get rid of their dog instead of dealing with the issues.

I'm most likely the king of telling people why they should not get my breed of choice.
People look at a very socialized and constantly trained, well mannered Mastiff and think "I want one of those".
What the fail to see is how much can go horribly wrong, with a dog that may be bigger than them once it becomes a adult, if it is not properly raise and trained.

They also don't figure in the amount of food, vet bills, and other added money needed.

I agree completely with your checklist. Unfortunately I was "one of those people". Several years ago we adopted a basset...based on the idea my cousin had one for many years and...well with no research and only sketchy info about the breed you know it didn't turn out well. I was looking for an exercise buddy. Elliot could spend an hour sniffing every single molecule in one sidewalk square. He also grew fat and protective of every scrap of food he could find.

Dog two was Ferdie, pure breed border collie. I fell in love with her on first sight. Not a good idea to fall for a critter way smarter than you are. Plus once again I didn't have a clue about breed behavior. A bored BC is a destructive BC. Toys, books, electric cords...she ADORED electric cords, bitter apple spray? Mmmmm even more yummy.
She never lit herself up but was a home wrecker, the kids were afraid to walk her. She did whip me into the best shape of my life. A half hour walk in under ten minutes whoooohooooo.

By the time I got to Sophie I was older and more experienced. By the time I saw her sad smiling face online I was prepared for any baggage she came with. And she taught me a lot. Also from the first time someone called her a pit, the online ad said AmStaff mix, I began to serious study the history and behavior of bullies.

When we adopted Callie several years later I can say we were finally 100% prepared for him. Even he came with some surprises...aggression towards uniforms and male humans...but it's things we've been able to work on together. Dear G-d if he had been my first dog I would have had a loaded gun. It is indeed important for people to carefully consider absolutely everything before bringing a dog home.

I'm so very very thankful that Georgina belongs to me and not someone who might have given up on her or who wouldn't, or couldn't, pay for the care she needed in the first year of her life. Despite having dogs all my life when Georgie suddenly went blind at 4 months old I hadn't a clue how to help her, apart from taking her to the vets. There are no manuals that tell you how to cope with a puppy that lives in a permanent panic because it's unable to see. All I had to go by was my knowledge of Shar-Pei, an understanding of dogs and a little experience of working with visually impaired children.

Nothing though prepared me for the months that followed ... the operations, 5 in total,the twice weekly 80 mile round trips to the vets, eye drops and medications 4 times a day .... how do you explain to a dog that you are only "being cruel to be kind"? There were also the hours spent every day trying to keep her calm and the sleepless nights when she wouldn't stop pacing around. And times when I was so exhausted I felt like giving up on her and only sheer stubbornness on my part, kept me going!

Somehow or other we managed to muddle through and at 9 months old when she had around 75% eyesight we were able to begin obedience classes. Georgina is now 18 months old and since her last operation at 13 months her eyesight is 100% and apart from a few "quirks" she's a perfectly normal happy dog.

Well I'm not sure about the 20 years, ( very few ) will reach that age, the average would be 10/ 13 ish years.... I'm VERY house proud and it does not stop me having dogs..

Pereg will be six-years-old at the end of this month/beginning of January. I am very old and we both have major health problems.. So for both of us to have another four years together would be all I could ask.

I used to be house proud but decided now that it really does not matter. After all there are only the two of us here and as long as we both can put up with each other then we are both happy.

Which, for us, is all that matters.

I think.

Heeheehee, over the years we've had dogs, multiple cats at a time totaling more than we can count, five children plus the house was built around the turn of the century...original plumbing, not a good thing. What is this house proud that you speak?

Dunno - I think that "house proud" might be connected to that roood word ir*ning.

Excuse me while I blow some dust off the top of the television. Not that it is switched on, it rarely is, but I just looked sideways and it is rather dusty.

Nah, it can wait until tomorrow.

Well I would do the dusting and so on, but it will only upset Eric, the giant spider who has taken up residence in the sitting room. (Chico has evil intentions towards him, but so far Eric has remained out of his reach.)

Why is a spider called Eric?

I mean it is not really a spiderish name.

Is it?

Perhaps he's Eric the Red spider!

'oo de 'eck be "Eric the Red Spider"?

On second forts, do I really want to know at this time of night?

Zara my previous system alert dog lived until she was 18 years old

Beautiful dog Tina, and a beautiful photograph.

Yes Malka Zara was so beautiful & gentle she was the best rescue dog anyone could wish for xx
Zara was 14 years old in this photo xxx

Very good age for a big dog.

I've had several dogs live to 16 - my oldest was my last cocker bitch, a blue roan called Jessie, who lived to 17.

A very good age for a large dog, but I did say " very few " , 2 years is a long time in a dogs life.

House proud for those who don't know, is taking pride in your home, I don't like dust, or dog hair everywhere, I hoover and dust daily, owning dogs does not mean you can't keep a nice house and live with a dog (s)....as the question on the list suggests.

I hate the smell of dog when you walk into a house.... I work hard to keep that at bay ,