Deciding to own a pet, in particular a dog is a serious matter, and shouldn't be taken lightly.
A well considered, objective decision can lead to much pleasure and happiness. Conversly a hasty, unwisa choice may result in frustration and uhhppiness.
Rember, as barbara woodhouse, a world faamous dog trainer said "There are no bad dogs, only inexperienced owners."
Unfortunatly many people do not take into consideration all the factors involved when they decide to buy or adopt a pet.
Many times children have a great influence in these matters. Often with unhappy results and sometimes with tragic consequences.
I live in an area where many people have seasonal homes. More times than you can imagine parents buy their offspring puppies when they come here for the summer and abandon them when they leave in the fall.
Part of this problem is that we are a very rich society as some of these abandoned waifs are purebred dogs. I can attest to this because we have a six-year-old purebred Shi-Tzu that we adopted five years ago. And we have adopted neglected dogs before. We have also purchased AKC registered dogs so we aren't against that practice. Whatever suits you and yur pocket book is fine.
When rescued she was emaciated and the skin was torn off her back. The SPCA nursed her back to health and when we got her she still only weighed seven pounds. In less than six months she doubled her weight. She's a wonderful dog but still terrified of people, particularly men.
This is one example of the many incidences. This one has a happy ending. Many don't they're put to death, because of the overload Facilities and help.
But let's get back to some of the basic sources of this dilemma. A lot of the problem is due to the fact that often people don't take he time to consider all the factors involved before they procure a dog. Then you end up with either unhappy people or miserable pets. Not every one abandons or abuses them, but many live to regret their choices.
Here are some factors that warrant consideration.
Resposibility:
You are taking on the responsibility of a helpless creature that is entirely dependent on you. It cannot feed or shelter itself. If injured it can't take care of itself. Dogs need grooming bathing and above all attention and love; they can't do for themselves.
Expense:
Today it's expensive to keep a pet. Many need expensive grooming. Dog food is not cheap. There are mandatory medical bills and license fees. Even adopting a dog is fairly expensive and usually you're obligated to pay to neuter them.
Environment:
This is very important and frequently the root of serious problems. Large dogs need large facilities for living and exercise. Yet people who, live in small apartments often buy monsters. Older people buy big dogs then they are unable to walk well enough to exercise them.
Allergy Problems:
Some owners have respiritory problems. Some types of dogs are a greater problem than others. Some dogs like Shi-Tzus and some others are practically allergenic. Before you buy check it out, there's plenty of information on the Internet.
Shedding:
Dogs have basically three types of coats.
Short hair no undercaot. They shed but not too bad and are easy to maintain. Examples: fox terriers, bull dogs.Beagles, whippets.
Medium long with undercoat: They shed a lot and need a lot of brushing, but not expensive grooming,
Examples: Germann Shepherds, reteivers, Collies.
Hair: They don't shed at all and have very little odor. Often do not present an allergy problem
Require a lot of brushing and expensive frequent grooming.
Examples:
Poodles, Shi-Tzus, Lhasa-apsos.
If you or your spouse is fussy about your home, clothing and furniture this can be a big issue.
Children:
Create mny problems, Little children should not have dogs. The best natured animal if provoked by an innocent but rowdy kid can get bitten. A dog is still a dog. The older ones want the pet and promise to care for it. You know what happpens. Mom or Pop end up taking care of the dog.
The Time Factor:
Today with most parents working it's difficult to care for a dog. Then need care and affection. They're part of the family. They need attention, they need brushing, bathing, feeding and exercising. If you don't have the time to devote, don't own one.
Temperment:
Dogs like people are individuals and have temperments. Sometimes you can get a pet that you're incompatible with. This is one reason I advocate adopting dogs that are a little more mature. This is important if you are considering a mixed puppy. They're all cute when they're babies, but you never know what they'll look like when full grown.
Mixed breeds however are worth considering. Often they have better temperments than finely bred species. Also, some of the most gorgeous dogs I have ever seen were cross bred. As for intelligence, just look at the movie dogs; almost all of them are mutts.
Consider all these factors and others that are relevant, and if you're as we are, you'll find it worthwhile to have a loving friend for life. Go For It.
For more information regarding pets go to http://www.caveatemptorus.com/pets.html
Written by: George W. cannata author and publisher of the web site http://www.caveatemptorus.com.html
You are free to reprint this article in it's entirety without changes including hyperlinks and giving full credit to the author.
Troubleshooting Your Job Search So, you've posted your resume online, sent out dozens of them to answer classified ads, and told everyone in your network that you're looking for a job. And not...
Erectile Dysfuction Is No Joke: Viagra Can Help It's important to realize that many of these causes have nothing to do with age! If you are experiencing problems with ED, it doesn't mean you're getting "old" ...
Conceptual Art: Who Appreciates It? Being the person that I am, being faced with it, I tend to question the things that I don't understand, and sometimes I questions the things I understand the mo...
10 Filler Activities for the Summer Business Slowdown Summer is a time for the outdoors, for that well-deserved vacation, and with everyone out and about, it's also a time that you may notice a slowdown in demand f...
Cushings Disease The signs,treatment and management of cushing disease in horses and ponies
How to Pack for Business Travel Getting dressed during your time away from home on a business or pleasure trip can be a favorable and calming experience if you plan your packing.
Eight Mind-Blowing Residual Income Breakthroughs Would you rather be sitting here reading this, or would you rather be out golfing, or if golf isn't your thing, doing something else you enjoy It's obvious, of ...
FTC Hurts Franchising Consumers Last Summer the Federal Trade Commission came out with a report citing all the changes that might be considered in a future rule making for the franchise rule. ...
Self-Healing Basics The material presented in this article is provided for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or prevent any illness. Through this article I ...
5 Steps To Conquering Male Hair Loss... Would you like to know how to conquer your hair loss problem?Well, here are the 5 critical steps that have been followed by every single guy who has ever conque...
How To Run A Successful Home Sale Party The Presentation: Begin your presentation simply and make the guests comfortable by welcoming them and chatting a bit.
Creative Emulation In business we have a number of ways or tools that we use to stimulate improvement such as brainstorming, benchmarking and problem solving. While these can all...
The Top 7 Age Defying Beauty Secrets Now with today's scientific breakthroughs and discoveries you can defy the signs of aging and look great at any age. Whether you want to correct years of sun da...
An ADD Case Study: What Does it Mean to Fail? Josh is a client of mine who is a junior in college. He's very smart. He's amazingly smart. Talk to Josh for an hour and you'll know how smart he is. But if...
Targeted Traffic - How Will You Achieve It? Wouldn't it be great if your website was listed on the first page when your potential customers look for what you sell? What if you had the very top position w...
Promote Your Website Using Newsgroups At present there are over 3.3 billion pages indexed by Google,
and that definitely does not cover the entire Internet. With so
many competitors around, you su...
Eternal Sunshine There is a current movie entitled "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". It is about a man who has had a painful love affair and will do anything to rid his m...
Secrets to Losing Weight There are a few tactics that will help you lose weight that are more important than a dozen diets in a thousand books. Make these a part of your day and you wil...
Print this page