A Dog…
Is not JUST a dog.
It is not disposable.
When you get a dog, it becomes a family member. It wants your love and attention. It wants to play and cuddle. It needs to be fed, watered, petted, played
with, and kept out of the weather. It
needs good quality food and a sheltered, dry place to sleep. It needs training and regular vet care. It has LOTS of energy when it’s young, and
maybe extra energy longer depending on its breed. Above all, it worships you and wants to
please you so badly it will keep trying no matter what, to the very last breath
it exhales.
If you get a Dog…
 |
This is that fuzzy, shedding warm body--
on the large side-- in Amy Breckinridge
Smith's lap! |
It may slow down a little, but it will never really grow
up. You should be willing to live with
the equivalent of an affectionate, mischievous and perhaps over-sized toddler for however
long your dog lives. You should be
willing to clean up the things that come out of both ends. You should be willing to give baths and wipe
away eye boogers, clean out ears, cut toenails, and even brush its teeth. You (not the dog) should learn to keep the
trash covered or it’ll end up all over the floor, put away your shoes or they’ll
get chewed, and come home on time or your neighbors might hear frustration
barking and you might step in a surprise when you open the door. You should be ready to give it more vet care
as it gets older no matter the cost, and know that it might get sick and need
extra help. You should love it enough
not to dump it in a shelter because it got too big, got old, or sick, or too tired
to play with your kids anymore. You should welcome a fuzzy, shedding warm body onto your lap. And above all, you should be willing to accept tons of exuberant, wet dog kisses.
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A beautiful old lady dumped in a
shelter on Christmas Day, 2012 |
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|
You should
have the brains to plan ahead and know how your future will affect your new
family member: What happens when the dog gets bigger than you thought it would,
you move or move in with someone, develop an allergy, get married, have a baby,
have another baby, go away to school, take a job overseas, or join the military
and deploy? And if the unthinkable
happens and you really can’t keep this dog that treasures every second it
spends with you, can you put forth the effort to find it a home with someone
else who will love it for the rest of its life?
Or will you simply break its heart?
If you had a child and had to downsize your house, would you
drop off your child at an orphanage that might kill him or her after only a
couple of days? Your dog is part of your
family. It adores you, feels loneliness
and anxiety when you leave, feels pain in both its body and soul when it’s hurt,
and will feel terror if you abandon it.
A Dog…
 |
13 (yes, 13) year old female Great Dane
dumped at a shelter on January 10, 2013 |
Is not something to chain to a tree or toss outside in the
yard. It’s not okay to leave it in cold
or freezing temperatures, the rain or snow, or the blazing sun and suffocating
heat in the summer. It’s not okay to
forget to feed it or give it fresh water.
It’s not okay to let it suffer and be in pain because you don’t have the
money to take it to a vet. It’s not a
piece of trash to be pushed out of your car in the park or at a rest stop, or turned over to a shelter when it’s 10, or 12, or 15 years
old.
And a Dog is NEVER a target for your anger or
aggression.
It is a living, breathing creature that depends completely on you for EVERYTHING. From the second you decide to exert ownership over a puppy or an adult dog, its fate is completely and utterly in your hands.
So think birth control.
If you can’t love your new puppy or dog forever, if you
don’t have the patience to train it and deal with the things required to take
care of it, if you can’t stay in its life for the long haul, then save some
poor dog the misery and put the equivalent of a condom on yourself:
Don’t get one to begin with.
Yvonne Navarro
January 09, 2013
