Ok
so you have made the big decision to purchase a dog. Whether the
decision was yours alone, or that of your kid's, you being the voice of
reason must determine the appropriate breed of dog that will be part of
your family for the years to follow. Think of it as a trip to the
grocery store. You have your absolute necessities, your health food,
and your junk food.
Necessities
So
you are at your wits end! Your kids are driving you crazy, "we wanna
dog, we wanna dog, we wanna dog!" You dream of puppies in your sleep,
your kids demand animal crackers in their school lunches they draw
pictures of puppies and stick them to the refrigerator door. Just last
night, you thought you heard your wife bark in her sleep You decide
that living in this state of craziness is no longer acceptable! Your
options are get the hell out, invite your family to lobotomy class, or
submit. Junk Food So you walk into the grocery store and
immediately see this huge box of chocolate chip cookies. You know in
your heart that you shouldn't buy the damn box, but no matter how hard
you try, your mind will not waver from imagining big fat chunks of
chocolate mixed with icing sugar as it dribbles down your chin and
stains your nice new shirt! We can and will use this same analogy when discussing the new addition to the family: Every
year, thousands of dogs are purchased, adopted, or taken in by
individuals acting on pure impulse. These people just want a dog, its
cool to have a dog, oh wait till the girls see me now, nobody's gonna
mess with me now… These people have no time to think about the
implications to owning a pet nevermind which specific breed would best
suit their living situation. They do not fathom the living cycle: Mrs.
Johnson walks into a pet store with her 5-year-old daughter. By the
way, Mrs. Johnson is a single mother living in a 2 bedroom dump up
town, and holds two jobs just to make ends meat. Upon entering the
store, Jenny, Mrs. Johnson's daughter sees a little Husky pup and
remarks emphatically that she wants this dog! Wanting to please her
daughter, Mrs. Johnson works out a payment plan with the store, and the
mother and child exit the store with the pup. Do you remember the big
chocolate chips with icing sugar… So the pup is now at home and
growing rapidly! The child is in school all day, the mother is at one
of her two jobs leaving the pup alone. All of us know what happens when
young pups are left unavaded to their own device? Now the icing sugar
is really beginning to drip… Three months have passed and the
mother is at her wits end! The daughter is no longer interested in the
pup, the mother would rather mop the floor with it than take care of it
leading to the pup being dumped at the nearest animal shelter! Stain… The
lesson here is simple. When planning on adding a dog to the family,
research the different breeds that exist, to try to best suit the breed
characteristics of the dog to your own living arrangements.
Health Food
The
health food isle of one's grocery store should be frequented quite
often throughout one's weekly visit to the supermarket. Being
knowledgeable on what you put into your body can make a world of
difference in ones productivity, emotional state, and overall well
being. When selecting a breed of dog to add to the family, refrain
from giving in and choosing the cutest pup you can find, do your
research, and be fair to the dog! Let's practice empathy for a minute: You
have just graduated from College and are looking for work. While you
are looking for employment, you rent this 375 Sq. bachelor pad above
Maria's Pizzeria. The place is a dive and you know it! You are afraid
to tell your parents where you are living, you refuse to invite your
friends over, half of your stuff is in storage due to lack of space!
Now imagine yourself as a rapidly growing Husky pup. You want to see
the world, wanna run, be free, chase rabbits, chase a ball, dig in
snow… Instead you are confined to a small living space, ly in a corner,
overheat in the heated apartment, are subject to abuse from your owners
when it is their falt for not watching you when you mess up, unable to
fulfill your own instincts! I hope by this stage of the game, you
are grasping the point that I am trying to make. There are thousands of
dogs on the streets today due to lack of research, commitment, love,
and basic understanding. These dogs did not ask for the life that they
have, it was placed on them by stupid humans who think of nothing else
but how to improve their own self image. The situation is however
improving. Now, good breeders will not just sell pups to anyone. They
require a wealth of information relating to living conditions before
parting with a puppy. I can only hope that more people will follow suit
and start paying attention to where their dogs go, and who they go with.
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For more information on Boxers visit http://www.boxerhub.com or for information on Dobermans Pinschers visit http://www.dobermanhub.com
» left by Anonymous (1 year 125 days ago.)
this has nothing to do with choosing a specific breed of dog, and its a pretty poorly written article. Respond to this comment
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