I want a dog......

I've heard this phrase many times now. You would think it's a child saying this and you could forgive him or her for the wish of owning a dog without realising how much commitment it takes and how much time to take care of a dog. But actually I've heard this said many times now by quite a few of our adult friends. Most of our friends are career-people. They have 8 to 6 jobs (not even 9 to 5), a great and very busy social life, go on holiday at least twice a year - preferably more often, take weekend brakes, live in exquisitly furnitured homes - all very stylish, with manicured gardens. We are part of their social lives, so they visit us, usually I make dinner, they sit at our table, one or two or maybe even three of our dogs at their feet, they sit on our couch with a dog at their side and feel the stress of the day flow away by stroking the soft fur of the dog and fumbling the dogs' ears. All very nice and cosy and relaxing. So they say: "I want a dog!" And I ask them: "Why?" Usually they say something like: "I like dogs!" At which point I say things like: "But if you get a puppy, you will need to train it and it will pee and poo on your carpets. Training takes lots of effort and time. And you are hardly ever at home." "We could get a puppy in our vacation and stay at home to train it." "It will take longer than your three weeks vacation to train it you know!" "Hmm." "And then you go back to work. What do you do with your dog. You can't leave it at home for a whole day. You have to take it for walks." "We have a big garden. We will put a fence around it." "And leave the dog outside, all alone? So that it can ruin your lovely garden? And what if it rains or if it's cold?" "I have seen lovely big dog-kennels. We could easily fit one in our garden." "Why would you want a dog and put it in a kennel all day? Do you think that would make your dog happy? If you had children, would you lock them in a room and tell them that mummy will be back this evening? No later than eight? Enjoy yourself?" "You can't compare a dog to a child. We would bring the child to a daycare centre." At this point my blood starts boiling. Don't get me started on that subject. But I try to stay calm and reason with them. "And if you want to go on holiday. Do you take the dog? Or do you leave it somewhere else? You can forget us by the way. We will not take care of your dog while you are having your holiday! We never go on holiday because we don't want to burden anyone else with all our animals (well, we don't trust anyone else to take care of our animals to be really honest). And we are not taking care of your dog because you want to lie in the sun somewhere. Forget that!" "We will find a solution. We can always leave it somewhere." "Tie it to a tree you mean?" "No of course not! But we have parents, and other friends, and there are kennels." "You c a n n o t get a dog! Until one of you stops working or at least stops working full time. One of you has to be at home for half a day each day before you can get a dog!" Usually they give in then. To keep the peace I suspect. And I really hope that they will think twice before getting a dog and then decide not to. I really love all our friends by the way. But sometimes they just don't make sense. That feeling travels both ways: these friends of ours do not understand that we do not want to go on holiday. They really don't understand that we are committed to our animals and that we do not want to leave them in the hands of other people. Preferably not even for a day! They say that we are exaggerating. Surely we can leave our animals in their capable care for a day or two or more? No! I don't trust them. I know that is a horrible thing to say. But I don't trust them to take care of our animals the way we do. I mean.....the above conversation I've had with not one, not two, but three couples. They are not committed enough. And our other friends have their own menagerie, so they don't have the time to take care of ours. We don't mind really. We are quite happy where we live. We don't need to go somewhere else to relax. And if something comes up where we are expected to turn up; one of us goes and the other one stays at home. A couple of years ago I really wanted to go to Oxford University for a short summer course in Art History. So I went for a week and hubs stayed at home. And if hubs wants to go somewhere, I stay at home. No problem. Do we exaggerate our love for and commitment to take care of our animals? I really don't think so. Another thing that drives me up the wall is that people who have an animal that needed a vet for whatever reason, often start by telling in a resentful voice: "do you know how much that medicine/operation/visit cost?" I should think that your pet's health would be far more important than how much it costs. If you want to own a pet, make sure that you have the money to take good care of it. Friends of ours have three horses, and they have no stables or land of their own, so they have to rent that. One of the horses is very old, 33. And he looks very old. But he's healthy and happy. Someone, who owns a horse too I might add, said to them: "Why don't you put that horse to sleep! He only costs you money and he doesn't look so attractive anymore." Oehw, that person is very lucky that I wasn't there when he said that! I would have kicked him in a place I would like to mention, but good taste and the revolting idea that he even has them, prevents me. You know where I mean. Fortunately our friends love their horses. Oh, and one of our neighbours, who claims to love dogs, got a dog from a dogshelter, which is very kind of course. A couple of days later they put up a dog-kennel in their garden. I asked them why. "Well", she said, "I like dogs, but I don't want to be limited in my movements. If I want to go away for a day, I am not going to let the dog stop me. So I can put her in the kennel. She really doesn't mind. She even doesn't pee or poop in it." The poor dog. Fortunately not very long after that they got their first child and since that child limits her movements anyway, I believe the kennel doesn't get used anymore. Anyway, I've read a post this morning concerning the way people treat animals, written by the lovely T of 'It Matters To Me' (you can find her blog in the sidebar under "These blogs I like..") and that brought tears to my eyes and to my heart the feeling that I had to write this post. Please....if you think of getting a dog (or indeed any animal)....read her blog, think twice, wait 6 months, think again and then do or don't.