Did you ever bought a dog and what is your breed.

Alain De Vos

Alain De Vos

So i have an metal closed cage. Door open, my labrador goes to sleep like there. First she was very afraid, then i learned this is a nice and safe environment. Maybe your breath can be different tell me about there character.
 
Five months ago, I got a dachshund puppy—hands down the best investment I've ever made! 🐶 Up until recently, he slept indoors with us, but now he's transitioned to his own cozy doghouse outside. I’ve set up a simple heating system using budget-friendly TP-Link smart sensors and a bird heater lamp, all automated to keep him warm and comfy through the colder nights.
 
Would love to get a dog, but I'm regularly away from home for 12 hours (commuting plus 8-9 hour work days). The dog would be alone at home. Not good for the dog.
 
Had two yorkshire terriers. One the male had allergies to external things like pollen etc & the Female has allergies to food & a heart murmur. Talk about being unlucky. At least the pet insurance covers most of the bills. The dogs have been a major part of our lives, the unconditional love they give, the amusement of the antics the do daily brings joy to the household. The male passed away suddenly with a heart attack at 14 years & we miss him every day. It is not til the passing of a good friend, do you realise how much they are integrated into everything that you do.
 
eternal_noob said:
I feel sorry for you.
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It's not daily, thankfully, but it is something to take into account when thinking about getting a dog. You have to take care of the animal for the next 10-15 years. I'm just not able to provide the proper care for the dog. Cats are much easier in this respect. They're fine being at home (that's why I have 2), litterbox is clean, plenty of water and kibble.
 
Pedantic note on buying pets: why not adopting them?
  • There are animals of all sizes, character and ages in shelters waiting for adoption;
  • pet shops and breeders, like every commercial activity, must get rid of unsellable products; in other words puppies not sold are killed because nobody buys a grown up pet.

SirDice said:
It's not daily, thankfully, but it is something to take into account when thinking about getting a dog. You have to take care of the animal for the next 10-15 years.
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SirDice said:
Would love to get a dog, but I'm regularly away from home for 12 hours (commuting plus 8-9 hour work days). The dog would be alone at home. Not good for the dog.
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Why not adopting an adult dog? 12 hours/day alone is better than all day alone.
 
spectrum48 said:
Pedantic note on buying pets: why not adopting them?
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I adopted my cats, got them from the shelter. If I decide to get a dog that would the first place to look for one.

spectrum48 said:
Why not adopting an adult dog? 12 hours/day alone is better than all day alone.
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There are certainly dog breeds that would kind of fit my lifestyle. But a dog still needs at least 2, preferably 3, times a day walking. Can't guarantee that.
 
Here in the UK it is getting harder to get dogs etc from the local shelters, in the old days you just went in looked at the dogs in the kennels & chose the one you wanted. Now you have to arrange appointments to go & see a dog in a room & are asked questions like an inquest by the KGB.
 
We had Pembroke Welsh Corgi 15 years. We were very attached to her and after she passed away we didn't decided for any dog more.
BTW: She never ate food for dogs. She ate the same as we or what we cooked for her. She never wear a collar and never been on the leash and she never left our land. She was outside from morning to evening.
 
I had two Shih-tzus--brother and sister. Sadie was the perfect dog. Jake was my little buddy. When I took them for a walk in the park, Sadie would sit in the middle of the sidewalk and wait for people to come by to pay attention to her. Jake just wanted to go everywhere with me. Everybody at the park knew Sadie and jake.

Sadie liked to watch people work. When they were building a house down the street, I would have to stop and let her watch the workers do their thing. At the park, we would have to walk down to the pond to watch people fish. I thought one day I should buy her a pole.

In June, Jake started acting weird. "That's just Jake," we would say. The vet never noticed anything but, in January, he collapsed. X-rays showed a massive growth throughout his body and he had to be put down. I cried for three days. I choked up just now writing this.

Sadie went blind. She had all kinds of allergies but, the same year as Jake, she had enough and we had to put her to sleep. I miss my little girl.
 
I used to train dogs as a hobby/semi-profession. (From the 80's, me with a beard--there's reinforcement in the leg, he's not biting my groin) https://srobb.net/dog.jpg. A crate is essential if you have a puppy, as they will learn it's their safe place. Never go and punish them if they've been in the crate. Remember, you have to think like a dog, don't expect them to think like a human. For example, once a dog I was raising ran out of the house. He loved going for rides, so I opened the car door and shouted let's go for a ride. He ran over to the car and jumped in. So, I drove him around the block, before taking him home. Take the things they like and be sure to not use them as punishments, e.g., don't lure them with a treat, then yell at them when they come to you.

One of the best books I've read on dog training was Lads Before the Wind by Karen Pryor. Again this was the 80's, I wound up getting her number out of the phone book, calling her, and having a great conversation. Think of doing that now--if you could get the number, it wouldn't be answered. The book was about training dolphins, not dogs, but the basic principles are the same.
 
I love cats. And a few years ago I also started to like dogs.
But I never had any, and as long as I don't own some farmland I will not get any. To me it's kind of animal cruelty to husband dogs in a city.

Besides cats are responsible for a vast (underestimated) extinction of species (singing birds, and more) - they are very efficient killer machines, those sweet little furry rascals, that's why we humans made them to accompany us, to protect our food from rodents -
~25% of all meat consumed in Europe alone is feeded just to cats, and dogs [Meat Atlas]. You can imagine what this is a burden for climate, and what agricultural land is needed.
You could say for every dog or cat somewhere else humans are starving.
I wish people would learn this, and simply don't get a new one, when their current pet died of old age.

And nobody needs to tell me I have to become vegan as long as the numbers of dogs, cats, and pet food stores still rise.

(Awaiting shitstorm.)
 
I'm a Schnauzer person – had one Giant Schnauzer (black, named Koya) and one Standard Schnauzer (salt & pepper, named Bill). Bill is next to me in my Avatar pic. Also had one cat - Katya (adopted, black).

Unfortunately, because of my health, I'm not confident that could give adequate care to any four-legged friend, so I don't have one now.
 
I've had at least one dog for the past 35 yrs, a couple of months with no dogs because of their old age. Started with Siberian Huskies, now have Bernese Mountain Dogs. No kids so easier to have dogs. Working mostly from home makes it easy, when I have to go into office best greeting ever coming home.
Alain De Vos statement about the dog crates: I've always crate trained and they do learn it's their safe space. When people are over with small kids always tell them "if the dog is in there, leave him alone".
 
Maturin said:
I love cats. And a few years ago I also started to like dogs.
But I never had any, and as long as I don't own some farmland I will not get any. To me it's kind of animal cruelty to husband dogs in a city.
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This is a valid reason to avoid buying an animal, but not to avoid adopting one.
Kennels are full of dogs: we can avoid leaving them their whole life in a cage and give them a house. We both win.

Maturin said:
~25% of all meat consumed in Europe alone is feeded just to cats, and dogs [Meat Atlas]. You can imagine what this is a burden for climate, and what agricultural land is needed.
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Pet food is made with meat non-consumable by humans. In other words: no animals are killed for pet food (unless you make your own with meat you by for human consumption of course).


Maturin said:
And nobody needs to tell me I have to become vegan as long as the numbers of dogs, cats, and pet food stores still rise.
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I fail to see the connection.. it's like saying: "I refuse to stop doing X until there are others doing X".
If I think stop doing X is a good thing I just stop doing it.
 
spectrum48 said:
This is a valid reason to avoid buying an animal, but not to avoid adopting one.
Kennels are full of dogs: we can avoid leaving them their whole life in a cage and give them a house. We both win.


Pet food is made with meat non-consumable by humans. In other words: no animals are killed for pet food (unless you make your own with meat you by for human consumption of course).



I fail to see the connection.. it's like saying: "I refuse to stop doing X until there are others doing X".
If I think stop doing X is a good thing I just stop doing it.
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Rescuing/adopting dogs is a noble thing. My problem is you will never get the full/complete story about the dog. Does the dog have problems with men with beards? Yes, I've seen that because a dog was abused by a man with a beard. problem with kids or other animals? You may not get all the information.

So it's a good thing to rescue animals, but there may be reasons to not rescue.
 
spectrum48 said:
Kennels are full of dogs
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Yes. You're right it's better to get a pet from a kennel. But that's not how people think.
People buy puppies. And when they become large, adult, not cute anymore, and most of the times ill-bred, so annoying, they are given to kennels (if they are not killed.) People just see you have a dog. They don't ask where it's from. Seeing somebody else has one makes them feel right to buy a puppy, again.
This will not solve anything.
spectrum48 said:
Pet food is made with meat non-consumable by humans.
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The "meat" processed in cheap convient, canned food, or sausage products is not seldom below standards for pet food.
And however it doesn't matter at all, because it doesn't matter what we eat, what dogs eat, which part of animals are fed to feed animals. As long as whole animals are breed, and slaughtered to feed humans and animals, the calories annihilation is the same for fillet or gristle.
spectrum48 said:
If I think stop doing X is a good thing I just stop doing it.
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I think it's a good thing to reduce eating animal products, especially meat. And I do. Not only because of the environment and the climate, but also for my health.
But I refuse to give up totally on it while I see growing numbers of cats and dogs feeded with finest meat - and crapping on open streets under my nose directly.
Again you need to think of how people think:
While I (and others) eat less meat, and the numbers of meat consumption may drop, there are others who think:
"Cool. Now I can afford the fourth dog."
I for sure will not give way for other's dogs!
For me humans come first. Even if some pet keepers prefer their critters above humans, which in my eyes is insane upside-down world.
If I had to chose between a human life or a dog I don't need to think even the tenth of a second.
But I know many others think otherwise. No animal thinks like that. Guess, where's the problem.

Don't get me wrong:
I neither say "kill cats and dogs", nor I say "let them rot in kennels", all I'm saying is:
Stop breeding cats and dogs!
And as long as the numbers for cats and dogs breeding are rising I don't see no reason why I have to give way for even more of those critters.
 
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I want to mention another dog I held for awhile. He was a pit bull, I once worked him with a hidden sleeve, his fang went between the laces, and I still have a trace of the scars. At any rate, at some point, I took him home. He was an incredibly good natured dog, despite being trained for protection, and, supposedly also having been used in dog fights. Our neighbors had a Siberian Husky puppy, it would charge at him and bounce off, then charge him again, and take hold of his jowls. It was pretty funny. He'd be trotting along with the puppy hanging from his jowls, tail wagging and making happy little grunts.

Another time, I took him to my parents's while my brother was in from the midwest with my 2 year old nephew. My nephew jumped on him shouting DOGGY! and the dog just turned around and licked his face.

Despite this, the dog was quite a good protection dog, never showing any signs of fear during training. He was a good dog, only showing aggression to overt threats.
 
scottro said:
I want to mention another dog I held for awhile. He was a pit bull, I once worked him with a hidden sleeve, his fang went between the laces, and I still have a trace of the scars. At any rate, at some point, I took him home. He was an incredibly good natured dog, despite being trained for protection, and, supposedly also having been used in dog fights. Our neighbors had a Siberian Husky puppy, it would charge at him and bounce off, then charge him again, and take hold of his jowls. It was pretty funny. He'd be trotting along with the puppy hanging from his jowls, tail wagging and making happy little grunts.

Another time, I took him to my parents's while my brother was in from the midwest with my 2 year old nephew. My nephew jumped on him shouting DOGGY! and the dog just turned around and licked his face.

Despite this, the dog was quite a good protection dog, never showing any signs of fear during training. He was a good dog, only showing aggression to overt threats.
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Those should be attributes of any well-trained protection dog. Never ever to attack anyone expect on handler/owner command, or if it perceive obvious and overt threat to the any member of his family. You obviously trained that pittie well, kudos to you! 🫡

BTW, well trained dog should not attack to bite if there is someone breaking into house/yard, it will just pin them to the wall and sit there patiently for the owners to come home and take it from there. I know of the case where my friend had Yugoslavian Shepherd Dog – Sharplanina; whole family was out for the night, and when they were back, there was some guy pinned to the wall, his pants completely wet because he pissed himself, and doggie was just sitting right in from of him. If guy tried to make any move, doggie will just growl, show him teeth and guy was back to larping marble statue. They called cops, and only when they arrived, they called off doggie. No one was injured, perpetrator arrested, nothing was stolen. Hapy end.
 
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