The warden

Not everyone who wants a dog should have a dog. Wanting a dog isn’t enough. It isn’t a toy. It isn’t your little pal, your ego boost, the thing that exists to make you feel good or full your bored or lonely moments when YOU need company or support. It isn’t a way to force yourself to be more active or whatever else. A dog CAN be all these things- but what a dog is, is a living creature. A relationship- not a possession. Dogs can offer you many benefits and nothing is wrong with that- but a dog isn’t JUST what it does for you and how it fits in your life.

You’ve taken a commitment that will likely last all or most of this animals life. You don’t fit a dog into your home or schedule- if you decide you are willing and able to have a dog as a companion- you adjust your life and home to be a good fit for them. If you cannot or will not do this- get a stuffed animal. Get a Furby or a virtual pet, get an animal that you can have multiple of and have enough space that they can roam and be free. But don’t get a dog or any animal if you can’t take care of it. It’s not right to the animal.

And no, my words do not invalidate the years of love and affection that this person or that has had with their animal that hasn’t been kept well. It doesn’t make you a horrible person of you don’t have 100 acres for your dog to free roam, and you don’t spend 20 hours a day with it. It doesn’t make you a terrible person because you own a dog and it doesn’t have better health care than you do, or eat better food than you do. I’m not saying that at all. Most pet care takers have been at a point in their lives where they honestly shouldn’t have probably been trusted with an animals care- myself included. If the animal is lucky that point is when the caretaker had a more mature person helping teach them, or the lack of care was mild.

If you are ready for an animal, you wouldn’t put an animal in that situation unless the alternative was worse for the animal. So one last time- dogs aren’t toys. There’s no such thing as a part time dog if you’re the sole care taker of a dog. They’re cute, they’re loving, the House isn’t empty and there’s always someone there to talk to and spend time with- and for their part in by and large most dogs won’t do much asides maybe develop poor behaviors or anxieties and tics if you don’t treat them right. You can beat a dog and it will still love you. Just because that dogs love is near unconditional- ESPECIALLY because that beautiful creature is willing to love and stand by you almost no matter what- it deserves better than to be an accessory. Treat it right. It’s life is short compared to yours. Make it a good life. The best life it could have had.