Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Why do so many people put up with dogs?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Why do so many people put up with dogs?

    Disclaimer: I am not a cat person and generally like dogs, but prefer to have no pets, not even fish, so that my wife and I can leave for a week on a whim without doing more than locking our doors and stopping our mail (which you can easily do online).

    What brought this up?

    My wife and I volunteered to watch grandchildren for a week while our daughter and her husband took a vacation to Hawaii. They have a seven month old Lagotto Romagnolo puppy, which is an enthusiastic dog, especially in the morning. Immediately after the week with those grandchildren we flew to another daughter's home to watch her kids while she and her husband went to Orlando on a combined business/vacation trip. She has two dogs, a Boston Terrier and some sort of mix that is about the same size as the other dog. At least those two are mature dogs of about six years or so and semi-obedient.

    The daughter with the Boston Terrier says the main thing she gets from the dogs is unconditional love. When her kids are giving her a bad time the dogs still show her some love. I get that, but the dogs can also be annoying and get yelled at on a regular basis. Their patio is covered in dog poop because nobody wants to clean it up. That's how it is at my other daughter's house too. At least these two dogs recognize a few commands and will go upstairs to their kennels when asked to and they don't whine when they're locked in, even after hours of incarceration. The Lagotto puppy has to be shoved in and starts whining after five minutes.

    In theory, all of these dogs were supposed to help the kids be responsible, feeding them, taking them for walks, cleaning up after them and so on. The reality is quite different. It seems to be up to the mom in both houses to do most of that, or nag the kids to do whatever needs to be done.

    My daughter with the Lagotto was the last holdout to get a dog. Now every one of my kids have dogs for a total of seven of them. My younger son has a Border Collie which is definitely the most well behaved of the bunch. But even that one can be annoying once in a while in the house.

    A lot of our neighbors have dogs too. When it's 18 degrees outside the only ones out there freezing their butts off are the ones walking their dogs. The woman who lives next door to us has two dogs, a Labradoodle and some smaller dog. They're pretty well behaved, but they bark when they're outside. She's usually pretty good about keeping them quiet, but not always. Whenever she has a dog sitter they spend more time out there barking - enough to be annoying.

    We had a couple of dogs growing up, a Cocker Spaniel that was a year old when we got him and pretty well behaved, and an English Springer Spaniel that was pretty good until I left on my mission, then my parents and sister let him get away with too much.

    Another daughter came to live with us for 16 months back when we were in Folsom. She had to bring her indoor dog, Taz, so we put up with him for that time period. I don't know what mix of breeds that dog is, but if you put an Ewok costume on him he looks exactly like a young one. I used to take that one for regular walks, but it was annoying to have to take along a "doggie bag", because as soon as we had walked a block or so he was almost always read to produce some dog doo.

    With every one of these dogs except the Border Collie you have to be careful to shut all of the doors and keep a gate across the stairs or your garbage cans will be spread all over the room. This happened several times while watching the grandchildren. And if you let the Lagotto get out the door it could take half an hour to catch her because she hasn't reached the point in training where she will come back when you call her. Sometimes she's even too smart to be bribed by cheese or bacon. And she chews up any plastic item left lying around as well as a little bit of the furniture.

    So other than the unconditional love, what makes it worth the bother to have a dog?

    I see it as more bother than it's worth.

  • #2
    Originally posted by Scott R Nelson View Post
    So other than the unconditional love, what makes it worth the bother to have a dog?
    I have a neighbor that is an avid hunter/fisherman. He claims his dogs are useful in those endeavors. Also, I've heard it said that dogs can provide a sense of security and/or protection. There may be other reasons, too.
    "I think it was King Benjamin who said 'you sorry ass shitbags who have no skills that the market values also have an obligation to have the attitude that if one day you do in fact win the PowerBall Lottery that you will then impart of your substance to those without.'"
    - Goatnapper'96

    Comment


    • #3
      Dogs are the worst.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Pelado View Post
        I have a neighbor that is an avid hunter/fisherman. He claims his dogs are useful in those endeavors. Also, I've heard it said that dogs can provide a sense of security and/or protection. There may be other reasons, too.
        "...you pointy-headed autopsy nerd. Do you think it's possible for you to post without using words like "hilarious," "absurd," "canard," and "truther"? Your bare assertions do not make it so. Maybe your reasoning is too stunted and your vocabulary is too limited to go without these epithets."
        "You are an intemperate, unscientific poster who makes light of very serious matters.”
        - SeattleUte

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Scott R Nelson View Post
          Disclaimer: I am not a cat person and generally like dogs, but prefer to have no pets, not even fish, so that my wife and I can leave for a week on a whim without doing more than locking our doors and stopping our mail (which you can easily do online).

          What brought this up?

          My wife and I volunteered to watch grandchildren for a week while our daughter and her husband took a vacation to Hawaii. They have a seven month old Lagotto Romagnolo puppy, which is an enthusiastic dog, especially in the morning. Immediately after the week with those grandchildren we flew to another daughter's home to watch her kids while she and her husband went to Orlando on a combined business/vacation trip. She has two dogs, a Boston Terrier and some sort of mix that is about the same size as the other dog. At least those two are mature dogs of about six years or so and semi-obedient.

          The daughter with the Boston Terrier says the main thing she gets from the dogs is unconditional love. When her kids are giving her a bad time the dogs still show her some love. I get that, but the dogs can also be annoying and get yelled at on a regular basis. Their patio is covered in dog poop because nobody wants to clean it up. That's how it is at my other daughter's house too. At least these two dogs recognize a few commands and will go upstairs to their kennels when asked to and they don't whine when they're locked in, even after hours of incarceration. The Lagotto puppy has to be shoved in and starts whining after five minutes.

          In theory, all of these dogs were supposed to help the kids be responsible, feeding them, taking them for walks, cleaning up after them and so on. The reality is quite different. It seems to be up to the mom in both houses to do most of that, or nag the kids to do whatever needs to be done.

          My daughter with the Lagotto was the last holdout to get a dog. Now every one of my kids have dogs for a total of seven of them. My younger son has a Border Collie which is definitely the most well behaved of the bunch. But even that one can be annoying once in a while in the house.

          A lot of our neighbors have dogs too. When it's 18 degrees outside the only ones out there freezing their butts off are the ones walking their dogs. The woman who lives next door to us has two dogs, a Labradoodle and some smaller dog. They're pretty well behaved, but they bark when they're outside. She's usually pretty good about keeping them quiet, but not always. Whenever she has a dog sitter they spend more time out there barking - enough to be annoying.

          We had a couple of dogs growing up, a Cocker Spaniel that was a year old when we got him and pretty well behaved, and an English Springer Spaniel that was pretty good until I left on my mission, then my parents and sister let him get away with too much.

          Another daughter came to live with us for 16 months back when we were in Folsom. She had to bring her indoor dog, Taz, so we put up with him for that time period. I don't know what mix of breeds that dog is, but if you put an Ewok costume on him he looks exactly like a young one. I used to take that one for regular walks, but it was annoying to have to take along a "doggie bag", because as soon as we had walked a block or so he was almost always read to produce some dog doo.

          With every one of these dogs except the Border Collie you have to be careful to shut all of the doors and keep a gate across the stairs or your garbage cans will be spread all over the room. This happened several times while watching the grandchildren. And if you let the Lagotto get out the door it could take half an hour to catch her because she hasn't reached the point in training where she will come back when you call her. Sometimes she's even too smart to be bribed by cheese or bacon. And she chews up any plastic item left lying around as well as a little bit of the furniture.

          So other than the unconditional love, what makes it worth the bother to have a dog?

          I see it as more bother than it's worth.
          pbw just rolled over in his grave.

          also, i can only answer for myself. it's really hard to find chukars and grouse without one
          I'm like LeBron James.
          -mpfunk

          Comment


          • #6
            Loved our dogs growing up. I wish we owned a dog.
            "There is no creature more arrogant than a self-righteous libertarian on the web, am I right? Those folks are just intolerable."
            "It's no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it's sanctimony." -- Guy Periwinkle, The Nix.
            "Juilliardk N I ibuprofen Hyu I U unhurt u" - creekster

            Comment


            • #7
              Okay, huntin' and fishin'.

              I agree that if you're into that, a hunting dog would be good to have. My barber hangs up photos of his hunting dogs. But I don't hunt or fish and only probably two of all of my kid's dogs would be good for that anyway. If you need to herd sheep, the Border Collie would probably be useful. A Boston Terrier would be beyond worthless for any of those things.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Scott R Nelson View Post
                Okay, huntin' and fishin'.

                I agree that if you're into that, a hunting dog would be good to have. My barber hangs up photos of his hunting dogs. But I don't hunt or fish and only probably two of all of my kid's dogs would be good for that anyway. If you need to herd sheep, the Border Collie would probably be useful. A Boston Terrier would be beyond worthless for any of those things.
                Maybe your kids have rat problems. A terrier would be good for that.
                Ain't it like most people, I'm no different. We love to talk on things we don't know about.

                "The only one of us who is so significant that Jeff owes us something simply because he decided to grace us with his presence is falafel." -- All-American

                GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by falafel View Post
                  Maybe your kids have rat problems. A terrier would be good for that.
                  Star was quite the mouser when she was alive. She caught more than one wild rodent on our hikes. Maybe I should thank her for the absence of mice in our house!
                  "...you pointy-headed autopsy nerd. Do you think it's possible for you to post without using words like "hilarious," "absurd," "canard," and "truther"? Your bare assertions do not make it so. Maybe your reasoning is too stunted and your vocabulary is too limited to go without these epithets."
                  "You are an intemperate, unscientific poster who makes light of very serious matters.”
                  - SeattleUte

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by falafel View Post
                    Maybe your kids have rat problems. A terrier would be good for that.
                    Are you sure that all terriers are good at catching rats?

                    All I know for sure is that the dog is good at sleeping and has the shortest nose I've ever seen on any dog. The Wikipedia page says that the AKC doesn't consider the breed to be a terrier (even though that's part of its name).

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Scott R Nelson View Post
                      Are you sure that all terriers are good at catching rats?

                      All I know for sure is that the dog is good at sleeping and has the shortest nose I've ever seen on any dog. The Wikipedia page says that the AKC doesn't consider the breed to be a terrier (even though that's part of its name).
                      Maybe they just chose poorly when considering their pest control needs.
                      Ain't it like most people, I'm no different. We love to talk on things we don't know about.

                      "The only one of us who is so significant that Jeff owes us something simply because he decided to grace us with his presence is falafel." -- All-American

                      GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Short answer - because I love my wife.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Agree completely that if people were robots then no people would own dogs.

                          The popularity of dogs is a testament to our irrational natures.

                          The benefits of a dog are all intangible and emotional. I love our dog even though he is a pain in the ass, pretty similar to my kids.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by smokymountainrain View Post
                            pbw just rolled over in his grave.
                            not-dead-yet-monty-python.jpg
                            “Not the victory but the action. Not the goal but the game. In the deed the glory.”
                            "All things are measured against Nebraska." falafel

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Growing up on a farm, our dogs served a number of purposes. The herding aspect was indispensable when we had to move cattle to different areas. Companionship when you are doing middle of the night irrigation was nice. And protecting animals from strange dogs was important as well. I spent a good portion of my youth roaming the fields with just our dog and a gun. I'd never give those experiences up for anything.

                              That being said, I find most suburban dog owners to be insufferable, inconsiderate jerks. They don't pick up dog shit at the rate they should. They put a yapping dog outside when they are sick of hearing it, forcing their neighbors to endure it as well. They get breeds that need a high amount of exercise that they never adequately get, leaving their dogs to be constantly agitated. My kid is really allergic to dogs and like half of a given neighborhood is home to dogs. So my kid is always battling asthma attacks.

                              In short, dogs are great. Dog owners generally not great.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X