A close friend of mine just got a 2-month-old Tibetan terrier pup named Max, and I’m dying of jealousy. He is the sweetest, friendliest little rascal (the dog not my friend). If I only had the time and a bigger apartment I would love to be dog owner.
Just remember, thet’re cute when they are puppies but you can’t flush them down the toilet once they stop being cute.
My little 6-month old border collie/beagle mix is also named MAX. You *should *be dying of jealousy. They are so cute and so much fun and I get great pleasure just watching him. You’re right not to own a dog without the proper time or facilities, though. It would be a disaster, not much cute and fun about an ill-cared for animal. To feel a little less jealous, just think about these things:
Housebreaking
Piddle Pads
Pooper Scoopers
Barf
Mangled Spectacles
Mangled Shoes
Wet Dog Smell
Muddy Paw Prints
Slobber
There, feel better?
And just when you think he’s done mangling things, you come home to find a book knocked off the shelf and mangled.
Of course, they don’t care, and try to lick your face anyway.
I want a dog! I really want a dog!
I have had my sights set on a Hungarian Vislah(sp?) for awhile now. Soft brown coat and eyes, friendly and smart…
I want a dog!
hrrumph Guess I’ll have to settle for the new baby… 
-Tcat
Well, if it helps, cainxinth, I was in your shoes a few years ago…
Now I have two dogs (I had three, but one was put to sleep yesterday 
), and yes, I am happy to have them. Yes, I adore them. Yes, it’s hard to imagine life without them.
However, wishing for a dog is just like wishing for love (you know, the romantic, person-to-person kind), money, or anything else; you fantasize about how great it’s going to be, and in the end, you get a fair amount of “GREAT”, sure, but you also get a decent-sized chunk of “REAL” (whether that means scrubbing puke from your carpet or mourning the loss of a friend you’ve had for almost 12 years).
That doesn’t mean that having a dog is not worthwhile; it just means that it’s like everything else in life–pros and cons, Baby, pros and cons…
Boy, I’m a real urine-soaked blanket today, aren’t I?
Tomcat, never fear, I’m sure the baby will surpass any dog in poop, pee, barf, and mangling. Mangling; don’t talk to me about mangling books, lno. I’m going to mangle my husband for leaving the books on the floor, just begging for a curious, adorable puppy to sniff them out. Cute doggie pic, by the way. Same colors as my Max.
auntie em I am so sorry. No good words to express my deepest, deepest sympathy.
So cainxinth do you plan to someday have the time and place for a puppy or dog? I hope you will be able to do so. Meantime, how do you feel about cats?
Thanks, AlaItalia.
I LOVE those things!
Puppy breath, snoring and farting should also be included. Oh, and $$$ Vet bills.
A little of the back story. Both my parents were raised with pets, my father had a dog and my mother had several cats which she was very attached to. But, beg and plead as I assure you I did as a child I was never permitted a pet for all the reasons mentioned in this thread. Well, by the time I was a teenager I had not only forgotten that I ever wanted a pet, I started to think dogs innately didn’t like me and I grew afraid of them. Eventually I woke up to the fact that dogs were just responding to my fear of them, and once I changed that attitude everything changed. I’ve found that if you treat a dog with respect but demand it in return everything is usually copasetic, except for dogs that were abused (my friend has a pit bull/ lab mix that was abused and it is skittish even around people she knows).
Now, I love dogs and I think they like me pretty well too. But alas, I have neither the time nor the money do get a dog now that I’m out of mom and pop’s house, and my current digs are so tiny I would feel bad about keeping anything bigger than a shitzu here, nothing against small dogs but I’d like a pet I can roughhouse with. I will definitely be adopting or buying an animal someday, when I think I can provide it a happy existence. I like cats too, but there is just something about a dog that I find irresistible, they are so easy to love and eager to love you back.
p.s. Amp, whos says they ever stop being cute?
I wanna dog too!
I almost moved in with a roommate who had a dog. That way I could have all the fun of having a dog without the responsiblity.
Speaking of vet bills. Just spent $219 getting Dottie, our 5 month old border collie/sheltie mix sewed back up after she tried to climb a 4 foot tall chain link fence. The vet actually stapled her shut, he said they would last longer than stitches. She is now banned from my office after chewing through the USB cable to my printer.
I had wanted a dog for years. I had one from the ages of 3-17, and always promised myself another. Last year (at 32) I kept my promise and adopted Bitz the Wonder Mutt from a friend who couldn’t keep her anymore.
She’s 94 pounds of loyal, beautiful, protective yet non-aggressive, Labrador/Rottweiler. She has the Rott markings, but the Lab body, ears and disposition. She’s too smart for her (or my) own good, but she’s the most mellow, laid back, happy, loving mutt I’ve ever known. Everyone at the dog park goes on and on about how beautiful, well-behaved and smart she is. That’s why i’m not spawning kids; they could never warrant the compliments as well as my dog.
Here’s hoping you get the dog you want and that he or she is worth the wait and everything you could hope for. Bitz certainly is.
Another puppy named Dottie! Mine’s registered as “Dorothy,” but we named her that fully intending to call her “Dottie.” She’s an English springer spaniel, 3 months old; we have her 2-year-old sister Phyllis here too. Dottie was just at the vet’s yesterday; she’s 20 pounds already and “healthy as a pup can be,” said the vet.
The first year is the killer, what with training, bills, etc., but after that they mellow out a little and things level off. Phyllis was just turning into a nice grown-up dog at 2, but bringing Dottie home made her regress a bit.
To me, the joy and pleasure of having a dog far outweighs the work. It’s also MUCH easier/cheaper than having a kid would be!
Who says you can’t roughhouse with a small dog? Granted, our Peaches (20 lb. cocker spaniel) doesn’t roughhouse too much because I don’t think she was raised that way. But our previous dog Daisy (18-20 lb. mutt) was a little terror once she got going. I’d throw her down on her back and pretend to choke her, and she’d growl like she was soooo ferocious! Then she’d jump up and run circles around me and then jump on me, wheee!!! We’d go around and around like that 'til we were exhausted, it was a lot of fun.
Play like that scares Peaches, though, so we just throw tennis balls for her. She still so little that we can do this in the house without worry that she’s going to knock over furnish and stuff. Heck, we don’t even have to throw it, we just roll it across the floor and she scampers after it… what a doll!
So my suggestion would be, if you’re seriously considering getting a dog, would be to get one that’s fairly small but still pretty sturdy. One that was compact and calm enough that it wouldn’t require copious amounts of running space, but could still roll around on the floor with you without snapping like a twig.
what a nice thing to say, thank you.
Dogs are wonderful! My dog is eight now, and I got her when she was five weeks (and I was only 22). She’s a Carolina dog, the greatest dog breed in the world (even if the AKC doesn’t recognize them).
Anyway, she essentially housetrained herself: she made a mess, we said sternly, “no,” and that was it. She’s beautiful, and smart, and usually not very obedient, but SO loving and protective of me. I couldn’t ask for a better dog.
Also she’s a chick magnet.
Good luck with your dog hunt; a dog is a high-maintenance pet, unlike a cat or a fish, but the rewards are so much greater. You’ll never be sorry.
Tibbies stay small, so yeah, you can. Although you might have to plunge a little.
About roughhousing with small dogs and Tibbies…
While I was working at the vet clinic, oh so long ago, one of the tech’s bred and showed Tibbies. She had one, Pearl, who would come into the clinic all the time. (Pearl and a super-cool Pit Bull, Bonnie.) Little Pearl was a wild thing. I’d sit in the break room and she’d leap on me. So I grab her under her arms and chuck her across the couch. She’d boing off the cushions and leap on me again. Pearl was a little nut-job. (She also finished in like, 9 months. She was a pretty nut-job.) Tibbies are cool.
And my Jack Russell Terrorist, Lucy is all of 11 pounds, and she’s indestructable. She’s not so much small, as concentrated.
-Rue.
wantapuppywantapuppywantapuppy!!!
Oooooh! I want a dog too. Passed a guy on the street yesterday with the cutest little puppy mutt, which clearly should have been mine.
I actually live a block away from an excellent park and a lot of people have dogs in my building, but I don’t have the time to spend with a puppy right now, so it’ll have to wait. I love shelter pets, but I can’t decide if my ideal dog is a teeny one or one that’s bigger than me. I’m going to end up like Ralph Kramden on that Honeymooners episode where he goes to the shelter and comes back with a herd.