I could imagine it like this for my personal situation:
If my SO and I had just made the right lifestyle changes so that we could get a dog, and my lovely old lab wasn’t around anymore, then my granny would know we’d be looking for a dog. So we’d be asking around the people that we know who might have a litter or might be having a litter soon.
In that case, I can imagine my grandmother surprising us with pup. She has lots of friends who have litters of very nice working labradors and spaniels, and she would pick a great pup for us. We would know where it came from, she would know the breeder very well and of course she would know it is the kind of dog we want. I can imagine that.
Even then she’d be more likely to send us over to pick out a pup saying that she’d already paid. But I could see it happening, and that would work. I can’t imagine any other situation in my life that would involve a puppy as a present.
The situation I’m picturing is my grandparents. They always have a dog, and generally get the same breed. If they had lost their current dog and had actively let it be known that they were looking for another dog, it wouldn’t be out of line to surprise them.
I pretty much agree with the sentiments expressed here 100%! But I am struggling to see much difference from how I got most of the animals I’ve had. It usually goes like this; someone turns up at my house with dog/cat, to say they cannot keep it any more, and if I don’t take it they will take it to the pound! And that animal usually ends up with me.
Initially I would find them other homes, as I was traveling a lot, and away for months at a time! But then I got a husky dog that was just too wild to give to anyone! We kept him and adored him though he remained ever wild!
Not a lot of difference, when you think about it, though I did have a choice, of course!
I have never met a cat that I didn’t like. But there’s something to be said for that moment when you go to the pound and you find “your” cat staring right at you. My cat monstro is a timid cat. But on that day I came to the pound and I walked by his cage, he reached out his little paw like a champ, like he truly believed I was his last chance to bust out of prison and it was either now or never. I saw something in his big-eyed stare that told me he was mine and I didn’t look at any other cat that day.
It is such a magical thing when you meet your pet that way! When I went to pick out my lab, Jana, she wandered over to me and that was it. I knew. We played a little, and I found she had a wound on her leg. In a pup, it can be nothing or it can be something. The breeder asked me if I wanted to pick out another. I was all WTF? It was crazy talk. I wanted Jana, not some other random pup! See, all those others puppies, they were just puppies. Cute, but just… a nest of puppies. Jana, she was my Janabanana from the first minute.
The wound was nothing, just her usual accident prone self.
Yes, my girlfriend said that basically nothing alive should ever be a gift. Good rule… Unless it is dinnertime and the live thing is a lobster.
My new puppy is the only dog I never had that I did not pick out after having met her. I chose her from a photo and personality description from a friend… Weird situation. But having gotten her I have to say it was odd to realize that I had committed to an animal that I hadn’t even met before. I also realized that one persons “great personality, best of the bunch!” Is not necessarily another persons… In this case all I mean to say is that my little girl does have a great personality, but that includes being incredibly rambunctious, Demanding, easily frustrated, etc. If I had met the litter myself, even though she’s beautiful and pretty much exactly what I had dreamed of in appearance (better, actually! how often does that happen? i was lucky enough to experience the same with my first Golden) I probably would’ve gravitated to a mellower puppy.
Having said that, we’ve met with my trainer-guru and I have been reassured that all will be well in the end…assuming I do my work.
Anyway, that, plus youtube videos, is what prompted the question. (And if anyone’s wondering why I didn’t meet her first, it’s because she was in Las Vegas and I am in Los Angeles. My friend brought her to me, which was very kind.)
I’m going to say never, and that’s not simply because I don’t like dogs. Pets larger than goldfish are continuing expenses of both time and money for the owner. Unless the recipient has asked you to give them such a present (and if they can’t afford to buy the animal themselves, they probably can’t afford to care for it), you shouldn’t assume they’re willing to take on the responsibility.
– Skald, who mentally searches & replaces “dog” with “cat” in all such threads.
There’s a sub-issue here, which is the source of the dog; I wouldn’t want to support the pet mill industry, aside from the question of whether I’d want the responsibility for the animal.
Yeah. A gift package of, say, an adoption fee, pre-paid vet-visit (which I believe some vets will do) and gift certificate to a store that sells pet supplies* might be a nice gift – if one was dead sure the person wanted an animal.
*Ideally some place like Weber’s Pet Supermarket that sells supplies but no live animals.
WTF? It was crazy talk. I wanted Jana, not some other random pup! See, all those others puppies, they were just puppies. Cute, but just… a nest of puppies. Jana, she was my Janabanana from the first minute.