Tie by Lands’ End Canvas. Dog by Australian Shepherd and Akita. Maybe. Who knows.
1. You’ll be more physically fit
The dog won’t walk itself. Better yet, if you’re a runner, opt for a breed with more energy like a border collie* and take it for a run before work each morning. They make reflective collars
2. Little spots and stains won’t matter as much anymore
So you got a droplet of grease on you new jacket while out to eat huh? No big deal if the dry cleaner can’t get it out. As long as the dog hasn’t ralphed that bag of Checkups Dental Dog Treats
3. Attractive Vet Techs are the first to compliment.
Think of them as a focus group. They see a lot of weird people all day. The whole spectrum. So if you walk in looking decent, they might compliment your getup which you were questioning whether worked or not.
4. You’ll be more charming
Yeah, the guy with the puppy getting dates is a cliche. But no matter the age of the dog, owning a pet is a common bond many people share. It just makes meeting people easier. Women also seem to see a man who owns a dog in a similar light as a man who knows how to cook. He needs to be able to plan, pay attention, read some signals, and then react. Those characteristics are some of the core blocks to being romantic and/or a good date. You might not be able to keep a house plant alive, but if you’ve got Fido thriving, that says something.
5. You’ll always have a lint roller handy
And you’ll probably also invest in a vacuum that actually works. Like this one
*Know what you’re getting into with an active breed. You don’t want to end up neglecting a dog that needs more exercise, attention, and company than you’re willing or able to give.
Adopting a pet is the way to go. I can’t believe people give other people money to purposely breed more dogs and cats when there are as many at shelters being put to sleep as there are (this does not apply if there is not a surplus of dogs/cats where you live)
Adopting a dog was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. The experience of forging a relationship with him over the last year has taught me so much about myself. As much as I improved his life by giving a home, he’s improved mine by making me a more patient and responsible person. I am definitely a better man, and indeed a more attractive one, thanks to him.
I live in California, where about half a million dogs and cats are killed every year. For those of you who live in California or share my passion for animals, please check out this site, where you can help create a Pet Lover’s license plate, or donate to the cause: http://www.caspayplate.com/main.php
You can’t believe that people would want to pay for a pure bred puppy?
You can adopt pure-breds, papers and all.
Adopting a dog from a shelter is very admirable and all, but keep in mind that the breeds that everyone knows and loves wouldn’t even be around if it weren’t for professional breeders maintaining the breed for generations.
Honestly, paying for a purebred sort of perplexes me. My last dog happened to be a purebred, with papers. My family had her essentially thrust on us by a relative who bred dogs off and on. I don’t think I ever actually saw those papers. It made no difference that I was ever aware of, and I would have loved her just the same if she was a mutt. Our next dog will be a rescue, and the specific breed (nevermind papers) is hardly the first concern.
Chris, talking like an economist…that sort of thinking doesn’t win us many friends, my man.
I love dogs,I actually want a cane corso(italian mastiff)my brother has an english bulldogg, I call her my niece. Only problem they hav, which seems to be a big hassel, is when they go away for the weekend or for a week or more. Luckly our parents dont live far and the dog and stay there,but if not it’d cost a lot of money to put in a kennel or not go away at all. I hate waking up early, so I’m getting up an hour or even a half hour earlier then usual to walk my dog in the freezeing cold, rain, or anything else doesn’t sound like fun.
I try to go out west for ski trips at least once a year,and will do one or 2 vermont trips in the winter. Summer time me and my girl go caribbean vacation. I know it’s not the normal pet for some, but I’ve got a 4ft almost 10lb pet lizard(argentine black and white tegu). His enclosure is all on timers, lights and humidifer. When I go away, I just feed him really well for a week,leave clean water, and he’s good alone for a week. No waking up early for a walk, no kennel needed. But, most people wouldn’t even consider being in the same room with my pet, let alone most women. Ohh and you can actually adopt reptiles too.
adoptapet.com is a good, online resource if you are looking to adopt a specific breed. You can set up daily e-mail alerts. Also, frequently checking the websites of local shelters and going to adoption days that local organization put on.
I was trying to adopt a specific breed though, and had zero luck. My life position changed where I have to put off getting a dog, but in the 8 months or so I’ve been getting e-mail alerts I’ve seen one dog in my state that I would consider adoptable and it was still 6 hours away. Pair that with how picky some adoption places are about ‘checking you out’ and very steep ‘adoption fees’ (which do nobly pay for the shelter and keep riff raff away), adoption always isn’t the best answer if you have your heart set on a specific breed.
I’ve also had a very bad experience with a shelter, adopting a dog that had numerous health problems that the shelter didn’t not diagnose/divulge. I adopted an older dog and the vet appointment in the following weeks started at $500 for the first checkup, medication, etc… and escalated to where I had to give the dog back because it was so sick. My ‘$35’ shelter dog cost me way more in the end.
If you do end up purchasing a dog vs adopting, check out the breeder first and look for testimonials/reviews of them and their dogs. Don’t ever buy from a puppy mill/pet shop. At best, they are just getting the dog from the same breeder you could find and marking them way up. At worst you will get abused dogs not taken care of and possibly of questionable mixes that you don’t know aren’t pure breeds till they grow up and the store is long closed.
what is the average price for a dog adoption in New York City?
the headline picture is the best
That’s called circular logic
allergic…unfortunately. you make a great case for one. haha
I love my dog. She is a mutt but looks like a thoroughbred something(don’t know what). Hahaha people always ask and are shocked when I say she is a mutt. If you are on the fence about getting a dog, DO IT!! And go in with an open mind. You will know when a dog is your dog as soon as you see them and they see you. Nothing like having a friend who loves you unconditionally.
Honestly my family has had both adopted and pets from breeders, I love a certain breed and if I am to own a dog I want it from a pup (8 weeks old) call me selfish but I want to train it from the start and bond with it from the start. If i can’t find a shelter that has puppies of the breed I want I am going to a breeder.
My first dog as a kid was from a shelter and was the best dog I’ll ever know and he was a mut, but half of his breeding is the reason I love the breed I do. I can’t believe people would look down on any dog owner at all as long as they take care of and love the dogs they own. I get so fed up with the nose in the air attitude of both sides of this argument. Just love the dogs you have and you’ll be a better person.
Pure-bred dogs (when done right) are somewhat of a guarantee that the dog will be of good health and instinct. Many dogs have specific health problems that occur, such as joint problems in larger breeds. It’s almost like, say, heart disease in a human families. So dogs with certain traits are bred together in order to lessen the chance of these problems occuring in offspring.
My current family dog is a pure-bred with papers and all, from a professional breeder and bred from two healthy parents. After our past two dogs developing horrible health problems late in life due to poor breeding, we decided to play it safe this time around.
BTW, I’m all for adopting a dog if that’s what someone wants to do. It’s a shame so many end up in shelters and eventually let go. Hopefully our country can get the problem under control some day.
I’d like to put in a plug for adopting a retired greyhound. They are good-natured, gentle, and mellow, generally fine around children. They are smart and well-behaved. They rarely bark. It’s basically like having a giant cat most of the time. We’ve had ours almost six years, and it’s been a terrific experience. It’s also rewarding to know that we have given her a comfortable and happy retirement.
Sorry, but his statement is simply not true. There will always be a number of people who breed
unprofessionally. The breeds would not disappear.
If you like economics, here is the problem in terms of the market: Increasing the demand (number of purebred dogs demanded by buyers) increases the price per dog, which then causes more breeders to enter the market and existing breeders to breed higher numbers because of more potential for profit. This results in a larger of dogs.
Since there are already more dogs than are demanded and excess dogs are slaughtered, purchasing purebred dogs causes more dogs to be killed.
Here are the main assumptions my argument relies on:
There are currently way more existing dogs than are demanded by consumers.
These excess dogs are available to to those who purchase purebreds.
A buyer of purebred dogs would still own a dog if a purebred one were not available. This means that demand for purebred dogs is not new demand, it is shifted from demand for existing dogs.
I really like many types of purebred dogs, especially labs and english bulldogs. I have an ethical problem with breeding when there is already a surplus and the surplus is killed. Breeders would be a godsend if there weren’t enough existing dogs. I posted more below, if you wish to read my preachy argument.
I have several friends who have done this and the dogs were all wonderful. One was so docile that half his tail got chopped off by an impatient child closing a door and the dog didn’t even make a fuss.
Had a really, really good friend with a retired greyhound. She didn’t come from the happiest of places, so she was really timid around men she didn’t know, but once she warmed up to you? She was terrific. Great suggestion.
Also, greys are better left by themselves than other dogs, especially small ones. Apartment dwellers often think they need a small dog, but small dogs need to be entertained and/or exercised more frequently than larger dogs. Greys are used to being crated, so they are perfectly content to be left alone for awhile.
We stopped crating her after a couple of years, first overnight, then while we were gone during the day. No problems at all, the dog gets up on the couch and sleeps all day. She’s good for eight or nine hours, never gets into anything, never chews anything.
big_scooter: Owwwwww…
Please only adopt or get a dog if you know what is needed. They are not a fashion choice or lifestyle accessory. So many people get a dog thinking it will be all fun and games and when it is work, they abondon or give them up. Don’t make the decision lightly and make sure you can afford when things go wrong…they will.
Purebred is no guarantee of health, just a guarantee of conformity to breed standards. Many of the purebred dogs people adopt these days are from showdog, rather than working, lines – which means that physical appearances are more important than genetic health or behavior. And a lot of the puppies sold to the public are the dogs that don’t make the cut for showing.
My family’s had three purebred dogs and one mutt. The purebreds uniformly developed bone cancer around age 4 and had to be put down. The mutt is nine and still fit as a fiddle.
I don’t love “breeds.” I love dogs. My favorite dog in the world right now is part chow-chow and part lab… maybe. I don’t care about that, I care about my relationship with her. Dogs would still be around, with or without breeders (whether they are the caring kind of the puppy factory kind).
Dunno about NYC, but I’ve looked into animal shelters where I’ve lived (MN, CO, MT) and the adoption prices range from about from $50 for a senior dog to $100 for an adult dog to $250 for “desirable” purebred puppies. The nice thing about adopting shelter pets, though, is that those fees usually include basic health costs like spay/neuter and first shots and vaccines.
Like Scott P said – adopting dogs is great, but don’t do it for the wrong reasons. Adopting a dog is a possible 15+ year commitment to the health and well-being of a living creature with its own brain and personality. There are way too many dogs languishing in shelters or worse, put down, because their owners didn’t understand what they were getting themselves into when they first got a dog. If you aren’t in a position to adopt a dog (or cat), fostering shelter pets or volunteering at your local animal shelter are both good ways to enjoy many of the benefits of animal interaction without the long-term commitment that many people find so daunting.
Well said Scott P. As great as it is to own a dog, its a far greater responsiblity to take control of. I would even venture to say it’s akin to being a parent.
I agree, but from personal experience, I recommend not saying that to a parent if you don’t also have human children yourself—they can be a little touchy about things like that…
It is not possible for me to love that post picture any more than I do. So awesome.
Have 3 adopted pets myself. 4 if you count the puppy I got from Petland just to get him out of there. Will always rescue for the rest of my days. Love that pic too.
Too right, we’re touchy. The cage I keep my child in is almost twice the size of my dog’s.
Applause. Standing ovation over here.
That’s why you always make sure to ask about the parents’ vet records when considering buying a pure bred puppy. We recently added a puppy to our family, and required the breeder to show us the vet records and give us the vet contact info so we could verify that they had no genetic health conditions (in this case, hip dysplasia and mitral valve disease). And any good breeder offers some form of guarantee for hereditary health issues. I know our breeder raises her litters in her home, and does one at a time so that she can give her attention to each and every puppy. It is a family thing for them, with the kids even involved in caring for the pups. Puppy mills are a disgrace.
As far as “making the cut.” You are right. Our puppy did not have the correct proportions for showing; however, that does not mean that he is not healthy. He is. His rear end was just slightly out of spec for show dogs. You must have bad luck with your pets, because I have had four to five pure breds and have only had one develop cancer, and that was at age 8. That being said, mixed breed dogs are generally healthier. They have a more diverse genetic heritage and therefore the bad genes are bred out (think natural selection).
Please don’t take this comment as knocking pet adoptions. I think it is great, and we’ve adopted many dogs and cats over my lifetime, but your comment about pure bred animals is simply off the mark.
I’m upset that I missed this yesterday, so this yell isn’t going to get the attention I think it deserves, but:
ADOPT A BLACK DOG!
They’re great and they need your help, seriously.
I got a black pug from a rescue. Wasn’t plan on getting him to meet a lot of girls, but man, it sure ended up that way. Girls love the pugs.
Man, this all got so complicated 🙁 What happened to the times when you just pick a puppy out of a litter in a cardboard box, he licks your nose, and you say “I’ll take this one,” and live happily ever after.
Invest in a vacuum that actually works ($479). You’re hilarious.
Im of mixed minds about this blog. I am a dog enthusiast (breed and show) but I totally support adopting and rescue……. having said that a pet of any kind relies TOTALLY on your kindness. They are not an accessory.
Right, figured that went without saying (not a lot of Paris Hilton types around here).
I prefer clever, but, I’ll take hilarious.
Say what you will about Dyson, but we’ve gone through our fair share of $99 – $199 bissells and so far, the dyson wins hands down.
That said, it’s a huge amount of money, and I spent 5 years with an old sears/kenmore bag vacuum from 1980. Also still using a washer & dryer purchased off Craigslist for $50.