Planning far ahead... or not

[bunn]

I do wish there was some way to say to people who buy GSD and german shepherd cross pups: in 10 years time you may want to rehome this dog, please, PLEASE consider small floofy dog such as Westie, Yorkie or Bichon instead... 

And for that matter to too many people with all sorts of dogs:
"OK, you may have no desire to exercise, own no cats, horses, ducks, chickens, rabbits or even other dogs, but if you keep your dog away from other members of its species for 10 years, give it no guidance on how to walk on the lead, off the lead, or interact with other species, quite apart from the whole "what kind of a life is that" aspect,  when you phone us to say you are going into a nursing home or moving to New Zealand, finding someone else to look after it it is going to be a nightmare. Oh yeah, and vaccinations would be nice.  The yearly sort, not the sort you do once and then never get round to again... "

Weeping down the phone at that stage is all very well, but ineffective. A more productive use of time would have been some lessons and socialisation at an early stage, and regular booster shots.   

I am also boggled by the existence of dog owners who cannot identify a) if a dog has a penis and b) whether an adult male dog has testicles or not.  

Comments

[bunn.livejournal.com]

We're being a lot more wary about the Shepherds now - we always were cautious where they admit they have issues, but people lie... We still get the calls tho :-(

What we need is a machine where you put, say, a GSD x Bull Mastiff in at one end and it spits out a big box of Yorkies. The appetite of the British public for Yorkies of any temperament or state of health appears to be almost inexhaustible.