Are you ready for a dog?

“Dad, look!!! Uncle John has also gotten a dog for himself. Why can’t we have one?”

“Dad, I want a dog for my birthday!”

Many parents might have heard these questions umpteen times from their kids. Puerility or innocence or maybe just ignorance? I guess it depends from person to person. When I had asked this question to my parents it was a pure case of ignorance and also silliness to an extent because neither I had any idea about the seriousness of my demand nor I had any idea about the level of involvement required. For me, the movies had totally glorified the experience of having a pet especially a dog. Later in my life, thanks to my wife, I discovered that you have to be willingly ready to have a dog in your life. It’s a life full of commitment and compromise. It is not a toy that you can afford to get bored of. It has a personality, psychology, emotion and moreover a dog trusts with its life on you and you have to be prepared to reciprocate with all your heart. In short - It is parenthood.

Whenever I hear a question that is in lines of “Can I have a dog?” I suddenly develop a very intense urge to interrogate that person about it . But then I remind myself that the person in question is a small child and if I don’t curb my urge and end up asking him/her some “matter of fact” type questions it might result in intimidation of an impressionable mind. And hence every time I have to retreat in my cocoon praying to God that their parents be granted with all the knowledge to teach the child THE right things in the most loving way possible. Well, having said that, I do not intend to sound like “I believe that kids are incapable of handling dogs (pets)”. I have met and seen, at least a few well taught kids, who tend to their pets with full responsibility, care and devotion that many adults might feel challenged to match up to. And I am superlatively proud of such children when I see them. But then again, such devoted souls are few. Magnitude of the lot falls in the category that I belonged in earlier i.e. of ignorance and hence I speak here of them.

Sometimes parents, rather adults, fall into the “peer pressure” trap. “Getting a dog” decision is then driven by the decisions taken by a neighbor, colleague, friends or relatives. In this case, not only getting a dog becomes a priority but also to acquire a better one (in god only knows what respect). You could well imagine the plight of the poor dog who would join that household. He would be subjected to all kinds of comparison and might be expected to match up to so many insane objectives. “Oh, his dog can do it, why can’t ours?” becomes the motto then. In some cases non-compliance on dog’s part might result in its ill-treatment. Is this justified? Dogs are not slaves but companions. And, to me this is brutality and cowardice. Give them a break and let them enjoy a life that is free from the shackles of expectations and you as a human should enjoy the pure love that they are willing to offer unconditionally.

Anyway, while in my cocoon, I was thinking of an imaginary situation. What if my child asks this question to me? Assuming that I never had a dog in my life, most likely I would not be in a position to justify not having a dog as transparently that I would have wanted to. There is a possibility that I would give in to the demand out of love for my child without considering the dog’s plight. That would mean momentary happiness for my child but life full of neglect to the dog if not chosen well. What a horrible way of life for the dog. Thankfully, in real time, I am a fortunate dog parent and, I guess, now I am well equipped to answer this question because I have experienced it first hand and now know the pros and cons of this deal. Also, I wish to mention that Fetching Hope Rescue (FHR) did a fantastic job in educating us and telling us what we are getting into before we adopted Bud. If you go through their application procedures then you would know what I am talking about. It is pretty thorough and enlightening. The questions make you think about your decision. I am sure, other rescues too would be doing an equally fantastic job in this regard. FHR and other such organizations strive very hard to give them a second chance to a good life. I don’t feel ashamed to say that we were rejected on multiple occasions from many local shelters. This actually led us to research more and build our knowledge base more. So no regrets there .

Buying a dog from a breeder is the easiest way to get a dog but you should also consider the fact that every day shelters across the country find stray dogs in hundreds at least. “Tin Can”, “Little Hangman”, “Gas Cat”, “Graves Pups”, “Super Hero pups”, “Trailer Pups” are some of the names of the dogs/litter taken in by the partner shelter of FHR called “Wynne Friends of Animals (WFOA)” located in Arkansas. Tin Can had an actual tin can attached to his head and was abandoned by its owner. It took more than a day for volunteers/doctors to detach that can from its head. Little hangman was found hanging through a wire in an old dilapidated building that could have fallen anytime to the ground. Little hangman was deeply cut on his neck and chest when rescued. His other littler mates were also rescued from the same shamble. Gas Cat has an amazing story too. She was delivered to the shelter totally covered in gasoline. Last when I had heard about her, vets had managed to save her eyes but she had lost all her hair. Grave pups, whole litter, were found in a graveyard. Trailer Pups were abandoned on a trailer.  These are some of the dogs that were spotted by some kind soul and delivered to this shelter.  Do you think others too are this lucky to get rescued? There are so many instances that I could just go on writing about. Someone or rather lack of something is responsible for such a sad state. What is this lack of something? What is that something? The more I think about this, I feel, ultimately that something is the feeling, the understanding, the maturity to understand the gravity of the responsibility of owning a pet. If we are not cognizant and sensitive of the above we can never value their existence in our lives. And this results in situations where we find a “Tin Can” or “a Trailer Pup” or a “Gas Cat” being found and rescued by generous and angelic shelters/rescues such as WFOA and FHR.

Before you buy or adopt, please take a moment and ask these basic question to yourselves – Are you ready for a dog? Are you ready to be a parent to these lovely devoted souls? Do you understand the responsibilities of handling another life which trusts you with blind faith? Is it financially viable now and in future? Yes pets have costs. Is your family ready to accept a companion and respect it? Most important of all, is there someone who can take care of the dog when you will not be around? Rescue organizations like FHR make it simpler in such situations as they purposefully try to make the adoption process a little intense with the hope that no dog under them should go through the same hell of desertion twice. The questions are so well structured that people are bound to think and revisit their decision of getting a pet. They try to provide clarity and an opportunity for better judgment to new adopters.

Don’t buy just on a whim. Let your pet be a well thought over and informed decision rather than one bought on a whim. I am sure it will bring a lot of positive energy in the household for good of all in the family. BTW, don’t we all aspire for it?