I'm thinking of getting a dog. The urge has just come over me.
We always kept dogs throughout my childhood and my grandfather was a labrador breeder. Although I like dogs, my overwhelming memory is of smelly cars, barking and dog mess. Oh and things getting nagged to bits. I always have to explore the negatives side of a proposition first.
It's very straight-forward without pets. I haven't stood in a dog turd for years, although this may be the fact that I look where I'm going now. In fact standing in dog poos was quite a eighties thing, you never hear as much about it these days.
I also like to travel about in the winter and a pet can be a tie. Our last pet at home was a peach-faced love bird called Keith. He arrived in the garden in the early nineties. Keith was quite remarkable - so remarkable that he once layed an egg. Anyway even Keith proved too much. Mum gave him away when me and my sister left home although I heard the other day that he's still alive.
The other thing that I worry about with pets for single people is that they can become a substitute for human companionship. (You already know how I hate people dressing animals up and pretending that they are human beings.) I feel as though getting a pet would be an admission that I am incapable of sharing my life with anything less choosy than a dog (and dogs are notoriously unchoosy).
Oh and my final "con" in the pros and cons, is that it is quite a long-term commitment.
So that's the why nots covered. The why is simply "I want one."
So what sort of dog do you go for?
It mustn't be too poncey either.
At the moment it is a choice between a Norfolk terrier
Or a Cairn
I've been a bit put off by the pictures on the internet that show you inside the world of dog love.
Things like this
And this
Sadly since this photograph was taken, the woman in the picture was killed..... by the poodle.
Are you allowed a Norfolk terrier given your recent Norfolk-bashing?
Two other cons:
1. Dogs bite.
2. If you have a pet, there is a very real danger you'll end up banging on about it on your blog!
PS I love the Ninja Poodle. That is the best picture you have ever posted.
Dog - great idea! I like the idea of that, but you would need to get a tartan blanket on your front seat of the car though!!??
Wha you really want is a labrador!! There great, there obiedient (well?) there great pets and it can lie at your feet when your sitting at your desk. Plus aparently they are cute!?
Long as you dont get a cat your fine!
You are among the large band of ignorant people who choose a dog based on looks alone. I refer to your silly comment about poodles being poncey. For a start, you don't have to have the dog clipped into the style now known as the 'continental' or 'lion' clip, which, incidentally was a working clip for active gundogs bred on the continent to retrieve ducks. They broke ice to retrieve downed birds and the winters in Russia (where they are supposed to have originated) are bloody cold, much colder than the fens. The long wool around the ribcage protected all the vital organs from the cold while the clipped limbs meant that it could swim strongly. The head and neck fur was also left long to protect those parts from the cold and also getting cut by shards of thick ice as the dog threw itself in to fetch the duck. Since duck shoots were sociable events, way back then around 200 years ago, and since it could be hard to distinguish one dog from another in the gloom of a winter's morning or evening, each owner tied a different coloured ribbon to the (then undocked) dogs tail so that each ower could tell who's dog had retrieved the bird.I have owned and bred standard poodles in the 80's and can tell you that you won't find a more intelligent, protective, active dog who can be a ratter in the morning, and a show winner in the afternoon. I used to ride out on my pony and the dogs ran beside me diving into brambles, hurling themselves into the 40 foot drain and coming out covered in green slime, and the next day, carrying off a red rosette at a show. They are all dog. I wouldn't give house room to a yappy, hyper, hard to train, poultry killing terrier of any sort, but I suppose it's always wise to pick a breed of dog which has a slightly lower IQ than your own and let's face it, highly intelligent poodles are too intelligent for a lot of people.
Get a nice thick labrador or similar which hasn't the brains to move if you tell it to 'sit stay' and will do so all weekend if you forget to tell it to move. The trait is called' intelligence' by people who like the breed. BTW they stink when they get wet, all gundogs do, it's the oil in their coats you see. Then there's all the hair. It gets all over the house, your car, your clothes, your visitors clothes. Poodles don't shed of course which is why they need clipping. And they don't stink when wet because they have thick wool which traps air to stay warm and don't need a layer of grease under the top fur.
But I suppose that if you aren't really confident in your masculinity, then by all means get a dog which is a 'man's' dog.
A firend of mine is a little woman like myself. She breeds large giant shnauzers. Her husband is built like a brick outhouse. Plays rugby and Yank football and is as hard as they come. His dog? Tis a little teeny weeny mini schnauzer which he adores and for which he bought one Xmas, a pretty little pink leather diamante studded collar. He walks his dog with confidence as he has no need to fear that people might think him less of a man for having a small dog. As I say, it depends on how confident in your masculinity you are. If you want small and macho, praps a nice staffy? I don't think you *have* to have tattoos to be able to own a staffy.
OOoooo Pam. Maybe i'll just get a cat instead
Thanks for that Pam...I had to take a couple of breaks while reading your comments but I eventually made it through. The highlights for me were learning of 'continental' or 'Lion' clip.
Can we have Pam as a guest blogger?