Puppies and the American Way

The life of a puppy....

I really adore my two cats. They are funny, smart and interesting. They are also very independent. You put food on the porch and they eat at their leisure, they poop in the leaves or the litter pan and then cover it up (thank you), you can leave them all day and they don't give a rip, heck, you can leave them for two weeks and go on vacation and they don't even seem to notice. They entertain themselves with the occasional mouse or bird, then sleep the rest of the day. If you pick them up, they really don't like it. They'd rather sit beside you and be stroked gently. They act aloof and get rid of rodents. They are low maintenance.

But not puppies. They are more like children. They need constant supervision or they will pee on your floor or chew up your furniture. They require serious training about where and when to poop. You cannot leave them unattended all day and expect to have a decent dog. They need positive reinforcement and doggie treats to be trained properly.  When you go on vacation, you have to think long and hard about what you are going to do about them. Their psyches can be damaged easily by harsh or lenient training....you can end up with a neurotic dog if you are inconsistent or mean. You can end up with a rotten, spoiled or aggressive dog if you do not establish your benevolent dominance over them -- your Alpha position in the pack. It can be complicated. But then again, not, if they are a hound dog on your back porch that gets a pat a day as you pass him on your way out to work. 

I love dogs. I love animals. They are God's special creations, beautiful expressions of His nature for our enjoyment and use. They are NOT people, and that's where some folks get confused. They might treat a dog better than they would another human (which is wrong), or they might treat a dog horribly because they are not human (which is wrong).  God talks about how the righteous man treats his animals humanely, but it never recommends substituting a dog for a child. So balance is in order. In this day, there are folks who would favor butchering their unborn baby over neglecting a dog. To quote an old saying, what is this world coming to?

So, back to dogs..... our children grew up with dogs, puppies, cats, chickens, gerbils, birds, and some kind of weird lizards. There were folks that we knew that thought that pets were superfluous, wastes of time and money.....that pets were actually an evil thing to have. I am not kidding. We bred beautiful Golden Retriever puppies for many years. Oh my.....!  There are people in all kinds of circles that think that breeding dogs is evil too. All I've got to say about all that "evil" is that sometimes people might need to get their own lives and quit worrying about everybody else's. Somehow, I thought we came over on a boat to this country for the purposes of freedom and the American way, just to mention a few... Things have gotten way, way out of hand in so many arenas. We have never lived in a neighborhood with regulated covenants for a reason. Well, many reasons. Ok, I'm digressing....again. My kids grew up with the responsibilities of animals, and most living things in our household have been required to pull their weight. Parents have work or chores, children have chores and jobs, cats have mousing responsibilities, dogs have guard duty and puppy breeding, and chickens contributed eggs and alarm duties. Somehow the birds and lizards skipped out on all that. Maybe they substituted for video games. Either way, our children learned to parent and nurture their animals....a precursor to adulthood and those responsibilities. A worthy cause. 

With a new puppy in the house, I am being painfully reminded of what it feels like to have a baby again. Early morning potty breaks, crate training, walks around the yard, feeding and socializing.... checking on pup's proximity to chair legs and dangerous electrical cords. I'm exhausted. But I sure am loving that fluffy, sweet face greeting me every morning.