The words of the title are not mine. They come from a social media user. The woman, Mona, wrote a story about a dog that begged to be adopted by the owner’s neighbour – her husband. The picture was taken by her husband as the dog was pleading. You know the old adage that a picture is better than a thousand words. This is a good example. Here are the words she used:
While he [her husband] was leaving, the puppy tried to follow him in his car. So, he got out and called the home owner, he said “If it runs in the road, I didn’t see or hear anything”. And my husband says “WTF dude, she could get run over, and it’s also 12 degrees outside”. So, he took the puppy and we found a GOOD home for her. He said the puppy loved our heat in the car. She was in heaven. We would’ve taken her if we were allowed to have dogs. Point is… don t get a puppy if you can’t treat them like actual beings”
Mona on Quora.com
Yes, Mona’s husband simply took his neighbour’s dog while the neighbour looked on. He must have accepted it because (and I am guessing) they realised that they no longer wanted to care for their dog. Lack of commitment.
RELATED: Pros and cons of adopting an old cat from a shelter
Commit to it but do due diligence
I am being repetitive. It is boring to say it again. The most important moment in dog or cat ownership is the moment before you adopt the animal when you work out whether you can afford it for the lifetime of the animal. And it must be for the animal’s lifetime. That’s the target. That’s going to cost upwards of $15,000 in America and a lot more sometimes. Do you have $15,000? Do you want to spend it on a companion animal?
Do you want to commit to that? Are you in the right mood? Do you have enough money? Is your life stable enough? Does your partner accept it? There are millions of questions! They’ve all got to be answered in the positive. And then – perhaps then – you can go ahead but you’ve got to commit to it.
Clearly, in the story, the dog’s owner simply wasn’t in the right place emotionally or financially for whatever reason. Maybe genuine reasons. The person might be a reasonable person but I don’t think he or she is because of the words they used in the story. And they did nothing to try and stop this man taking their dog into his car and finding a good home for the animal.
This indicates an improper attitude to dog or cat ownership. It can be quite difficult at times looking after a companion animal to a high standard. The decision to do it should not be taken flippantly or in a self-indulgent way. There should be due diligence and research particularly on the health of the animal if they are a purebred cat or dog. There’s lots to do including checking out the breeder if you’re buying a purebred dog or cat.
Often the best cat or dog is the last one on the shelf at an animal shelter; the cat or dog that nobody wants. That’s where you will get your rewards and that’s where you’ll find a beautiful companion animal who will really appreciate you which will warm up the bond between you to where it is unbreakable.
RELATED: pre-adoption
