Mature Dog vs. Puppy
Posted in Cat, Dog, Oregon, Pets, Portland, dog walking, pet sitting on June 29th, 2009 by Bark – Be the first to commentWelcome to BarkSpot from Bark PDX, a blog dedicated to our pets and our lives and adventures with them. Here we will share ideas, information, news, links, fun stories, anecdotes and basically everything pet related.
Mature Dog vs. Puppy
So you’re thinking to yourself that it’s time to get a dog, I can’t really blame you! The question now becomes whether to get a cute little puppy or to adopt or more experienced, but equally cute adult dog. I have two dogs, one that’s a puppy and one that is more mature at 11.5 years old, both German Short Haired Pointers. My Mom is in town visiting me and claims to “have her hands full will Buddy”, the puppy. He’s already destroyed her eyeglasses case among other things, lol, I warned her.
Older dogs don’t need to rush to bathroom as often, their muscles are stronger and their ability to withstand “holding it” is much greater than a puppy who needs to go out frequently even if that puppy is trained (which takes a little time). You can check out an earlier post where I show you my formula for how long a puppy can hold it. If you have chosen to go with the puppy, I hope that someone can be home to let it out as often as they need or that you have made arrangements for a pet sitter like myself (shameless self promotion) to help out.
I mentioned earlier that my puppy chewed my Mother’s eyeglasses case, this isn’t the first thing he’s chewed through. Puppy’s are like babies, they need constant supervision, especially the puppy I have. I love him, he’s incredibly cute and sweet, but highly destructive if given the opportunity to sink his teeth into something while unmonitored. A mature dog is far less likely to go and destroy your belongings, something to consider.
Alright, there are many more reasons to consider getting yourself a mature dog. They won’t be nearly as demanding as puppies, but we won’t go through all of them reason right now (activity level, socialization, cost, food, vets, patience, etc.). It’s not that I’m feeling lazy, quite the contrary, I would like to hear some of the reasons from you. I can tell you that I enjoy having both a mature dog as well as a rambunctious puppy. The puppy keeps my older one young and on her toes, sometimes to her dissaproval. My mature dog helps teach, train and keep the puppy in line. They both offer something different and I couldn’t imagine life without either one of them. As usual, I would love to hear what you think so keep the comments rolling and thanks again for reading!
It’s too bad that fleas aren’t like vampires in the sense that they have to actually be invited into your house to enter. And yes, I know plenty of vampires so this is pretty much common knowledge for me. OK, but seriously, if you think that fleas are terrible imagine what your pet must be going through. As much as I appreciate all of nature’s inhabitant’s and the delicate balance that is necessary to maintain life as we know it, I have a hard time understanding why this devilish creatures plague us and our pets. Well, that said, perhaps we can talk a little bit about what to do if you don’t want these nasty little critters around.
After I graduated from college I lived in South America for a couple of years, Chile and Argentina to be exact. I was perpetually surprised by how many dogs I saw living in the street, even more surprising was how many dogs I saw trying to attack the tires of moving cars. Since we here in the United States have pretty strict animal control we don’t get to see as much of this. Though I never saw one of these dogs actually hit by a car, I often considered the possibility. I thought I would write a little something regarding the subject of dogs being hit by cars in the hope that you will know exactly what to do should you ever bear witness to such a difficult experience.
If you thought things were really “hopping” in Portland, you are so right! As it turns out, a local woman here in the Portland area can’t get enough of rabbits. She had once been found with over 250 rabbits in 2006, about 100 of which were dead and stored in her freezer. This woman was just arrested again for probation violation! Her original sentence of 5 years probation included the prohibition of having animals and she wasn’t to come within 100 yards of a rabbit. While she was being prosecuted, she broke into the facility where the confiscated rabbits were being held, stole most of them back and alledgedly transported them across state lines to Washington. She was able to avoid jail time somehow until she was found with rabbits again while living in an extended-stay hotel, one of which was found dead. It could be argued that this hoarding rabbits is a psychological issue, but if I’m not mistaken, she was professionally evaluated and was found not to have any “problems”.