YOUR PET IS NOT A PAIR OF SHOES: DON'T RETURN HER
I am not a person prone to strong feelings. I used to get upset more often but then I started to ask myself, “Will this bother me when I am in my deathbed?” Generally, the answer is no. The squabbling of family and co-workers really is nothing more than a momentary squawk and I refuse to get upset about that stuff. This article, however, will irritate me for a very long time, perhaps until the end.
Let me sidestep here to say that sometimes, people do have to take their dog, puppy, pet back to the shelter, rescue, etc. There are a few (in my opinion) valid reasons for this, such as someone becomes allergic, someone becomes too sick to care for the pet, or someone dies (there may be a few others but none come to mind).
Now, let me get back to the article. It is well written and has some valid points, but the fact that these people adopted (bought from a breeder actually, which in my opinion tells a lot about a person) a puppy, got rid of it because it upset their lives and believe that they taught their daughter a valuable life lesson blows my mind.
First, what did these people expect? They adopted a baby. Of course it was going to upset their lives. They seemed to think that just because this puppy was the same breed as their dog who had just passed, it would be the same. Well, let me tell you something—EVERY animal is different. They each have their own personalities and temperament. The author does state this but still, she obviously had somehow imagined that the puppy would behave like their old dog (I'm trying to be a kinder person so I will not write what I think of that mentality).
This idea that you can introduce a puppy, kitten, or pet of any kind into your life and not expect some long days and nights is foolish. This same stupid belief is often shown on television and that makes me angry too. For example, on Friends (I know this is an old show, but I don’t watch much TV anymore) when Rachel had her baby, it did not affect her life at all. She still went to work, hung out with her friends at the coffee shop, etc. Why are we surprised when teens get pregnant and think that nothing is going to change?
The second thing that makes me angry with this article is that not once did they consider the puppy’s feelings. They crated it at night. I know a lot of people do that, but think about it. You have just adopted a social animal. A baby who is used to snuggling with her siblings and you stick her in a crate alone. Of course she is going to cry. She is alone and her instincts scream that it is dangerous. Have a little consideration. They also never mentioned thinking about how the puppy would feel when it went back to the breeder. Well, let me tell you that dogs get depressed after being returned to the shelter, pound or even the breeder. They bond with their new family, their new pack and they are basically kicked out. In the wild, this would almost certainly mean death.
Finally, the thing that pissed me off most is the tone of the article. Although the author did not take this decision lightly, she sounds to me like she feels that this situation has taught her daughter a valuable lesson. I quote here:
“The hardest thing to do in a family is to have the critical conversations,” Taylor-Klaus says. “Your daughter needs to know how hard it was for you and to see that everything in life is not all idyllic.”
So, that’s the lesson that you think you taught your daughter? That everything in life is not all idyllic. I don’t believe that is the lesson she will take from this. I believe that what she will learn is that if something or someone is too difficult, then you remove them from your life.
Too many people feel this way in our society today. There is no true commitment. If the job is hard, quit. You can find another. If marriage is not all poems and roses, then end it. The family in this article made a commitment when they adopted that puppy and in my opinion, they should have seen it through. They might have had to rearrange their lives a bit but in the end, the puppy would have grown up and the messes and crying would have ceased. That is the real lesson that should have been taught because life never, NEVER, turns out as you expected and you need to be flexible. When you do adapt to new people and things in your life, you are usually better off.
http://news.yahoo.com/why-we-returned-our-adorable-1314277187690550.html
Let me sidestep here to say that sometimes, people do have to take their dog, puppy, pet back to the shelter, rescue, etc. There are a few (in my opinion) valid reasons for this, such as someone becomes allergic, someone becomes too sick to care for the pet, or someone dies (there may be a few others but none come to mind).
Now, let me get back to the article. It is well written and has some valid points, but the fact that these people adopted (bought from a breeder actually, which in my opinion tells a lot about a person) a puppy, got rid of it because it upset their lives and believe that they taught their daughter a valuable life lesson blows my mind.
First, what did these people expect? They adopted a baby. Of course it was going to upset their lives. They seemed to think that just because this puppy was the same breed as their dog who had just passed, it would be the same. Well, let me tell you something—EVERY animal is different. They each have their own personalities and temperament. The author does state this but still, she obviously had somehow imagined that the puppy would behave like their old dog (I'm trying to be a kinder person so I will not write what I think of that mentality).
This idea that you can introduce a puppy, kitten, or pet of any kind into your life and not expect some long days and nights is foolish. This same stupid belief is often shown on television and that makes me angry too. For example, on Friends (I know this is an old show, but I don’t watch much TV anymore) when Rachel had her baby, it did not affect her life at all. She still went to work, hung out with her friends at the coffee shop, etc. Why are we surprised when teens get pregnant and think that nothing is going to change?
The second thing that makes me angry with this article is that not once did they consider the puppy’s feelings. They crated it at night. I know a lot of people do that, but think about it. You have just adopted a social animal. A baby who is used to snuggling with her siblings and you stick her in a crate alone. Of course she is going to cry. She is alone and her instincts scream that it is dangerous. Have a little consideration. They also never mentioned thinking about how the puppy would feel when it went back to the breeder. Well, let me tell you that dogs get depressed after being returned to the shelter, pound or even the breeder. They bond with their new family, their new pack and they are basically kicked out. In the wild, this would almost certainly mean death.
Finally, the thing that pissed me off most is the tone of the article. Although the author did not take this decision lightly, she sounds to me like she feels that this situation has taught her daughter a valuable lesson. I quote here:
“The hardest thing to do in a family is to have the critical conversations,” Taylor-Klaus says. “Your daughter needs to know how hard it was for you and to see that everything in life is not all idyllic.”
So, that’s the lesson that you think you taught your daughter? That everything in life is not all idyllic. I don’t believe that is the lesson she will take from this. I believe that what she will learn is that if something or someone is too difficult, then you remove them from your life.
Too many people feel this way in our society today. There is no true commitment. If the job is hard, quit. You can find another. If marriage is not all poems and roses, then end it. The family in this article made a commitment when they adopted that puppy and in my opinion, they should have seen it through. They might have had to rearrange their lives a bit but in the end, the puppy would have grown up and the messes and crying would have ceased. That is the real lesson that should have been taught because life never, NEVER, turns out as you expected and you need to be flexible. When you do adapt to new people and things in your life, you are usually better off.
http://news.yahoo.com/why-we-returned-our-adorable-1314277187690550.html
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