Peace, Love and Real Talk: Sometimes, You Can Leave Fido Home!
Dear World:
Yes, it’s a blast to bring your favorite fur friend to the bar with you at “yappy” hour. Yes, a lot of memories are made with your dog buddy roaming around the dog park and outside trails. Yes, it’s super-duper fun to take your pup to catch some rays at the beach. Do you know what’s not so great? WHEN YOUR DOG IS A JERK.
Do you know how many dogs it takes to ruin a perfectly good outing for a lot of other people and their dogs? The answer: ONE. If your dog is being a brat, please do us all a favor and leave the premises as fast as you can.
Your ONE misbehaving dog can cause all of the other dogs (and people) in the area a great amount of stress. Then what happens? Well, it’s just a domino effect. Rufus starts barking in circles, Cleo runs away and hides, Lucky gets into a scuffle – the mayhem doesn’t stop until the trouble starter is completely removed from the situation.
I am a firm believer in socializing animals, but let’s do it properly shall we? There is absolutely no reason to over stimulate your dog. One social excursion isn’t going to automatically reverse the damage done on any dog – socialization takes time. So when your dog is hinting that it’s time to go, it may just be time to go.
Let’s also remember that it’s never a good idea to bring a newborn or relatively young pup (no matter how adorable) ANYWHERE until it’s properly vaccinated and de-wormed. Not only can the youngin’ pick up diseases, but he or she can also spread them to the perfectly healthy dogs who are just trying to have a good time. Nobody wants to deal with taking care of an ill dog and the vet bills that come with it.
Lastly, when it comes to bringing your beloved pet to public places, please (PLEASE) have them spayed or neutered. It seriously blows my mind that people bring their dogs out and about when they (the dog) are still intact! Not parading your female dog in heat seems to be relatively understood. However, parading your adult male dog around with huge balls seems to be acceptable. Well guess what people?! It isn’t! The dog with the balls is picking fights with every male dog and hump every female dog. It’s absolute insanity. Not to mention that getting your dog fixed is the most responsible thing to do. One time a person threw a tantrum because I requested that all dogs who attended a rescue event be spayed or neutered.
(Please note that spaying and neutering are the basics in rescue.) This guy was ranting on about how he only breeds “special” dogs and how he won’t be “supporting” the rescue event since we “discriminate” against unfixed animals. GOOD RIDDANCE, MY FRIEND. Please take yourself and your “special dogs” and quickly exit stage left.
Well folks, that’s my ramble for this issue. I hope we learned some lessons here.
1. If your dog is being disobedient, go home.
2. If your dog isn’t properly vaccinated, stay home.
3. If your dog isn’t fixed, go to the vet and FIX IT.
PEACE, LOVE, AND REAL TALK is written by Alicia Williams, founder of Eunoia Rescue
