Friday, October 12, 2012

House Dog Only, Please



This is what I want for my dogs.  Not necessarily sofa privileges, but I want any dogs I place to live in the house and be part of the family.  Dogs are companions to mankind, not livestock, and companion dogs need to be house dogs.  They don't require complete run of the house, and in fact my own dogs are limited to the kitchen, family room and basement, but that's where we spend most of our times and the dogs are with us there.  There are dog crates in my kitchen, where the dogs eat their meals, and the seniors or pups sleep at night.  It's where the other often sleep too - in crates on soft rugs - by choice, with the doors open.  Watson in particular retires to a crate about 8:00 PM, probably for the peace and quiet!

I just turned down a home for a potential show pup, an otherwise good home.  No dogs in the house in case they had company with dog allergies.  Not because anyone in the family had allergies, but just in case.  I read that as simply a person who did not want the companionship of dogs in the house, not a suitable home for a Dalmatian, or at least not for one of mine.   The kennel is attached to the stable, which would be fine for a Dal part of the time, but not full time.  In fact, I'd love to have a kennel with indoor/outdoor runs where I could safely leave my dogs if Ron & I were both gone for a couple of hours.  This person lives in a cold climate like Minnesota, and I just could see how little attention that a dog would get during the winter.  A new puppy in February, isolated in a kennel?  No thanks.

Holly is all settled in here and runs with the other dogs.  She gets along well, though occasionally swears at Fernly who likes to tease her.  Coral and Josie are fine with another adult Dal girl in the family, as I knew they would be, and of course the boys think it's great.  Too early to know if Holly is pregnant, but she is displaying that cloying, sucky, rather apologetic attitude so typical of pregnant bitches.   I should be able to palpate pregnancy at about 25 days, or I could take her in for an ultrasound to confirm it.

Need to respond to some puppy inquiries tonight, so hope to get my brochure updated and a pedigree done first.

2 comments:

Helen said...

Very glad you declined that placement!

Chalase and Sparkle said...

I had that same issue when I was doing rescue; outside dog, I don't think so. I had a quote on my home page, hoping that would get my point across; "If you want an outside pet, plant a tree."