We've all seen or done those science experiments with our kids where you take 3 plants & give equal care as far as soil, water, sunlight. One is the control, that's all you do. To one you yell at & talk meanly every day & you talk sweetly & encouragingly to the other. The results are always the same - the control plant grows, the one you talk meanly to fails to thrive, & the one you talk sweetly to flourishes more than the control plant. Yet plants don't have brains & therefore don't have emotions. Pets have both!
When you take on a pet you take on more responsibility than to just feed & water. Depending on the sophistication of the pet, you have more or less additional responsibility. With dogs you have to give them exercise & a way to potty outdoors, for example. Cats need litter boxes & they need to be scooped! I know people who scoop them infrequently. Go into parts of their home & you know they have cats from the smell. Yuck! The cats don't like it that way either, people! Then they wonder why the cats don't always use the litter box, blame the cat, sometimes get rid of it.
The number one cause of pet behavior problems is PEOPLE!!! I'll say it again - the #1 cause of pet behavior problems is PEOPLE! ALL pet behavior problems. If you play roughly with a kitten or puppy, the animal will play rough with you when it's bigger & they're more apt to hurt you. I once had a 100 lb dog - part Shepherd, part Golden Retriever, part Irish Setter. He had the wolf-like Shepherd head only with ears that hung down, & looked quite fierce. People were afraid of him on sight, especially when he'd bark & charge the fence (99.9% of the time he charged in greeting, not warning). He was a great watch dog & would have killed for me. Otherwise, he was the sweetest, most gentle giant. Once he charged the fence, where a mommy had dropped a baby squirrel in fright, on her way moving him from nest to nest. I yelled the dog's name several times (not meanly, but firmly - huge difference, & you can yell at an animal to get his attention or be heard from a distance - the only proper use of yelling at animals or kids, then it's actually calling, not yelling) & he stopped just short of the fence. But it turns out all he wanted to do was see what it was. He was just curious. He was very obedient but if he'd honestly wanted to eat that little animal, I couldn't have stopped him, especially not by just getting his attention, calling his name. I also once saw him go nose to nose with an adult opossum on the fence. Apparently they were already acquainted because the opossum wasn't at all afraid of him. When he was a puppy, every time I'd go to pet him he'd roll onto his back & attack my hand with his teeth & claws. I'd extract my hand & tell him no, nicely but firmly, & walk away. Eventually he quit, & I was able to pet him from then on. He learned to be a gentle dog because I was always gentle with him & we never let him engage in rough play with any of us. We never had behavioral issues with him because I took him to dog obedience school when he was about half grown. I knew he was going to be big & that I had to learn how to sound commanding, had to be established as the authority figure with him before he got too big. It was a great experience because I learned to sound commanding, not harsh or sharp. Many women sound sharp & nasty when they mean to sound commanding & firm, especially the women in my family. Also, I entirely tend to be a mush, & knew I had to learn commanding behavior in order to handle this dog well. The funny thing is, my son was about 2 at the time & I'd come home & find myself using the verbal commands on him. I'd tell him to "sit," "stay," etc. Boy did he listen to the tone! It works - firm & commanding when you mean it, & there's nothing nasty about it. People would notice & say I sounded like I was commanding a dog but remember, this was my only learning on how to sound firm without sounding harsh. We'd just laugh about it, & later would say that he & the dog were puppies together. They really were! They were best friends forever, the same size for a lot of the time, got around on all 4s together for quite awhile too.
When you take on a pet, make it a responsible decision. Know what you're doing, what kind of care is really needed. Hamsters need a secure cage or tall aquarium so they can't get out because they're great at doing that. They're minimal care but you truly have to clean their cages regularly or they get sick. There's nothing they can do about a dirty cage. You wouldn't live lying in your own filth so don't do it to an animal. Also, they only live about a year or so. Make sure you & the kids can live with that. Don't get a dog if you're going to tie him up outside all the time. If you have to have a dog outside for more than a few minutes at a time, make sure he has shade, shelter, & water. I can't tell you how many dogs I see chained up outside in the sun without water, day after day after day... Breaks my heart. I'd like to do that to the people for a week! Just for a week, treat them the way they treat the dogs. I've had angora rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, dogs, & cats. I can tell you the care needed for each to do well, because I made sure I learned all I could. I haven't always been the best caretaker but I've learned from my mistakes. There are also pets I've wanted to take on that I haven't or wouldn't again, because of that learning. Part of being responsible is taking the animal into consideration more than your want. Tomorrow, cats.
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