Why get a dog if you’re not going to treat them as part of the family.

[Rastyopolis]

I’ve seen several posts this weekend on dogs being given away or becoming a frustration - and wonder why people get them if they don’t/wont treat them as part of the family.

Dogs are hard work and it's probably better all round if the owners cant cope then the dog gets re homed, I think people get overwhelmed. I also think people get pets with the best intentions, so it isn't a case of giving up easily.

Because people get dogs (or any pet) and think it's like getting a cuddly toy - that it'll be there when you want it to be there, and you can put in minimal effort and the dogs will turn out fine. They forget that, actually, they are living, breathing creatures with independent thoughts and needs and cannot just slot into your family with ease and everything will be smooth.

At the end of the day people are naive, selfish and fundamentally a bit stupid.

People underestimate the time and effort involved, which leads to a poorly trained dog which then becomes more work.

Plus life changes

@TheNightingalesStarling the same can be said for some parents and children.

I don’t understand it either but it seems more common now. I do think since Covid many more people got dogs thinking they are just cuddly accessories and totally underestimated the work involved. While I agree if you did that then rehoming is the best thing, but ffs how about doing your homework first! Dogs are hard work. Dogs with issues are even harder. Don’t take on a dog without some research, it’s so unfair on a living, breathing, sensitive animal to move it from pillar to post because you are too selfish to make changes to your life style..

I have five dogs and I don’t see them as family members, I didn’t give birth to them, they are just pets. I don’t agree with people humanising dogs it’s unhealthy. If you’ve got problems see a therapist but don’t be calling your pet a fur baby and putting human feelings on it. I got mine because I like dogs

@12doublerolls I don’t humanise my dogs, or call them furbabies, but I do see them as family members, and they are central to our family life.

I half agree with you. But sometimes people
get dogs and then their circumstances radically change.
There are also lots of happy working dogs who are not treated like one of the family.

I can think of lots of dogs that aren't "part of the family" mostly working dogs. But you mean people who have decided to get a pet without being prepared to put in the hard work of training, (which also goes for working dogs) or really considering what dog ownership entails. People are stupid, and this isn't limited to pets.

Life can change quickly, we’ve spent an insane amount of money on kennels and daycare over the last year, if we hadn’t been able to do that, we’d have probably have had to look for rehoming.

You may not humanise them but you should still recognise and accept the responsibilities that pet ownership brings. I am not a dog person, I would love a cat, but realise that I could not do what is right for one.

Wholeheartedly agree with you OP. Animals are not expendable.

People's circumstances can change and sometimes the changes really are beyond what could ever have been planned for. But I don't imagine this is the case in most of the posts the OP is referring to.

The Dogs Trust slogan, "A dog is for life (not just for Christmas)" is almost 50 years old but seems to be as relevant today as it was then. People aren't getting puppies as much at Christmas but they're still getting them and giving them away.

If you scroll through any dog rescue website, it's depressing how many dogs are in there and most are very young (6 or 7 months is a common age.)

Personally, I think it comes down to unrealistic expectations. As we all know, young dogs are hard work. They need house training, socialising and a lot of consistent obedience training over a long period of time to produce a balanced, sociable dog who is obedient and a pleasure to own. With my dogs, I've always seen this time as a highly worthwhile investment. I wonder though if some people see a well-behaved dog and think "how lovely, we must get ourselves a puppy of that breed" without realising how much effort has gone into the dog they're admiring. All is well until the puppy reaches adolescence and then they find they can no longer control this young dog who's had no previous training. Some owners, to their credit, will seek help from a dog trainer or dog behaviourist but sadly other owners will pass the dog onto a third party or dog rescue. It's so sad.

There are a small set of people who do realise what a dog would entail but circumstances change and they aren’t the best fit for that dog. Permanent health changes.

For a lot of people it’s the adolescence stage. You can do your research but I think it’s a bit like having kids, until you experience the adolescence stage of having a dog, you don’t know how bad it can be. Yet for most owners when they are in that phase that it is so terrible, they are so very close to coming out the other side and having a perfect dog. But if you haven’t done it before, you don’t know how long that stage will last and that it does end.

Too many people don't realise that what they are actually doing is committing to a major lifestyle change for up to 15 years or more.

People make mistakes. Someone near us had a cute little Cavalier. Thinking they'd like a bigger dog, they assumed that a springer spaniel would be like a bigger Cav. They very quickly realised how wrong they were.

And as PP said, circumstances change. Couples split, people fall ill, or they lose their job and the new one they manage to find just doesnt mesh with having a dog, or they have a premature baby and need to spend every day for months in NICU and there is no one to have the dog.

There are people who unintentionally screw their dogs up and can't cope with the consequences. And there are the ones who treat dogs as lifestyle accessories - they do exist, sadly.

They are victims of our disposable culture.
Or a percentage are at least.
Not all of course and people do have genuine reasons for rehoming.

I agree with this.

A lot of people get a dog thinking of what the dog can do for them eg family walks at the weekend but they don’t think of what they need to do for the dog. There’s a lot of work and I have seen a few people give up far too easily. Dogs are a privilege and a responsibility.

People underestimate the cost too. I probably spend 300 a month, insurance, food, training, activities, vet club on my dog.
A lot think it's a few cans of meat a week until the costs roll in.

Dogs are pets though not people and so not part of the family.
That doesn't mean I don't think people shouldn't care for them properly and take responsibility for them if they decide to have them. But they are not part of the family.

Dogs ARE part of your family! End of -

@Whoarethoseguys I think this is dependent on individual thoughts. To me and to many others they are part of the family.

Maybe it’s just semantics but for me “Family” refers only to humans. Household includes pets of which I am the owner.

I know people who own working dogs which happily live outdoors, and are well looked after and appreciated throughout their long happy lives.