OPINION Poll - What are your thoughts?

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

This is an interesting topic.

Does everyone deserve a dog of their very own, or only those that can afford one (in money/time/devotion)?

This is an interesting and difficult question. In fact, the Irreverent Vet recently discussed this very topic. It came up because of the octuplet mom with 14 kids who was receiving public assistance. It made a lot of people step back and ask, "Does everyone deserve kids or only those that can afford them?"

Logically, the question extends to pets. Does everyone deserve a pet or only those that can afford to care for them them?

What do you think? I'm very interested to find out what you all think about this issue.

Pets have needs that need to be taken care of - grooming, nutritional needs (good food), preventative health care, and emergency or ongoing health care if there are medical problems. Those all cost money. Should we really own a pet if we are unable to fulfill those needs?

The Irreverent Vet addresses this issue head-on and his opinion is one that I believe most vets share.

After we discuss it I will post their POLL outcome: Does Everyone "Deserve" a Pet? What do you think?

Leave your answer here and your comments below.

[Adina P]

I can't pinpoint it. It's not that he was "sad" but just extremely clingy to his mom and whiney if his 'mom' was away. I tried walking her poodle mix and left him behind at home but the dane howled like a monster and I barely made it off the block before returning for fear neighbors would call animal control for neglect. Bad diarrhea with any changes or trips (even if he was with them) or when they were gone (and friends would house sit/stop by). He was very loving and friendly otherwise. But yeah..for all his clinginess to my friend...he barely acknowledged her in later meetings (and he's only been rehomed for 2-3 weeks so he hasn't forgotten who she is).

His new home has more land he wanders around...goes places with the new owner -- just the two of them. They just seem to be a good fit. It is actually his 3rd home as my friend got him from the shelter within days of him being there.

[Debbie, Brianna and Duncan]

I agree with you, stand up straight Adina :) I agree their are exceptions for very GOOD reasons. I am grateful, and so so glad that the family that made Bogey, my inlaws rehome ALD, life miserable gave him back to our breeder. So now Bogey, the most loving wonderful boy has selfless forever devotion from our family.

My post was to respond to starting a discussion by posting the devotion question, that included in it the time factor that is all.

[Lorraine Bromley]

We also had to rehome one of our dogs that we had rescued from the ospca. The two of them were sisters and we had three boys the youngest 3. They were very good dogs but competed to attention and got extrememly physical. This was making the dogs impossible to interact with safely. We still have Jasmine 15 yr old and Cinnamon is living on a farm that had 4 boys as well and she is still very happy and healthy too.
We now got Neely 5 mths and Jazzie isn't bothered to compete at her age. Although she thinks she has to protect him from other dogs if they play to ruff and she comes and lets us know by prancing around and whining. She lets Neely know if she's had enough of him trying to play with her.
I am glad as hard as it was to go thru that we did rehome Cinnie as we got to know and love Jazzy even more because of it.

[Adina P]

i like it =)

[Linda,Yankee & Finn]

That is good! You get a gold star for that one.

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

OK, then here's the new question: Does everyone deserve a dog of their very own, or only those that can afford one (in money/time/devotion)? I don't think it will change the outcome of the poll.

[Linda,Yankee & Finn]

No, not everyone "deserves" a dog. It's that word deserve that just bothers me.

[LuvMyAbby&Kaela]

I think what it boils down to is human natures sense of entitlement is not in sync with our own reality much of the time. Unfortunately the oh-so-fallible species we are, it is in our nature to attain things that we really have no business at all having.

People feel they are entitled to an expensive vacation, yet if they have to borrow money or go deeply in debt for it that sense of entitlement did not line up with their reality. We feel like we should keep up with the 'Joneses" and pay no attention to the fact that we just may be the 'Smiths'...and it is different for us.

People feel thay are entitled to be fruitful and procreate when in reality they dont posess the intellectual, emotional or psychological nature to properly raise a child, though those same offspring may have been born with a silver spoon.

People feel entitled to have children when they cant provide anything at all for that child except a legacy of ignorance, neglect, and abuse.

People feel they are entitled to go get a puppy then pop it in a cage and off to work they go for the day.

What we are entitled to and what we should have are not the same. It is too bad that all humans cant step back and think "is this truly the right thing to do?"

[Leslie and Halas]

I don't think everyone deserves a pet. But I also think that there are many factors that determine whether or not someone deserves a pet, not just money. So I don't think that everyone who can afford a pet automatically deserves to have one. There's more than just money involved in being a responsible pet owner. And if I look at the definition of deserving in an earlier post, then someone who would devote themselves to a pet would deserve a pet. I'm sure there are many people who deserve pets based on that definition, but I'm sure some of those people don't have pets because they can't afford them. We don't always get what we deserve. And even when looking at whether a person can afford a pet, I agree with some other posts that we all make decisions on what to spend our money on. Some people may choose to spend their money on other things, and therefore can't afford a pet. Others will give up some of those other things in order to be able to afford a pet. So even nailing down whether or not someone can afford a pet can be difficult. That's a whole different issue.

[Kyoko]

If you cannot provide with basic needs such as food and vet care cost for a dog, and still want a pet, you can get a hamster or something. There are a lot people who loved horses, but not too many people owns one.

As far as octuplets mom, in my opinion, you don't need to go out of your way to get procedure done to have that many children when you cannot provide for them on your own, and already have 6 other children. I mean, who, regardless to the income / wealth, can truely take care of that many children? I think it is even ethically wrong to go along with this kind of procedures...