From: toolan@scivax.stsci.edu
Subject: Re: New Puppy - Need Advice!!
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 21:29:05 GMT

In article <12710@almond.rl.ac.uk>, ines@inf.rl.ac.uk (Ines Day) writes:
> In article <1992Aug26.224604.13772@gateway.ssf-sys.DHL.COM
>cmoussav@ssf-sys.DHL.COM (Carla Moussavi) writes:
> 
>>  I just got a puppy, 12 weeks old, female, shepard/lab mix. My husband
>> and I work all day, and I need advice about the following things:
> 
> The best you can do is give the puppy to someone who can look after it all 
> day, at least until it has got to know people, and knows what odd 
> creatures they are!
> People like you should not be allowed to have a dog!  
>

	Now, wait just a minute here.  Have I been living in a vacuum, or isn't
	it *EXTREMELY* common nowadays for both the husband and wife to *HAVE*
	to work in order to make ends meet?  Where do you get off saying
	someone who cares enough about a dog to seek advice for their well-
	being should not have a dog?  You may be able to stay home all day to
	play with your puppy, but the majority of the world simply can't.

 
>>1. Is it necessary to get another puppy to keep her from being lonely?
>>
> No, it needs PEOPLE, unless you want it to revert to being a pack animal!
> I pity this puppy.  It will probably end up by being left out on 
> the highway by you in the end, because you cannot understand why it has 
> turned into a nasty dog, unable to relate to humans. 

	I feel more pity for your narrow-minded point of view.  It was never
	said the the puppy would never have human contact.  It *IS* possible
	to work during the day and raise a happy, well adjusted puppy.  We
	have done it several times.  The dog (whatever the age) gets plenty of
	love, attention and training whenever someone is home.


> The least you can do for it, get a couple of decent books about dogs.  
> But you run the danger of being too ashamed to own this puppy without 
> knowing the first thing about dogs.


	How can asking the r.p.d. readers for advice be construed as "being
	ashamed to own a puppy without knowing the first thing about dogs?"
	We don't know *how* they came to get this dog.  Maybe they took in 
	a stray.  Even if the pup was impulse-bought, that doesn't mean it 
	won't have a good home!  After all, the owner is asking help of 
	knowledgeable people.  It seems to me like they're trying to do the
	proper things for the dog.  

 
>>   If not, what can I do to keep her happy during the day? She's outside
>>   during the day - any good toys I should buy her?
> 
> Toys do not make up for PEOPLE, not for a baby, not for a dog!


	Again, it was never said that the dog would be forever staked alone
	in the back yard.
	
 

>>2. How can I train her to go to the bathroom in a specific area of the
>>  backyard? 
> 
> NOT by telepathy!!
> And, by the way, dogs do not "go to the bathroom"!

	Gee, that was a really helpful answer you gave her!  I don't often
	see the terms urinate and defecate used by anyone else, which is
	what all "animals" (including people) do.  Why nitpick over language?


> -- 
> Ines Day                        JANET: ines@uk.ac.rl.inf
> Informatics Department          ARPA:  ines%inf.rl.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
> Rutherford Appleton Laboratory  
> Chilton, Didcot, Oxon.          Tel: 0235-821900 ext 6190
> OX11 0QX, UK



	I feel the prime purpose of the net, in general, is to PROMOTE
	UNDERSTANDING of whatever the particular bulletin board topic is.
	This person may never look at r.p.d. again after the multiple slaps
	in the face that were dealt to her.  That would certainly be REAL
	helpful to her puppy.

	If only people who stay home all the time can have puppies/dogs,
	there would be even more of an overpopulation problem then exists
	now.  I *HAVE* to work.  My husband doesn't make enough for us to
	pay the mortgage on our house and meet our other debts.  I'd LOVE
	to stay home!  But don't try to tell me I can't have puppies/dogs
	because there's no one home during the weekdays.  If that were the
	case, our two beautiful, HAPPY Greyhounds would, instead, probably
	have been bashed over the head in someone's field or woods.  

	I have tried not to make this a flame; if it is interpreted as such
	I apologize--but I saw red because of the insulting tone of this 
	particular posting. 

		*	*	*	*	*
				*
	Sharon Toolan		*	My opinions are my own;
	toolan@stsci		*	no one else would want them.
				*
		*	*	*	*	*

		Make a fast friend--adopt a Greyhound!
		(Even if no one is home during the day)