Try house-training a puppy in the snow. Dogs who grow up unhouse-trained, unmannered and unsocialized too often never get a chance to grow up much at all. Every fall, I get dozens and dozens of letters from people who are tearing out their hair over their now-adolescent Christmas puppy. Every fall, the shelters see more than their share of these dogs. Sad for the families, tragic for the dogs.
Dogs can be great for children, and children can be great with dogs.
But Christmas is not the best time to launch such a promising relationship. Somebody has to be the grown-up here, and if you're the parent, it should be you. Wait until late spring or early summer to find the perfect pup and get him off to a great start. Activist Kim Townsend has revved up, too, with a Web site designed to educate pet buyers about the cruelties that still exist in the industry. Inc. Health information provided as a source of education and entertainment only.