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Woofin' Good Holidays

© Lesli Richardson

The holidays are here again. It never hurts to put out a friendly reminder though, because every year the same thing happens - people give pets as gifts.

Giving a child a pet as a gift is in and of itself not a bad thing. However, giving a child a pet just to give them a gift is wrong on so many levels. A pet, especially if we're talking a rather large one such as a dog, is a living thing that needs physical, emotional, and medical care, not to mention the amount of housekeeping that has to occur. Especially if the dog is a puppy.

I've seen instances where a child begged to have a dog and the parents produced one for Christmas. Then, in a few months when the dog wasn't a puppy anymore and it was a lot more than the parents bargained for, the dog was turned in on the basis of the child not taking care of it anymore as originally promised (or some other convenient excuse). Not only is this wrong for the dog for all the obvious reasons, this is psychologically damaging to the child. (I'm not making this up folks! I saw a case where a woman dragged her young child into the shelter when they turned the dog in and told the child that next time when Mommy told him to do his homework, he darn well better!) Then there are the more honest reasons, less disingenuous but still mind-boggling, "He's just too much for us to handle." (This about a forty pound four month-old Dalmatian puppy with plenty of growing left to do.) Then there's the infamous, "We're moving." (Would you leave your two-footed child behind?) "We're allergic." (You've been alive for HOW long and didn't know you were allergic to dogs before?)

A puppy for the holidays is fine IF the family has already been working towards this goal in the first place. The homework has been done, a reputable breeder was selected and a puppy picked out well in advance. The family knows the care involved and the parent(s) are prepared to shoulder most of the burden. (Let's be realistic here folks, I don't care if they're six or sixteen, YOU'RE still the one taking care of the dog.)

The absolute worst gift you can pick up on the spur of the moment is a puppy or kitten from a pet shop just because it looks so cute sitting in there with those sad eyes. It might make everyone laugh on Christmas morning when the gifts are unwrapped, but in a few months, it's almost guaranteed someone will pay a heavy price for that whimsy. Usually, it's the animal.