How old are you?

Are you old enough to purchase a dog?

It may seem like a dumb question however it might just be the most important one you can ask yourself.

If you are fresh out of school, aged 18 to 25, there are serious questions associated with your age that can influence your decision making.  The outcome of not considering your age is an overstressed dog pound, where millions of unwanted pets go and are then euthanized.  I'm guilty as charged.  When one moves out of our home we usually decide we need to take care of something.  We may think we are doing it for all the right reasons... but most often we are doomed to fail.

Why?

 First and foremost is we do not give consideration to our present economic situation.  We do not ask if we can provide for a long term commitment (10-20 years) to our fully dependent pooch. A dog is more expensive than children in many aspects and remains dependent on you for as long as it lives. How can they be more expensive, you maybe asking yoruself?  Well, I did state in some aspects.  Vet bills being at the top of that list. I will cover expenses later, but age still ranks first.

If you are young you may unintentionally be adding stress to your pet simply by you economic instability. By this I mean, if you do not own a home then it can be very difficult to find a landlord who allows for pets.  If you do not have a yard, or time to walk your animal then your pet will suffer. The size of dog also can compound your dilemma.

I know many people out there have great memories of their dogs, especially the ones they owned as children. Many people hope to replicate the relationship they had with the family dog, but do not have any idea how this may be done. The truth is dogs are high needs animals, and they can be expensive. I hope that if you are parents of children who are ready to leave the nest you will enter into a conversation with them about the need to wait until they themselves are stable before choosing animal husbandry of any ilk. 

When I decided to buy a dog, I wanted a small breed, non-shedding variety.  I spent 3 years scouring the local SPCA sites in search for such a creature.  None existed.  I scoured every site in B.C. to no avail.Why were they so scarce?  Was it demand?

Well part of it is demand.  Small dogs appeal to seniors and young families. The reason for none being in the pound was obvious.  Very few small dogs get dropped off there because most small dogs are owned by stable homeowners, who fully appreciate the cost of pet ownership, thus, none find their way to the SPCA. 

Young people for the most part are not interested in a small dog as it does not bode well for one's ego.  They prefer, a Shepherd, a Lab or a Pit bull to boost their sense of adulthood.  The end result is an overflow of unwanted medium to large type breed dog in our pound system.

By educating our kids we could reduce this problem dramatically.  Please tell your kids to wait until they are stable and can afford a dog before making that impulsive purchase.  It will save them a lot of stress of having to bond with a dog they love but but whom they were ill prepared for - a dog who may very well live it's last hours within a cage...