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| Really, dude? Really? |
Each of them, without exception, was walking a small, fluffy, white lap dog.
What the hell happened to people having normal dogs? When I was a kid, if you wanted a dog you went to the RSPCA, picked out the friendliest looking mutt, took it home and that was that! Now days, people seem to spend weeks, if not months, visiting breeders, researching different breeds, and tossing up whether to buy from a puppy farm or a pet shop!
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| He's so cute! How could you prefer a yappy little white thing! |
I've had several friends go through this process, and when I asked them why they didn't just get a rescue dog, they all gave me a similar story.
"Oh, but when you pick the breed you know what it's personality will be like!"
Rubbish, in my opinion! I've never met a mongrel I didn't like, but I've met plenty of those annoying little boutique breed dogs that I'd cheerfully kick (if I wasn't a nice person who would NEVER kick a dog, no matter how annoying it is). I'm sure everyone who has one of these types of dogs is highly offended, but I'm just going by my observations and experiences.
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| Utterly adorable, and a bitsa! |
It's the same with cats. My boss is currently in the process of helping his wife pick out a new cat. My first question was, "Oh, which RSPCA are you going to go to?"
Yeah, they're not going to the RSPCA.
Apparently she's taken a liking to ragdolls, so they've been visiting and calling every breeder they could find in the area. Seriously, they're willing to pay up to $1,000 to get a pure bred cat, rather than pay $150 at the local shelter and get one that's desexed, vaccinated and microchipped. I just don't understand it.
I got my feline co-habitator from the RSPCA and she's the best cat you can imagine. She's loving, cuddly, and very sweet. She follows me around the house and sits at my feet wherever I end up settling. Sure she has an unnatural obsession with the shadow on my bathroom wall and she hunts geckos like they're lions on an African safari, but she was honestly the best $150 I ever spent!
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| She thinks she's in charge in our house, and she kind of is. |
I don't think I'll ever understand people who just have to have a designer animal. There are so many animals in shelters right now that need homes! When you get a bitsa, you get the advantage of an animal which will generally have a better personality, fewer health problems, and you'll have the added bonus of knowing you rescued an dog that may have been on death row.
Isn't that worth more than being able to say with equal parts pride and arrogance, "Oh, it's a purebreed" as it yaps mercilessly and snaps at everyone in sight?
I had a friend once who spent an absolute fortune on a purebred dog. The first week he had it, the dog ran out in traffic and was killed by a car. His next dog was a cheap mutt from the pound.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Such a waste of money!
DeleteMy dogs were always rescue dogs. I don't see the need to spend that much to get a dog, though I know many people who do. To each their own, I guess.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, I probably shouldn't judge. It just seems like so much money to spend on an animal ... unless they're buying something really cool, like a llama or a pot bellied pig.
DeleteI don't get spending that much on a pet at all... but then, I don't have any sort of pet to start with - so perhaps I'm biased ;-)
ReplyDeleteYour cat looks beautiful and just what a cat should be lol.
Gypsy says thank you! She's very vain (even for a cat) and appreciates all compliments. I always imagine her inner monologue is in the voice of Kathleen Turner.
DeleteI have never understood paying so much money for a dog or cat, or any pet!
ReplyDeleteI think it is so funny when I see really big men walking around with lap dogs!
I just find it hilarious that there are so many of them in my neighbourhood! I guess I live in lapdog central!
DeleteAMEN!! With all the cats and dogs desperate for good loving homes, I think it's downright criminal to encourage the breeding of more. I totally agree about the personalities of "mutts". You could not ask for a sweeter cat than our rescue kitty Sophie, and I swear she was so grateful the day we picked her up out of her basket in the big over-crowded cage and I carried her in my arms to the car and the love of our home. I shudder to think what her future might have been otherwise. Rescue is the way to go! Of course the folks who must have designer pets tend to not care that much about helping others, they are pretty much all about themselves.
ReplyDeleteGypsy was like that too, so happy to be chosen. Of course now she's all "Fetch me chicken, peasant" and "Move, I wish to sit in the warm spot on the couch". Ungrateful wretch.
DeleteHEY NOW! We have a tiny white lap dog! Don't worry; we rescued him from the shelter. I don't normally post links to my blog on other people's blogs because it's obviously shameless self-promotion, but in this case it's so utterly appropriate that I just can't help myself... (it's the story of how we got our sweet pup!) I ruff him. :) http://abandoningpretense.blogspot.com/2012/05/why-you-want-to-have-another-baby-i.html
ReplyDeleteAww, he's adorable! I hear that's happening a lot in the shelters, people abandoning designer puppies when they get sick of them. It's such a shame really.
DeleteLOL; we're the one that got a purebred from a breeder and no less had him flown from Alabama to Montana where we were living at the time. But he was "only" $400 and the flight was $250. Not trying to justify it, but we wanted a corgi. He might be our last dog, not sure about taking on the commitment of a pet after him, but if we do get another one we'll probably see what our options are from the animal shelter. Two of our previous ones had been rescue dogs :)
ReplyDeletebetty
I had a corgi crossed with a kelpie as a kid! She was an RSPCA dog, and the cutest thing I'd ever seen was her rounding up the guinea pigs that lived in our back yard.
DeleteOK, that big, steroid fueled dude looks completely ridiculous walking that lap dog. He needs a big ol' lab or a german shepherd to round out his look!
ReplyDeleteAnd you just know it's his girlfriend's dog, and she's said "Oh baby, could you just walk the dog for me" and he's said "Yes dear" and the dog's said "Totally whipped, dude".
DeleteSorry, sometimes I form dialogues in my head :D
Always got rescued animals myself. Somehow the animals seem to be more grateful and loyal - even the cats. Pure bread cats/dogs are all inbred and weak.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find more amazing is that people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on "designer cross breeds", which is essentially a mutt, that they could pick up at any shelter. Dogs with papers are not more valuable, they are just dogs.
It's just strange that, given how much it costs to raise a dog, people will waste money by buying such expensive designer one! A dog's a dog, and the mongrels always have the best personalities.
DeleteI agree so much! My dog and all of my cats were all from shelters. They are such loving beautiful animals. And my last two cats lived sixteen and eighteen years!
ReplyDeleteI agree so much! My dog and all of my cats were all from shelters. They are such loving beautiful animals. And my last two cats lived sixteen and eighteen years!
ReplyDelete