Poll: Pet Ownership and Costs

[mike]

When I was at home in Oklahoma, we nearly always had a dog. They never cost more than the table scraps. They roamed freely, and one especially would sometimes go on 'expeditions' where he would be away for several weeks at a time...

Our youngest son was given a puppy here in the States, but here in town the law says dogs must be kept on a leash or confined at all times. That is the most horrible thing that can be done to a dog. After he died, we have never had another pet. It seems unfair to me that cats can run wild, but dogs must be kept confined...

I agree entirely. As a boy our dogs were allowed to roam as they pleased so it seems inhumane to pen them up. I simply refuse to treat a dog that way.

Our dog wears a wireless collar that keeps her within a certain radius of the house, which works fine.

[barnhart]

When I was at home in Oklahoma, we nearly always had a dog. They never cost more than the table scraps. They roamed freely, and one especially would sometimes go on 'expeditions' where he would be away for several weeks at a time...

Our youngest son was given a puppy here in the States, but here in town the law says dogs must be kept on a leash or confined at all times. That is the most horrible thing that can be done to a dog. After he died, we have never had another pet. It seems unfair to me that cats can run wild, but dogs must be kept confined...

I agree entirely. As a boy our dogs were allowed to roam as they pleased so it seems inhumane to pen them up. I simply refuse to treat a dog that way.

Wife: On one hand, I agree with this, but on the other hand, living in town, it gets really annoying having obnoxious strays and other peoples dogs coming to our house all the time. At the moment it’s a Doberman which may or may not be owned by the neighbor across the street, and goes onto other properties and barks at people like he’s guarding his territory. The dog has calmed down some and lets me pet him, but is wary of people, which maybe have hurt him, and I have to be really cautious with the children around him.
In the past, there were three German Shepherd puppies that were just dumped in our neighborhood, and they were cute, but with three of them, completely unmanageable, and would nip like crazy. Our animal control is useless for the most part, although we finally got them to pick the puppies up because one of them drew blood on my husband which is basically the only reason they would ever come.

We did have another stray that we had adopted, very friendly but he was the type that could not handle been kept inside and was a master of escape from any fence or harness . He’s a country dog at this point with her friends, and seems to be pretty happy.

I would not own a dog in those situations.

[Grace]

No pets. My wife doesn't like cats (they scratch and bite); I don't like dogs (they stink and bite). I'm allergic to both. And we agree that they are a big waste of money that could be used to help people.

I don't often agree with you Jim, on this I do agree, 100%. You forgot to say they shed as well. Dogs you have to take out to do their business, cats you have to clean the litter box. We had about a foot and a half of snow this winter and I saw a neighbor had to shovel a path in their yard so the dog could get its exercise and do its business. No thanks, I don't like the litter box, but walking the dog in some of the sub-zero temps we had, and I refuse to shovel more snow than I have to.

[Soloist]

I would not own a dog in those situations.

Wife: yeah, much to my children’s disappointment, that’s where we’re at at the moment. If we could have a better fence and they helped pay for the vet bills, we wouldn’t be against it. Thankfully, the Doberman is one of the less intelligent dogs, and he hasn’t seemed to figure out how to get through our fence unless we leave the gate open or have our front gate unbarricaded.

Those puppies were coming at us like hordes climbing over finding holes ect. We nicknamed them the three stooges, and might have been willing to take care of one of them, but definitely not three. Rescues were all filled up, and would’ve wanted us to foster the dogs. Animal control seemed to think they would be adopted pretty easy though when they finally did show up.

[mike]

No pets. My wife doesn't like cats (they scratch and bite); I don't like dogs (they stink and bite). I'm allergic to both. And we agree that they are a big waste of money that could be used to help people.

I don't often agree with you Jim, on this I do agree, 100%. You forgot to say they shed as well. Dogs you have to take out to do their business, cats you have to clean the litter box. We had about a foot and a half of snow this winter and I saw a neighbor had to shovel a path in their yard so the dog could get its exercise and do its business. No thanks, I don't like the litter box, but walking the dog in some of the sub-zero temps we had, and I refuse to shovel more snow than I have to.

In large part, pet ownership is a luxury. Our society spends insane amounts of money on pets, and if someone is spending thousands upon thousands of dollars a year on pets, I don't think they have much room to claim our economy is unaffordable for the average person.

[JohnH]

I would not own a dog in those situations.

Wife: yeah, much to my children’s disappointment, that’s where we’re at at the moment. If we could have a better fence and they helped pay for the vet bills, we wouldn’t be against it.

One of the more interesting modern affectations is thinking “vet bills” are necessary.

Another one is the belief animals have to be inside when it’s cold.

[Neto]

No pets. My wife doesn't like cats (they scratch and bite); I don't like dogs (they stink and bite). I'm allergic to both. And we agree that they are a big waste of money that could be used to help people.

I don't often agree with you Jim, on this I do agree, 100%. You forgot to say they shed as well. Dogs you have to take out to do their business, cats you have to clean the litter box. We had about a foot and a half of snow this winter and I saw a neighbor had to shovel a path in their yard so the dog could get its exercise and do its business. No thanks, I don't like the litter box, but walking the dog in some of the sub-zero temps we had, and I refuse to shovel more snow than I have to.

In large part, pet ownership is a luxury. Our society spends insane amounts of money on pets, and if someone is spending thousands upon thousands of dollars a year on pets, I don't think they have much room to claim our economy is unaffordable for the average person.

That is true for most people. On the farm and in the country in general, dogs have a purpose, and they 'work' for their keep. Not to say that ours weren't also pets, something I cannot say for any cat we ever had around the place. Yes, they helped with the rodent problem, but also created a stench I have never gotten used to. Because we live close to the grocery store here in Berlin, feral cats can survive out of the dumpster, and they live in the storm sewer pipes. They kill birds and sometimes small rabbits, but not a whole lot else, as far as I can tell.

[mike]

I don't often agree with you Jim, on this I do agree, 100%. You forgot to say they shed as well. Dogs you have to take out to do their business, cats you have to clean the litter box. We had about a foot and a half of snow this winter and I saw a neighbor had to shovel a path in their yard so the dog could get its exercise and do its business. No thanks, I don't like the litter box, but walking the dog in some of the sub-zero temps we had, and I refuse to shovel more snow than I have to.

In large part, pet ownership is a luxury. Our society spends insane amounts of money on pets, and if someone is spending thousands upon thousands of dollars a year on pets, I don't think they have much room to claim our economy is unaffordable for the average person.

That is true for most people. On the farm and in the country in general, dogs have a purpose, and they 'work' for their keep. Not to say that ours weren't also pets, something I cannot say for any cat we ever had around the place. Yes, they helped with the rodent problem, but also created a stench I have never gotten used to. Because we live close to the grocery store here in Berlin, feral cats can survive out of the dumpster, and they live in the storm sewer pipes. They kill birds and sometimes small rabbits, but not a whole lot else, as far as I can tell.

But in those scenarios, dogs rarely cost their owner thousands of dollars a year. There's another modern sensibility about end of life for an animal. Where people used to simply put a sick animal out of its misery by some quick and merciful end, these days if you are caught doing that yourself you will be in serious legal trouble. So you have a large vet bill for that.

[ohio jones]

Another one is the belief animals have to be inside when it’s cold.

[Soloist]

I would not own a dog in those situations.

Wife: yeah, much to my children’s disappointment, that’s where we’re at at the moment. If we could have a better fence and they helped pay for the vet bills, we wouldn’t be against it.

One of the more interesting modern affectations is thinking “vet bills” are necessary.

Another one is the belief animals have to be inside when it’s cold.

Wife: I like my pets having shots and being worm free. Otherwise, for the most part, I would agree with you, although we might bring them in if it was something simple. Biggest problem is that we have some relatives who would try to guilt trip us over anything, and we already have one who fussed because we wouldn’t bring the guinea pig to the vet.

I don’t think we have to worry too much about the cold unless we had a Chihuahua, although we can just leave a blanket out under cover.