Pets require responsibility

While listening to The Diane Rehm Show (broadcast on 2004-11-26) something the author said; it was something to the effect of “I am obligated to train the dog how to live in this world”. The statistics he spouted about how many people get bitten etc by (untrained) dogs and how only 3% of all dogs in the US are trained was astounding but then again unsurprising (worked in a vet clinic). That, to me, would mean that (at the risk of offending many people) 95% of the dog owners out there are irresponsible (to varying degrees of course).

He said it’s not as easy as you would think, I agree with him about say house training, but other basic commands were not that hard to train. I never gave my dog freebies, its not like I make her work all the time but if she wanted a treat she was going to have to do something; something simple like “come” or “stay” or looking before crossing the street etc.

I have often heard people say “I don’t have time”, that’s bullshit #1 if you really don’t have time then you shouldn’t have a dog, #2 I have taught my dog hand commands (think sign language) and voice commands just whenever. An example would be like after dinner (if you are easily grossed out read no further), I let her lick the plates (of course I wash the plates thoroughly afterwards but all the scraps on the plate would just go down the drain otherwise) and have her, do something before licking the plate off, its simple takes all of 5 extra seconds and reinforces the training.

Doesn't matter if its some old hunting dog or some little Chihuahua, pets DO require responsibility.