Where does the “time” go??

Written by boerboels.ca on July 16th, 2010

This is another post in a series about what is “bad” about owning dogs

Of course, this isn’t truly a “bad dog” issue, it’s about people’s expectations. In full disclosure, I am planning a single breeding from my dogs, but I cannot do so lightly, having recently seen so many dogs in rescue situations. Thus I feel it’s my duty to harp on all the bad things that may happen just to be sure that anyone who gets through this gauntlet of warnings will truly be motivated to “be in it for the long haul” which is what this rather depressing series is about. I’ll offset it with more positive posts shortly. Hang in there. :)

Now, as this is a Boerboel site, arguably the issues with Boerboels will be a bit different mostly because there’s a non-trivial cost involved: People might tend to pay a bit more for the dogs because breeders are paying a bit more for hip certifications, importing, etc. so the buyer is maybe taking a little bit more time in considering how much time and commitment they honestly have. I know I have had that “whoa, okay, this is something I better be pretty sure about…” conversation upon calculating the price (I’ll write some more on the Boerboel specific issues when I wrap up that other article.)

Anyway, over and over again I see people giving up dogs because they “don’t have the time they deserve”. Here are some notes from a few random classified ads found this morning:

I have to sell [my Doberman puppy] only because my family does not have the time for her anymore, or i would never give her up.

And…

We are having to place our purebred English Bulldog in a new home. She is loving, affectionate and great with kids. She has been fully vaccinated and fixed. We just don’t have time to give her the time and attention she needs due to our crazy schedules.

And…

hi i am selling my female american bulldog, i just dont have enough time to train her or watch her like i need to shes a awsome dog well behaved she gets along very well with other dogs

And…

advertised as "free to good home"

Dont have time for her [yellow lab] any more. Her name is Tia.
Free to a good home.

My question is, are these people really being honest? Is time really the issue here?

If “time” is not really the issue, what else could be? I have been through some pretty annoying dog habits, so here are some alternatives I could see being possible issues that are not being voiced directly. I would assume that if they were part of the reason they may be “hidden” from the advertisement because they don’t want to wreck the “sale”:

1) Cost (not expecting some chronic vet expenses? cost of boarding?)

2) Behavior (totally wrong assumptions about what a dog does when you’re either there, or away? Did the owner assume the dog would sit on the deck all day beside your chair, like out of a Norman Rockwell scene?)

3) Soiling, etc. (is it just that people are working too long a shift, and come home after twelve hours to find carpets soiled, etc.?)

4) Destruction (not set up for surviving the entertainingly challenging “puppy years”? Bladder/bowel control issues compared to time away from home, which leads to anxiety?)

5) One spouse/family member, etc. not as accepting as the other of the commitment (sometimes one person is 100% committed to have a dog in the family “until death do us part” yet a spouse may be willing to jettison the dog at the first chewed shoe.)

I sort of expect that the “we don’t have time” is often a cover for some of the above, however, I still do think time is an issue. So, let’s look at what time does a dog take, and when?

First off, I think time becomes a massive problem in the puppy months, of course, but at that time the dog is new, cute, and the cost is still fresh in our mind. We are eager to go to those puppy classes, the chewed shoe is still cute, the “didn’t sleep because of the pup” is still a funny story for the coworkers.

Hopefully, up until the doggy “teen years” (8-20 months or so) — and even through — these months, you are going to training classes. This would be great for learning training, but it’s also a relatively safe place for socialization, and frankly for some group therapy: It’s great to hear someone else’s horror stories. Misery loves company… or something. :)

It’s usually not until around 8-14months when the “free to good home” ads start up.

At this point, I have a hypothesis. I think there’s a bit of a behavior thing that goes on, and people realize that they should have been spending more time training instead of watching Lost or playing World of Warcraft or whatever. This leads to thoughts and discussions of a “Can we do this? Are we up for this?” flavour. I suspect at this time, people decide they are not ‘up for it’, they made a big mistake. They want out. They’d rather be watching Lost instead of going to puppy classes after all.

The unfortunate thing is that IF you can get through the “teen years” with your dog (the 8-20 months or so) things tend to calm down into a better routine. The trick is getting through there with enough structure that the other end is a tolerable routine, not a convoluted “work my life around my dog’s quirks” thing.

If you haven’t been up on all the training, etc. you’re still in luck: You can teach old dogs new tricks, and dogs at this age are still pretty malleable. I’d suggest a training class, unless they’re totally anti-social, in which case I’d suggest more of a one-on-one setup with a trainer.

Also, in the time category, there’s exercise. This is also not so compatible with TV and WOW. If at all possible, it’s worth taking dogs for good exercise workouts once a day. Before work is great, as it burns off energy, gets you and the dog in a good headspace, and gets the bowels moving so you have no surprises later in the day. Sadly, sometimes that daily run or walk isn’t possible. If it’s never possible, and you find you’re just opening a door so a dog can pee then it’s all over, you probably shouldn’t have gotten a dog (unless you can drop them off at doggy daycare during the day.) Not that if you don’t have a dog yet and would like to get one to force you to start an exercise regime, be honest with yourself: Will you really be going for runs with the dog, or is that just a fantasy like the “I’m going to join a gym in January” or “I’m going to quit smoking” or any of the other resolutions that you have made and broken?

Finally, there’s… time. It’s sort of common with parenting now to discuss the difference between quality time and quantity time. The thing in the 90’s was to spend very little time with your kids, but to do so intensely. You’d book an appointment with Johnny and go do two hours of rock climbing, or fishing, or whatever. But then you don’t see him again until the next ‘appointment’, but it’s such great quality time that you must be a good parent! I think now people are realizing that you’re a role model for the other, boring stuff. The trudging to the grocery store, waiting for an oil change, fixing the fence, reading at home, sitting in the yard and talking about nothing important. I believe there’s a good parallel here, in that most dogs really gain a lot out of this sort of time with The People in their lives, and if that can be maximized by taking them along to work or wherever, it doesn’t matter, just spend time if you can. I recently took a dog on a vacation that ended up being so much more memorable thanks to having the dog hanging out in crazy places (up on 8000′ mountains waiting for the kids to come in from the ski slopes, in the back of MGM Grand in Vegas, sneaked into hotels, etc. etc. :) )

I guess the point is, dogs take a hell of a lot more time than you expect, especially in the first year or two. Know this before you buy one, really think about it ahead of time so that you don’t end up putting your pup on some classified ad a year from now.

 

Posted in Rescue, Training | No Responses »
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Why Buying a Boerboel Puppy is a Really Bad Idea

Written by boerboels.ca on July 4th, 2010

The Anti-Sale

Here, I will spend some time telling you why you actually do not want a Boerboel.

Buying a dog is a singularly bad idea from most means of argument. They get so badly in the way of our consumerist pursuits. A Boerboel is that exact problem, but bigger. Almost literally a bad idea on steroids.

I will attempt to talk you into buying a GSD, a Golden Retriever, or maybe even a goldfish or a spider plant. The reason is that I like dogs. I want them – regardless of who owns them – to be happy, and I want them to live long, happy lives with forever families, and I hope that through this document I will weed out those who are not understanding what they are getting into.

First off, there’s the family. In every puppy application I have seen, people say, this dog will be with us forever, for better or for worse … or whatever. They say the right things. But then they have a child, they move, the dog growls at grandma, and they decide that there is no room for this dog in their lifestyle after all. Why does this happen? I have to assume that they didn’t really understand what they were getting into. I hope to help with this article.

Note the following picture (below). This is just one of the times we came home from work, tired and exhausted by the joys of nine to five only to see this chaos… and we were smart enough to bother to take a picture this time. Other times the stress of seeing the destruction was so much that no action seemed possible except to step over the stuff like it was canine land mines and numbly make supper for the kids, and come back later after a scotch on ice and try to figure it all out.

Loveseat eaten by a dog

At least she found that library book we were missing... :)

In that picture is basically a loveseat that a dog decided needed to be dragged across the house, and turned into a nest by digging out all the stuffing and rearranging it into a suitably canine appropriate structure. It was a bit of an anomaly for that particular dog to do as she had never shown that sort of instinct before or after (she was so proud, I have to say, and it was pretty well engineered, so I gave her a cookie) but it is not out of the realm of damage we’ve seen. Years ago, we once went back and complained to a kennel that the bill was so high for boarding a GSD we had left for a week while we went for a winter vacation, but then they showed us the electrician who was still on site and in the process of putting the electrical system back into the ceiling (the same drop ceiling that our dog somehow was also able to destroy in his quest to find his people – he climbed into it to make his escape) and it was made clear that the total damage bill thanks to your dog, if we really wanted to talk numbers, was likely in the many, many thousands of dollars in damage. We thus paid the bill gladly, and I note that to this day that kennel only boards cats.

We’ve had dogs who clawed through glass windows to get in or get out, slashed pads and blood all over carpets but with the ever-wagging tails waiting for us when we come home, the rush to the vet for emergency surgery, ironically diverting all that cash that could have been used to get those argon filled windows we’ve needed for the last twenty years. We’ve bought dog houses and kennels that could not contain “real” dogs we learned, and which were destroyed in a hurry to get out to go the washroom, etc. In full disclosure, we’ve sometimes taken in “breeder return” dogs, the dogs that other people have messed up so badly that there’s no hope but to find some soft, sucker family like us to take them in, but that said, a couple have been totally well bred, well respected dogs, who just are dogs, and who do dog stuff. They pee, poo, and chew, sometimes not when and where we all wish they would.

Do these stories stress you? Don’t kid yourself, we were not laughing when these originally happened (though the loveseat was pretty funny, just in “did we just walk into an art installation?” impact) but instead we were angry, we were disappointed, we were frustrated. Would you, however, give up in those situations? Would you say that this is more than you signed up for, that the breeder mislead you, that this is NOT what Lassie used to do on TV in the sixties? I think if you answered yes to any of that, you may want to reconsider the puppy thing.

Anyway, at some point we got the dreaded “second dog” bug, and learned then that dogs can be like brothers: Best of friends, worst of enemies. The vet bills from those scuffles – and on the positive side our learning about how dogs learn to get along in groups – is another little blip in out as-of-yet and likely to never be calculated bottom line.

So, I meandered there through a bunch of stories there, but basically a wise reader would note my reticence to talk about actual dollars spent. Let’s take a peek in that ugly box for a second. Not too long, though, as I can only take so much shame. We have a dog friendly car (apparently a lot of people consider vehicles with dogs in mind). We have a dog friendly house. So taking the difference between what was purchased extra for dogs and what a typical car or house would cost, for example, adds at least $5K USD. On housing, another $10-20K.

Then there are the many additions. I have hundreds of feet of fence put in. This is totally for dogs. Cost over $5-10K USD. Then the kennels, dog houses, crates, and repairs. If I cut it down to a single dog, I’m still adding another $2K or so. Then there are those vet bills I alluded to. Those have been over $3K per year for one accident inducing dog, and less for others. None are geriatric yet, which is where a lot of real cost comes from. And, finally, the more expected costs of high quality food, treats, training, boarding, flights (why vacation without them?) or whatever. I’m guessing I’m running a monthly rate of $200 or so (ya, my tax guy wants me to get this as a hard number, and as soon as I do you’ll know about it). Assuming a dog lives 12 years, here’s my total, again, pulling a bit of this out of thin air, but also on hard life lessons:

Vet, food, training, boarding, etc. => $200/month times 12 months times 12 years = $28,800

Surely $200 is too high, right? I’m not sure. I think it could be LOW. So, assuming it’s a ballpark, my dogs are costing me some 50K or so once you factor in the (literal) damages. The one thing you may think is that I’ll surely offset those costs by breeding. Well, if I do have a litter, I don’t expect to make any money, and most breeders don’t: The costs are too high. The puppies basically cost exactly what you’d get in purchase price once you factor in all the vet bills, food, etc. so no, there’s really no upside there financially.

Oh, hey, there’s still a reader here who still thinks a puppy is a good idea. Wow, then you are a dog person! Well, since you’re the only person to read this far, let me say the following: I’d never change a thing, there’s no cost I wouldn’t pay to have these goofs in my life. They challenge me constantly, they keep me grounded in a world that is full of astoundingly stupid people with supposedly big brains. They help the kids understand about empathy and love and loyalty. This is the sort of stuff that is worth more than a loveseat, in my opinion.

They are loyal to the point where we are humbled, always willing to die for you, if you only ask, and not scared at all to do so if there’s some chance that might make you happy. That brings a lot of responsibility, too, as we need to constantly be sure they don’t see any situation as wrongly “that time” so there is the constant pressure to expose to new stimuli at the same time that you need to be in control of all situations. It’s work, in a way that raising kids has been, and the parallel isn’t bad, as the rewards are the pride of when you see them out there, doing good stuff in the world.

A schooling on loyalty and empathy

A schooling on loyalty and empathy

If you’re still thinking of getting a puppy, just be sure that for the next 12 or so years, you are always going to be there for them.

Always.

Ron

 

Posted in Breeders, Rescue | 7 Responses »
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Yay, AKC! Boo, AKC!

Written by boerboels.ca on June 22nd, 2010

GSD before the AKC

A GSD from the Good Ol' Days - Note the structural differences

(Special thanks to Norman Epstein for inspiring me on this post.)

I avoid most “registration politics” where possible, as really, I just like dogs, and I have my ideas of what I want my dogs to be doing, the rest of the world be damned. I feel that a lot of registries seem to be set up mostly to stack the decks to put a standard in place that just happens to underscore that a founders’ own dog are going to be the best of breed. :) Okay, totally cynical and probably untrue, but the fact is that the ideas of “what a ‘good’ dog should be” is pretty subjective within any registry that scores a dog in any way. I know a long term South African breeder who often laments that the style of dog currently in vogue is going to increasingly mean that his (consistently strong) stock will be scored lower and lower as the years pass. A quick look at the Boerboel Wikipedia page shows that every week there’s a new edit where various registries try to get their interests into the description — this week it’s KUSA that’s winning the wiki war.

For me, what I’d like to see out of my dogs is mostly a preservation of my own view of “current” South African styles and breed requirements — active protection from a dog with a certain amount of self control and judgment — I have also learned that attempting to get others to care about what you’re doing with your dogs is basically hopeless. :) There is too much animosity within breed communities, and no-one will agree with what means of hip scores you use, what training you do, or why you’re not breeding for the biggest, laziest dog possible. My ideas are my own, open to my own interpretations, some may mock or laugh at them, but it’s what it is. The more diverse breeders there are who are attempting to improve or preserve bloodlines in some way will help the breed overall, as long as there’s a good accounting and management of the genes along the way. All you can do is the best possible as far as your philosophy is concerned, and try hard along the way to do no harm.

Anyway, in Boerboels, there are many existing and past membership organizations, ebbing and flowing as members come and go. Despite my aversion to registries, my dogs are actually registered with the largest, the SABT, which I more than tolerate as they both grade the dog’s conformation (not as big an interest to me) but they also validate and register the pedigree (a handy bit of work that I really appreciate) and, they are the original and still the largest registry by far, and I like that historic background.

Well, there is a slow crawl of the Boerboel into the AKC (American Kennel Club) apparently promoted to some extent by the ABC (American Boerboel Club). This will be great for North American breeders, as it will greatly increase the number of dogs they sell as the profile of the Boerboel is raised. It has been argued quite effectively that this will also be a tragedy for American dogs, as they will be made into “good looking” dogs (as per whatever caricature of a South African dog is a fad in that particular year) but will lose some of the edge that makes them good at working. Here’s are some snippets of thoughts and views on what has happened with other breeds:

“The number of working dogs ruined by the AKC grows every year. Irish setters, once famed at finding birds, are now so brain-befogged they can no longer find the front door. Cocker spaniels, once terrific pocket-sized birds dogs, have been reduced to poodle-coated mops incapable of working their way through a field or fence row. Fox terriers are now so large they cannot go down a fox hole. Saint Bernards, once proud pulling dogs, are now so riddled with hip dysplasia that it’s hard to find one that can walk without surgery in old age.” – The AKC & Working Dogs

Border collies had a long, protracted fight, which is now resulting in a split between those who are “in” and those who are “out” of the AKC:

‘Remember, the AKC does not “have” the Border Collie. The AKC only “has” those dogs that are registered with AKC. You can keep your dog in the working Border Collie gene pool and out of the AKC gene pool by registering with one of the working Border Collie registries, and NOT with the AKC.’ – http://www.bordercollie.org/akc.html

JRT’s are also in the same boat:

The Club is, and always have been, emphatically opposed to recognition of the Jack Russell Terrier by any kennel club or all-breed registry. Recognition, it is believed, will be detrimental to the preservation of the Jack Russell as the sound, intelligent strain of working terrier it has been for more than 100 years. – http://www.therealjackrussell.com/jrtca/jrtca.php

… and the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel:

Some rare breed clubs have refused to merely hand over the ir registries to the AKC and have kept their breeds out of the AKC. In turn, the AKC has welcomed such breeds when a few dissidents from the larger rare breed club, hoping to gain fame in the larger arena, bring a handful of dogs to the AKC and write a new standard. One such bitter takeover of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is on-going. Thousands of Cavalier owners kept their dogs out of the AKC while a dozen people took their Cavs to the AKC, founded a new club, and wrote a new standard. The rare breed Cavalier club continued to thrive and to resist the takeover by the AKC in 1997. – http://www.netpets.com/dogs/newsroom/akcfss1.html

I suspect what you’ll end up seeing is a split in the breed, as with all working breeds: You’ll have the “lookers” and the “do-ers”, where some are great at hanging out by the fireplace, yet others are the ones who will be out patrolling the fields. As long as the correct consumer is able to get to the correct puppy for their needs and experience level, the downside shouldn’t be too far down, but it is a bittersweet development in the breed, to see an age end, and another begin.

 

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Update on rescue situation in the North West

Written by boerboels.ca on June 22nd, 2010

As some of you know, I was working behind the scenes on attempting to pry some dogs out of an abuse case in the North West for the last two months. Some of the dogs were slated to be put down, and I was hoping to prevent that. It was a lot of work, but the Humane Society was apparently not interested in having the animals re-homed. I believe (I’m not directly involved) that at this time that they have won the legal right to control the animals, and they will be variously put down, or neutered and evaluated for placement abilities. From what I know some of the dogs slated for destruction are serious protection dogs, but not worthy of a death sentence. I think I know the reasons they worked so hard to gain control, and I guess I can sort of understand it: They just wanted to be sure that the animals avoided any further abuse, and the only way to do that for sure is to put them down, I guess. In the future, I’d suggest that they go after the alleged abusers, thus having an air tight way of controlling the safety of the animals, instead of going at it from the animals’ side, but I have to assume they knew what they are doing.

In full disclosure, my motives were not 100% rescue related: One of the dogs was a direct son of Corma Buks (a foundation dog that passed away in 1997, but who still rarely has available offspring such as this dog thanks to AI) and a dog geek like myself really wanted to get a hold of him for “my breeding program” (currently consisting of zero litters as the rescue stuff makes me feel too guilty to actually put more dogs out there. :) )

Anyway, I just hope that everyone is sure they did — and that they will continue to — consider what is best for the animals.

Ron

UPDATE 20100623 – I have heard that some pressure has apparently softened their hearts a bit, and now they are going to approach breed rescues again as opposed to culling the tougher dogs. Good news!

 

Posted in Rescue, Uncategorized | No Responses »

What is the cost of that sniffle?

Written by boerboels.ca on June 17th, 2010

I saw this on Kijiji.ca today (basically like Craigslist.com for Canadians):

hi there I have 2 siamese cats that need to go asap please help me out here and take one of them they have to go my daughter is getting sicker the longer there here I’ve called every where to help me and every where’s full and most places right now have a wait list…. I have a male not fixed chocolate point 13 months old up to date on shots and NOT de-clawed and a seal point 18 months not fixed and not de-clawed up to date on shots MUST GO ASAP please make me an offer no reasonable offer will be turned down THEY ARENT FREE NOR WILL I TAKE THAT OFFER …….. IF THERE NOT GONE BY TOMORROW THEY WILL BE PUT DOWN SORRY I CANT KEEP THEM AND I DONT CARE WHAT ANY ONE THINKS YOUR RUDE EMAILS ARENT NEEDED I KNOW WHAT IM DOING BUT MY DAUGHTER IS REALLY SICK I HAVE TO PROTECT MY DAUGHTER AND HELP HER GET BETTER PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU HELP ME OUT HELP THEM OUT………… I DO HAVE PHOTOS THAT I CAN SEND PLEASE DONT EMAIL ME UNLESS YOU FOR REAL ABOUT HELPING THESE BABIES OUT…… THANK YOU FOR EVEN THINKING ABOUT HELPING

After my rage subsided, I decided to try another tact: Research. So, here’s what I know.

Studies such as this one show that exposure is actually the best cure for allergies:

Conclusions Specific immunotherapy seems to be an effective treatment for cat allergy. Allergy to cats is common and often poorly controlled on conventional pharmacotherapy. Although cat allergy has not traditionally been considered as a valid indication for immunotherapy in the UK, it should now be considered as a legitimate treatment, especially for those who are unable to avoid exposure.

I know that may seem counter intuitive, but frankly, it’s the old “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” thing. I had a bit of an head start on knowing about this advice, however, as I had a bad cat allergy and had the unfortunate luck of marrying a cat lover. :) Much sniffling and eye watering ensued. However, I noted the sudden loss of severe symptoms a month or so in. We were catless for years again until our kids were born, then we added another cat to the house. My allergies were minimal this time, but my son’s were massive: hives, clogged sinuses, etc. etc. We had hard discussions, but decided to wait and see for a few months. After about one week, the cat was sleeping on his bed and his allergies were far less noticeable, and a month later they were gone.

My son also had peanut allergies, and immunologists are now doing the same thing, exposing kids in a controlled way to constant peanut proteins so that they can adjust sensitivity.

Basically, in my mind, it all just reinforces the whole “a pet is a forever decision” and things like the “making kids sick” is typically a non-issue in the face of the life of a pet.

Ron

 

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Petfinder Rescue Roundup of North American Boerboels

Written by boerboels.ca on May 25th, 2010

Been a while since I’ve done an update on the Petfinders Boerboel dogs in need. As always, beware of the rescue as there seem to be a couple of high volume pet stores acting like rescues, but there seem to be a few dogs in need out there. This link gets you all the Boerboel’s in the US at the moment.

There are (as of 2010/05/25): Two in Florida, two in Maryland, and individuals in Alabama, Texas, PA, CO, Ontario, etc.

Please take a quick look, and if you’re local, and a breeder or enthusiast, even if it’s not your dog consider taking  a moment to help the shelter/rescue find a home or maybe donate some money or toys or food for the pup, or even phone up and see what the status is (some of these dogs could be on borrowed time, esp. those still in shelters).

Thanks!

Ron

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Responses »

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