26/04/2024
This sums it up quite rightโฆ ๐๐ป๐พโค๏ธ
Yesterday I read a post on a colleague's page which should have been entirely noncontroversial. The post stated that dogs shouldn't be regularly crated for 8 hours or more at a time. Incredibly some people pushed back hard on that point on the basis it excluded people who worked full time/long hours from having a dog.
And there's the rub. ๐๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐๐ค๐. Much as they might want one. Not everyone's lifestyle is compatible with dog ownership. Which can be a bitter pill to swallow if you desperately want a dog in your life but that doesn't make it any less true.
Dogs need social contact*. They need space to move*. To deprive them of these things has a detrimental effect on their well being, no matter how loved they may be. So if the only way someone can fit a dog into their life is to leave it alone & crated for 8-10 hours every day they really need to do some soul searching and consider the dog's experience, not just their own wants.
If you do work out of the home for long hours and still want a dog in your life then you have to be prepared to pay for support to help you care for your dog - a dog walker, pet sitter, day care etc. And high quality, ethical pet care costs.
Does that mean that those who work long hours out of the home and can't afford high quality pet care can't have a dog? Yes, very possibly.
Owning a dog isn't a right. It's a responsibility which means that you have to consider the dog's welfare ahead of your own wants. There will be many such decisions along the way and the first one is whether your lifestyle can meet a dog's most basic needs. And if it can't, the answer should be 'no'.
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*๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ด:
โข ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข ๐, ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ ๐ ๐, ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐, ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ ๐, ๐๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ ๐ (1998). ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ, ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ข, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐บ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ช ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐จ๐ด, ๐๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ 58: 365-381.
โข ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข ๐, ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข ๐, ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ ๐ ๐, ๐๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ ๐, ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ (1999๐ข). ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐จ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ: ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ 66: 233-242.