Posts Tagged ‘Choosing Your Dog’
The Importance of Researching Before You Bring Your Dog Home Part 1
October 6th, 2009
I am a consumer shark. I have a very hard time spending money without giving my prey a lot of thought. If you can imagine, me a not-quite 5 foot tall Japanese, girl circling an aerogarden display for twenty minutes in sears, then my shark statement makes a little more sense. The decision to make a big purchase usually comes after weeks of pondering how badly I really want something. Then comes the all important, albeit strange mental exercise of inspecting my purchase from all angles. Seriously, I know. It’s weird. And I think my boyfriend kind of hates me when we shop together.
With my kind of decision making process, is it weird that all three of my dogs (including my boyfriend’s dog) were brought home on a whim? We purchased my first dog, Emmala, a Tibetan Spaniel, after my mom called me to tell me about this cute puppy at the pet store. I was shocked and incredibly excited that my mom wanted to get me a dog. My mom hated my cat, who is admittedly kind of mean. She even returned my first puppy when I was five after realizing that I was not old enough to take care of it. So when she wanted to get me a pet I pretty much jumped on board. Stupidly, I convinced us both that Emmala would be a small, quiet, purse dog, probably topping out at 9 lbs. The 2 small inguinal hernias and the larger umbilical hernia really didn’t mean anything to me. We ended up buying her that afternoon for about 1400 dollars.
Once we took her home we realized that she was not the rug dog that we were expecting and was a very heavy shedder. I could have given more thought to these concerns if I had done basic research on the breed. Emmala never agreed with riding in a purse and like most Tibbies never really mastered the art of “come”. She did master “cookie” though. After progressing through her crazy puppy stage she is a lazy snuggle bug who just wants to sleep and get a day long belly rub. She’s very social, loves to go out and in particular loves men.
By the time Emmala turned one we forgot about all the puppy disasters (chewed up things, pet puddles, barking etc.). And almost a year to the day we ended up at a pet store for a puppy sunday where breeders can bring their litters to sell directly to their new homes. Of course there was a litter of the cutest fluffy puppies. They were brown Shih Tzu mixes, non-shedders. Foolishly we asked to hold the puppies. Once you hold a puppy you’re pretty much sold unless you have the self control of a monk. We ended up taking home the most active puppy of the bunch. She was described as the first to try things and the first to get up in the morning. She had the most strikingly human lips I’ve ever seen on a dog.
We named her Eppie. She is a Brussels Griffon Shih Tzu mix. She pulls more strongly towards the Griffon in both appearance and temperament. Eppie isn’t a shedder which was one of our main concerns about Emmala and while she isn’t named after the Epi-pen it does seem rather apt that she’s named after a shot of adrenaline. Eppie is incredibly smart and busy. She’s always opening things like purses and pill bottles and stealing things out of grocery bags. My vacuum only survived for a year after Emmala arrived. After Eppie emptied out a potted plant around my living room I pretty much cried until my aunt took me to buy a new one.
It took 2 years for Eppie to stop destroying everything and reveal her true potential as a awesome dog. I love her terrier qualities. I really value her gameness. I am routinely impressed with her ingenuity (food finding skills) even as it exasperates me. I’ve learned to set any food product well out of her reach as she regularly searches, opens, and consumes food from my purse. More than hoping that she’ll behave, I set Eppie up for success by removing anything I don’t want destroyed from her reach.
A while later, I guiltily admit I got my boyfriend an English Mastiff. It didn’t start out as “let’s get Matt a giant puppy”. It started when a friend asked if I wanted a dog. I declined since my house would probably have exploded if I added a new addition– but a small dog would be great for Matt. When I arranged to meet the dog, named Luigi, to see if I thought he was a good match I learned that Luigi’s owner also had three English Mastiffs puppies in need of homes. In particular there was a 9 week old female she wanted me to meet. I was on board. We had always wanted a mastiff and when would one ever be free?
