A New Addition To Our Family
Well, we had been thinking about doing it for some time, and now we finally have. We got a dog. She is called Reggie and is half boxer, half Labrador, age 6 years.
We got her from a guy at Gordon’s work who has kids that do not know how to treat animals. Apparently after one too many times of being pulled around, Reggie bit one of them, so instead of punishing the kid for mistreating the dog, they are giving away the dog.
She came to live with us last week, so only had her 4 days so far, but she seems to be settling in pretty well. All they brought with her was a cage (not wanting to use that), a food bowl, half bag of food, and a red neck tie tied on her. Needless to say the very first thing we did as soon as the previous owner had left, was to remove the neck tie! And she looks a hundred times prettier without it too. She whined a little the first night, and is used to living in a house, so does not understand yet that this is an apartment building where lots of people live in the one building, so every time she hears a noise upstairs or outside our door she barks. She should get used to it in time though.
Apparently she used to sleep in her cage all the time, it was her bed, although they did not actually shut her in it. Americans seem to do that a lot with their animals. Most dog owners seem to have a cage or indoor kennel of some sort and a lot of them shut the dog in it when they go out and leave the dog alone. To us it seems cruel, so we would rather not use it at all, but decided to have it here for a few days to help her make the transition to her new home. We put it in our bedroom and the first night she slept in it, but the second night she just slept on the floor at the side of our bed. So then we went and bought her a few things, including some treats, a water bowl, and a new bed. She has since slept on her new bed next to our bed and has taken no notice of her cage.
We are also walking her more than she has been before, from what we can gather. The previous owner brought her round for a visit about a week before we got her, and I had a lot of questions about how she is in the car if she is left in there, how she is if she is tied up outside a shop, her routine, etc. And from what he said they basically never took her anywhere. They ‘walked’ her but her longest walk was about 30 minutes once per day, the rest were just long enough for her to do her stuff. They never took her in the car, or to the shops so couldn’t answer most of my questions. It seems dogs are not treated in the same way here as they are in the UK. I think here mostly they are a bit of a status symbol, whereas in the UK the dog is considered part of the family, another child, and is treated as such.
We took her yesterday in the car with us to Wisconsin to check out some possible wedding venues. It was a long journey, we were out for about 12 hours, with various stops, and Reggie was a star. She laid down on the back seat the whole time, and when we had to leave her in there alone, she did not bark or get into the front seat at all. So now we know the answer to that question. I have not left her tied up outside any shops yet, and it is getting so cold here that I am not sure I will try that for a while now. Also, she does bark at people and other dogs occasionally, not everyone, just some set her off, so I wouldn’t want her doing that while she is tied up.
She also needs to go on a bit if a diet as she is a bit tubby. She was fed a lot of human food before, from the table we think, so we have cut that out and with the extra exercise as well, she should be in shape soon.
We got her from a guy at Gordon’s work who has kids that do not know how to treat animals. Apparently after one too many times of being pulled around, Reggie bit one of them, so instead of punishing the kid for mistreating the dog, they are giving away the dog.
She came to live with us last week, so only had her 4 days so far, but she seems to be settling in pretty well. All they brought with her was a cage (not wanting to use that), a food bowl, half bag of food, and a red neck tie tied on her. Needless to say the very first thing we did as soon as the previous owner had left, was to remove the neck tie! And she looks a hundred times prettier without it too. She whined a little the first night, and is used to living in a house, so does not understand yet that this is an apartment building where lots of people live in the one building, so every time she hears a noise upstairs or outside our door she barks. She should get used to it in time though.
Apparently she used to sleep in her cage all the time, it was her bed, although they did not actually shut her in it. Americans seem to do that a lot with their animals. Most dog owners seem to have a cage or indoor kennel of some sort and a lot of them shut the dog in it when they go out and leave the dog alone. To us it seems cruel, so we would rather not use it at all, but decided to have it here for a few days to help her make the transition to her new home. We put it in our bedroom and the first night she slept in it, but the second night she just slept on the floor at the side of our bed. So then we went and bought her a few things, including some treats, a water bowl, and a new bed. She has since slept on her new bed next to our bed and has taken no notice of her cage.
We are also walking her more than she has been before, from what we can gather. The previous owner brought her round for a visit about a week before we got her, and I had a lot of questions about how she is in the car if she is left in there, how she is if she is tied up outside a shop, her routine, etc. And from what he said they basically never took her anywhere. They ‘walked’ her but her longest walk was about 30 minutes once per day, the rest were just long enough for her to do her stuff. They never took her in the car, or to the shops so couldn’t answer most of my questions. It seems dogs are not treated in the same way here as they are in the UK. I think here mostly they are a bit of a status symbol, whereas in the UK the dog is considered part of the family, another child, and is treated as such.
We took her yesterday in the car with us to Wisconsin to check out some possible wedding venues. It was a long journey, we were out for about 12 hours, with various stops, and Reggie was a star. She laid down on the back seat the whole time, and when we had to leave her in there alone, she did not bark or get into the front seat at all. So now we know the answer to that question. I have not left her tied up outside any shops yet, and it is getting so cold here that I am not sure I will try that for a while now. Also, she does bark at people and other dogs occasionally, not everyone, just some set her off, so I wouldn’t want her doing that while she is tied up.
She also needs to go on a bit if a diet as she is a bit tubby. She was fed a lot of human food before, from the table we think, so we have cut that out and with the extra exercise as well, she should be in shape soon.
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