When you were younger, did your parents get you a dog...?

Question

Did your parents get *you* a dog?
Or did your *family* get a dog?
Or were you a no-dog household?

Our dogs were always family pets...we all went to the breeder's house to play with the puppies and choose the one that seemed right for our family.

Just curious how other people's families did it.

Answer 1

i don't remember how we got the first two as I was really young.

my dad brought home a dog he found, once.

my mom went to a friend of my aunts, with my grandmother, and the lady had one puppy left, and brought it home. it was an unexpected litter.

working at a shelter, my dad saw a pup and wanted to foster it for the night, and it stayed. (turned out to be my mother's dog)

researched my butt off, and received a yorkie. (my dog)

begged and pledded and cried, and got my APBT. (my dog)

all the dogs i've had and currently had up till 20 yrs old.

Answer 2

When I was younger my house was the breeders house, and yes, a couple a years, I had my own dog. It's kinda silly when I already had up to 30 puppies at a time to play with, and clean up after 4 times a day, in addition to 30 adult dogs... I just wanted one called my own, but I learned it was unreasonable, all the animals deserve equal treatment, not merely one that's classified as mine...

I took care of c. 30 dogs, plus whatever puppies we had at the time. We [my family] shared responsibility when I was young, but since I was the last/youngest child to leave the house, I ran the care side of the business for a while - while my step mom worked outside the home after dad passed, and my siblings left. I pet them all, cleaned them, fed them and cared for them all. It totaled about 9 hours a day of work spread over 16-18 hrs. 5 separate times a day 7 days a week, no vacations, just enough time for science stories on tv and online, and later, the last year i was home, a Bible after watching A&Es Mysteries of the Bible. That was about how my first 19 years were spent.

No, I didn't mind taking care of the animals, not overall, although some days I didn't want to stop playing, but I value very much having learned to take care of the needs of other life first, then I could have a conscience to play... I would be much more selfish and useless to society had I not learned that lesson, and that's saying a lot, cause I'm far from perfect now [hence the screen name].

I believe animals should come to people without force, i.e., your home should be something they don't want to leave, especially if you don't have enough time. To provide them a less loving and rich environment than what's in nature is unethical, no doubt about it. The exceptions are discovering the needs of conservation efforts etc., i.e. ensuring the health of the environment, human, and animal, cooperatively.

Now I've left animals behind and take care of children... That may scare some of you who like to disagree with my answers though. ;) Strange thing is, despite their similarities, when I see most people caring for their children I think "That's how to handle animals, not children...", and then watch them with their animals... "That may work with kids, but animals aren't going to understand that, you're petting them for what you don't want, and trying to talk them into what you want, rewarding what you don't like."

Humans understanding about nature is backwards right now to a large extent... Remember we're still coming out of the dark ages, we're not nearly to an evolved, and well ordered society, of intellect, and good conduct. Things tend to be brighter every day though... It's a lot better than when I was a midget called a child, and that's not that long ago.

The next 12+ years will probably be the most dramatic change most people have every known in the world historically, in how people relate to nature and each other, barring a few major cataclysms, based on my observations, and the accelerating trend of scientific advance. Children born after then will have a perspective no other generation before could have had in its place in history of nature and humanity, and it will steadily incline from there for some time after.

I know its more than you asked for, but if we only ever got what we'd asked for ,we could never excel our own expectations, and that's real growth.

God bless.

Answer 3

We are cat lovers (as a family) and always been ‘adopting’ stray cats just right out of the street.
A small hungry dirt little kitten here, an injured old cat there and over the years our house and yard smells so much of cat that dogs don’t even come close.
We love cats for their independence and deep devotion to their ways; I guess as a family we are much like those cats.

Answer 4

We got our first dog (Holstein a Border Collie mix) when I was around 12 and always had a cat in the house ever since I was born and we also had 3 hamsters before we got the dog.

The dog and cats were family pets and the hamsters were my pets.

Answer 5

Our family got a dog when I was 4 (my brothers were 9 and 11), and it was a family decision.

Answer 6

No dogs in our family.
We had a kitten for a few months but Dad took it to back to work(the rats were killing the kittens so the guys were taking them home until they were full grown, they were all good mousers). Mom had a canary, and there was a couple of turtles and one goldfish that lasted 5 years named Cleo.
Mom wasn't into taking care of animals and whatever Mom wanted she got she preferred a perfect home.

Answer 7

When I was a child, my father was a school Principal in an inner city. There was a puppy that would just wander around the school yard and the teachers took turns taking him home at night.

One Friday it was my Dad's turn and by Monday....he was ours. We put an ad in the paper and nobody claimed him. We had him for 18 years!! He was a great addition to our family.

Answer 8

Our 1st dog was a GSD then we had another GSD at the same time we had a JRT then Lurcher then we bred our JRT and had pick of the litter. I still have him now he is 10yo and he has always been mine my father said I could have pick of the litter if I paid for everything for the dog vet bills, food etc, I always have and he's still going strong.

I have two Bull terriers now to complete our family (might have another bully yet).

Answer 9

No, my mom hates dogs. I got my first dog with my husband. She's a spoiled dog. Now, I have three girls at home. Dogs are amazing. I wished I could have owned a dog as a child.

Answer 10

We had multiple family dogs (we also had cats, ducks, chickens, horses, pigs, cows, rabbits, parakeets, all sorts of animals. I grew up on a farm.), but they also go *me* a dog. My dad's hunting dog had pups, and I fell in love with one. Apparently, I didn't tell my parents that, and they sold it. I was heartbroken, so they got me a toy poodle to be my 4-H project dog.