Cute Puppy Syndrome

Last Wednesday, my local SPCA group visited the animal shelter in our area.  The staff there gave us a tour and allowed us to interact with the animals.  I am most decidedly a dog person, with three relatively large, golden ones at home.  I do, however, like cats, especially when they don't hiss and scratch.  There were kittens in the lobby in cages and I will admit they were cute.  And fluffy.  But my heart stopped when I saw Dottie, the Yellow Labrador mix puppy who was about 8 weeks old.  Our entire SPCA group gave a collective "awww" at her clumsy puppy antics.  I wanted to bring that puppy home, but was deterred by the fact that 1) my family could not possibly handle anymore dogs and 2) I didn't have enough money to adopt her.

When a family goes looking for a dog or a cat, children are usually drawn to the small, fluffy puppies or kittens who resemble their stuffed animals.  Parents see only an adorable ball of fluff.  And then the puppy/kitten is on its way home. Within five minutes of coming home, the puppy soils the carpet.  I have never had a kitten, so I do not know what they do, but puppies can be little fluffy weapons of mass destruction.  All over the country, people make this mistake.  It is how the puppy mills remain in business.

I held Dottie, all of her wiggling, warm self.  But then we went into the main dog section with dogs of all shapes and sizes.  Dogs young and old.  Dogs of all breeds.  There was one Pitbull there named Bean who was going to have a hard time getting adopted.  Bean would lunge at anyone who came close to his kennel, snarling and showing his teeth.  Many of the girls screamed when Bean lunged, but after watching countless episodes of the Dog Whisperer, I knew that Bean was not aggressive.  His tail was wagging furiously, so his seemingly "aggressive" behavior was a product of his crazy excited environment.  Bean could easily attack any weak energy, however.  Weak energy in a human is anything (fear, excitement, nervousness, anger) that is not calm and assertive.  Bean most likely would have attacked the girls who screamed, because they were afraid, but I knew how to try and handle him.  The first rule is no touch, no talk, no eye contact.  So I stood there with my hands in my pockets looking calmly away.  Bean did quiet down after he realized I did not care about his noise.  Then, I knelt down, still looking away.  This sent Bean into another frenzy of snarling, but still I held my ground.  Soon, Bean again became quiet and laid down on the grown, a sign of submission.  If Bean were to be adopted by someone who has no idea how to handle him, he would attack eventually.  But there were plenty of other dogs there for people not ready for a dog like Bean.

Anyone considering getting a new dog should consider getting an adult that fits their lifestyle.  One of our dogs is one we adopted as an adult because at that time, we did not want a puppy.  Meet Hunter.



Hunter likes to swim



Hunter's the one in the middle.  He has raised three puppies in his lifetime. 
He wishes his family would stop bringing him baby brothers.

Hunter is one of the sweetest, most gentle animals I have ever met.  With him, he was fully trained and past all stages of puppy naughtiness.  Hunter may not have been puppy-cute when we got him, but he was lovable and sweet, all the things a dog should be.  Dottie at the animal shelter was adorable, yes, but I would not trade a dog like Hunter for her any day.