Dogfight!

Scenario: You have an older dog and a younger Shiba (8 or so months old). You buy another Shiba puppy. The older dog does not like the Shiba puppy. You decide to put the puppy up for sale (you don't like the breeder, so don't want to bring the puppy back). You're not going to go to a trainer, animal behaviourist or any other person who might have strategies to bring about a happy pack (but you've "talked to people and read").

You have had the puppy for less than a week.

This was the gist of a post on another Shiba group I occasionally participate in. My eventual response was that I didn't think much of the commitment of people who had a puppy for less than a week and didn't bother any strategies to get the older dog to accept the puppy. Her response was "... so don't tell me anything about our commitment, thanks." As of now, the entire post is deleted, seconds after I posted back.

I'm expecting a "goodbye cruel forum" post any minute. At least I might get a snarky comment on my next post. Or maybe she'll cry herself to sleep tonight.

Just about every forum has experienced a person who is shocked and insulted because someone called them on a blatantly obvious fault about the issue they are posting on. They didn't come here to get criticism! They came here for hugs and kisses and to justify whatever horribly irresponsible and careless action that they did/are doing/are about to do.

A lot of the time it's the I-think-my-dog's-pregnant-what-do-I-do? poster who is shattered to discover that the great majority of responses involve getting the dog spayed and what the hell were you thinking, allowing her to breed with no genetic tests or proof of lineage. Sometimes it's the people who are wondering whether they should beat their dog with a stick or a padded tire iron. Sometimes it's person like the above who can't understand why I would be so mean as to criticize her family's five-minutes-and-give-up attitude.

Morals of this story:

1. You are responsible for researching the breed that you want. Also, you are responsible for educating yourself concerning breeding, pack dynamics, training and troubleshooting.

2. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was Lassie. In order to have and keep a dog, you need patience, dedication and the awareness that there are some things you can't fix or make better (i.e. some Shibas are just dog-to-dog aggressive and will never change).

3. Before introducing your tragic tale about how you just have to breed/give up/beat until it can't stand/kill your dog, take a good look at yourself. If you see yourself bursting into tears or writing a yerstoopidandmeanandugly response at any hint of criticism, confine yourself to your private journal. And by "private", I mean "not available to the public". If you post on your journal that is open to all the world, that's public.

4. Employers look you up on the web and often make judgments about hiring based on what they find. If they find FUCK YOU YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY I HAD TO DEFENESTRATE MY LITTLE POOKIE, they might pass you up for that counselor's position.

5. Remember that part about research and dedication? Yeah, just checking.