Anyone else live with a pack of dogs? For whatever reason I've always had dogs and cats around, and given my upper-middle class White American suburban upbringing, this is fairly typical. Currently I live with my wife, our partner, three dogs, and three cats.
Cats generally aren't that much of an adjustment to live with. I can generally go days with only spending 5-10 minutes just chatting to and petting the cats, change their litter, and give them food. That's it. Otherwise if needed, we can all ignore each other.
Dogs, on the other hand... dogs require attention. I am home all day while my wife and partner are out so I am generally the one who attends to most of the dogs needs. When dogs are adults I find that they generally take care of themselves for the most part, but they still are a lot more "present" than cats - dogs just make themselves more noticed than cats do. In any given day the dogs need food, water, walks, treats, playtime, attention... there's no way you could give a dog a 10 minute "pet" and pep talk every day and end up with a good pet, whereas with a cat... well, some cats, that's all they need.
We recently added a puppy to the pack, a (now 14 week old) Red Heeler puppy and she's a whole 'nother issue altogether. This is, I imagine, the closest I ever want to get to knowing what care a human infant would require. The puppy as it is takes all the attention I am willing to give another living being. (And it seems to me that it's a LOT of attention...)
Anyway. Anyone else live with a bunch of dogs?
Cats generally aren't that much of an adjustment to live with. I can generally go days with only spending 5-10 minutes just chatting to and petting the cats, change their litter, and give them food. That's it. Otherwise if needed, we can all ignore each other.
Dogs, on the other hand... dogs require attention. I am home all day while my wife and partner are out so I am generally the one who attends to most of the dogs needs. When dogs are adults I find that they generally take care of themselves for the most part, but they still are a lot more "present" than cats - dogs just make themselves more noticed than cats do. In any given day the dogs need food, water, walks, treats, playtime, attention... there's no way you could give a dog a 10 minute "pet" and pep talk every day and end up with a good pet, whereas with a cat... well, some cats, that's all they need.
We recently added a puppy to the pack, a (now 14 week old) Red Heeler puppy and she's a whole 'nother issue altogether. This is, I imagine, the closest I ever want to get to knowing what care a human infant would require. The puppy as it is takes all the attention I am willing to give another living being. (And it seems to me that it's a LOT of attention...)
Anyway. Anyone else live with a bunch of dogs?
