Hi all,
I've been looking at this forum for a long time, I've commented on some things, haven't commented at all on others. Tonight, I was searching for info on Min Pins and saw someone saying they had a 3 year old that was 3 lbs. I have a 1 year old, who was born premature, all of his littermates are 10 to 12 lbs, and he is 6 lbs. He has his problems, and we take care of them regardless of the expense. He's not meant to be so small, but it shocks me that someone can actually say they have a 3 lb Min pin.
We take our dogs to the vet for all of their shots and a full physical once a year, and they're weighed at that time too. Everyone who sees my Rottweiler says he must be about 170 to 180 lbs, and the scale at the vet says he's 107 lbs. A friend was over tonight with her new boyfriend, and he was telling me he has an Irish wolfhound, lab mix, and the last time he weighed him, he was 195 lbs. I had St. Bernards many years back, and my male was a whopping 160 lbs, my female was 135 lbs. I was told that the male had to be at least 300 lbs.
What is it with dog owners that they need to exagerate about their dog's weight so badly? Do they care about their dog's weight, or their own image? I'm not embarrassed that my Rottie only weighs 107 lbs, my last rottie male only weighed 88 lbs. I've seen a Rottie male that weighed 145 lbs, and it was the sickest looking dog I've ever seen, and I wouldn't consider it a Rottweiler. My little min pin isn't the healthiest dog on earth, and he's around half the weight he should be, and it's because of a bad start, his littermates were ready to be born, he wasn't. How sick is a 3 year old min pin that's half his weight? I don't know about everyone else, but I like my dogs to be about average in weight. Too much above average, they're fat or poorly bred, to much below average, they're skinny or poorly bred. Granted, as in the case of my little min pin, health problems can have somthing to do with it, but whenever someone comments on how tiny Zeus is, I tell them about his birth, I tell them about the tube we put in his stomach to feed him, I tell them about the 24 hour/day care of him for the first two weeks of his life, and I tell them he's not supposed to be as small as he is. The only thing I ever "brag" about, is that we saved him, and that we kept him because we know the care he'll need down the road, and we're fully prepared to provide that care so that hopefully he'll live a long, happy and healthy life. People have offered us large amounts of money for him because they want a "teacup" min pin, and they're not happy when we basically laugh at them and tell them they're probably better off with a goldfish, so that when it goes out of style, they won't feel so guilty about flushing it.
I guess it isn't really the people with the 150 lb GSD's or the 2 lb Chihuahua's that I'm irritated with, it's the people with the 6 lb chihuahua, who say's it's 2 lbs, or the 70 lb Golden retriever who say's it's 195 lbs. Even for those dogs who are at the extremes, like a 3 y.o. Min Pin that's 3 lbs, why aren't those people asking what's wrong with their dog, and what health problems they can expect down the road, instead of asking why it won't go to the bathroom outside if it's trained to pee on pads?
I've been looking at this forum for a long time, I've commented on some things, haven't commented at all on others. Tonight, I was searching for info on Min Pins and saw someone saying they had a 3 year old that was 3 lbs. I have a 1 year old, who was born premature, all of his littermates are 10 to 12 lbs, and he is 6 lbs. He has his problems, and we take care of them regardless of the expense. He's not meant to be so small, but it shocks me that someone can actually say they have a 3 lb Min pin.
We take our dogs to the vet for all of their shots and a full physical once a year, and they're weighed at that time too. Everyone who sees my Rottweiler says he must be about 170 to 180 lbs, and the scale at the vet says he's 107 lbs. A friend was over tonight with her new boyfriend, and he was telling me he has an Irish wolfhound, lab mix, and the last time he weighed him, he was 195 lbs. I had St. Bernards many years back, and my male was a whopping 160 lbs, my female was 135 lbs. I was told that the male had to be at least 300 lbs.
What is it with dog owners that they need to exagerate about their dog's weight so badly? Do they care about their dog's weight, or their own image? I'm not embarrassed that my Rottie only weighs 107 lbs, my last rottie male only weighed 88 lbs. I've seen a Rottie male that weighed 145 lbs, and it was the sickest looking dog I've ever seen, and I wouldn't consider it a Rottweiler. My little min pin isn't the healthiest dog on earth, and he's around half the weight he should be, and it's because of a bad start, his littermates were ready to be born, he wasn't. How sick is a 3 year old min pin that's half his weight? I don't know about everyone else, but I like my dogs to be about average in weight. Too much above average, they're fat or poorly bred, to much below average, they're skinny or poorly bred. Granted, as in the case of my little min pin, health problems can have somthing to do with it, but whenever someone comments on how tiny Zeus is, I tell them about his birth, I tell them about the tube we put in his stomach to feed him, I tell them about the 24 hour/day care of him for the first two weeks of his life, and I tell them he's not supposed to be as small as he is. The only thing I ever "brag" about, is that we saved him, and that we kept him because we know the care he'll need down the road, and we're fully prepared to provide that care so that hopefully he'll live a long, happy and healthy life. People have offered us large amounts of money for him because they want a "teacup" min pin, and they're not happy when we basically laugh at them and tell them they're probably better off with a goldfish, so that when it goes out of style, they won't feel so guilty about flushing it.
I guess it isn't really the people with the 150 lb GSD's or the 2 lb Chihuahua's that I'm irritated with, it's the people with the 6 lb chihuahua, who say's it's 2 lbs, or the 70 lb Golden retriever who say's it's 195 lbs. Even for those dogs who are at the extremes, like a 3 y.o. Min Pin that's 3 lbs, why aren't those people asking what's wrong with their dog, and what health problems they can expect down the road, instead of asking why it won't go to the bathroom outside if it's trained to pee on pads?
