- Joined
- Sep 21, 2008
- Messages
- 2
- Likes
- 0
- Points
- 0
I'm new to this forum, so hello! I am, of course, a dog lover. However, growing up I lived in apartments where dog ownership was frowned upon. Besides, I believe dogs need more space than regular apartment usually provides (unless they are very small dogs). Also, proper care of animals is not particulary cheap, and we weren't rich. Anyway, I'd go and look a dogs in animal shelters. I 'd buy dog books about breeds, read about them and dream of having a dog. As an adult I had the cash flow and the time, so I adopted a red nose bit pull/ beagle mix (I think). She was beautiful (the prettiest one I've ever since--she could do modeling-:}), but had digestive problems, but I loved her. I walked her twice a day (before and after work). She was sweet in the house and bark a lot at my cat, but never attacked her or even bothered her except to bark. She listened to me, but she was aggressive with children and always barked (aggressively) at dogs. I didn't understand at the time that I could train her out of that behavior, and that I needed to socialize her more. She was my first dog, and I was willing to work with her. I had for about 2-months. I understood that her aggression probably came from being scared because she was probably in an abusive home. I wanted to establish myself as alpha (which I thought was working). On the day I signed her up for official dog training (I was following training stuff I got from the Internet), she went crazy, barking wildly at a smaller dog in the Petsmart store. In the past, when that happened, I calmed her down and moved away from the dog. This time, in her anxiousness to get to the other dog, she turned her head and bite me (well gummed me). It scared me. I thought that she was untrainable, so I returned her to the adoptor people asking that they put her in a home where the person knows how to deal/handle/ train dogs. To this day (this was five years ago) I feel bad because I loved her. Since then, I looked for her in other dogs. If I had the chance, I know that I would take her back. I've been reading more about pit bull training and care. I know now what I should have done. I think at the time I didn't fully understand how to go about training her. I just figured I'd give her love and attention, and sign her up for dog obedience training, read the training tips I got off the Internet, and implement them.
Anyway, I wrote all this because I wanted to ask people who love and care about dogs and can honestly tell me if somebody like me (who can just cavalierly gives a dog back) should be allowed to adopt a dog again?
Anyway, I wrote all this because I wanted to ask people who love and care about dogs and can honestly tell me if somebody like me (who can just cavalierly gives a dog back) should be allowed to adopt a dog again?
