I almost got a dog, I've backed out because of the damn car, looks like the clutch and if it is I can't afford a dog?
@Josephine have you considered a rescue dog? You're not just saving money you're giving a dog a much needed home and giving the overstretched rescue place one less mouth to feed. I don't know of anyone local to you but you'll get a recommendation from Ark Angels in Wrexham. My sister's got 2 from there, both rescued from dodgy puppy farms
Yet another reason I prefer cats. If you want to get a cat, you just leave some chicken or fish in a bowl on your doorstep and, sooner or later, a cat happens.
@SACatWalker That may be the case in the US. Over here, the general assumption is that cats make their own minds up about where they want to live.
@SACatWalker Similarly (and I'm not sure if this is still the case, but it was true in the past), if you run over a dog in the UK you're legally obliged to report it to the police, but not if you run over a cat - as with a wild animal, because a cat is not considered to be anyone's property.
@SACatWalker The former was a joke, the latter is a point.
Dogs require more of a time commitment than money. Dogs need attention, and if you dont' have the time to spend with them, then I dont' think people should get them.
In out house we have cats. They require less attention and are generally more self sufficient pots.
I agree. I hate to think of dogs being left on their own. They become traumatised.
@Ellatynemouth One of out neighbors left their dog outside for several days while they went on vacation last 4rh of July. They really neglect and are very inconsiderate of that poor dog
That's animal abuse. They sound like psychopaths. That's exactly the kind of thing that makes my blood boil.
They are not animal lovers. They are pieces of shit excuses for human beings.
@Ellatynemouth I fidn as neighbors they are just not very considerate of others.
They don't always think things through either.
As an example we are replacing our fence around our back yard. We got the lowest estimate and halved it and asked them t o pay their share of it. In addition we upgraded the fence we were putting in to use metal posts, and upgraded to thicker fence slats, and we are prestaining/sealing all the wood before it goes up. We still only asked for half of the lowest estimate, and they still balked sayign it was too high. Finally, one of their adult kids gave us the money because their fence needed replacing too, and they planned to do it themselves and rope their kids into helping, and doing our section of the fences would cut one third of the work for them.
So we watched them replacing other parts of the fence, and they are not replacign the 20 year old wood posts (when we did our tear down, most of the posts were mostly rotted through), and are just replacing the rails and slats. We will not have to replace another post in our lifetime, but they are likely to have to replace them whenever we get strong winds, and it will be a lot more work for them to do so piece meal instead of while the fence was torn down.
Our fence should only need small repairs, but not for at least 15 years or longer. Theirs will need repairs with the next good strong wind storm. Ironically the type of fencee put in is called a "good neighbor fence". We went this route more for better wind tolerance than because we thought we had good neighbors.
I am just happy that their dog is too old to kock out slats in the fence anymore, like it did when it was younger. Of course we ended up repairing all the damage done by their dog too. I really didnt' appreciate stepping in their dogs feces while walking in our yard. I am partially blind, and so it wasn't easy to see if their dog crapped in your yard.
Get a free one from the pound. Try for a mechanical savy dog !