Why do people want puppies?

[Dianne]

Not us!  Nope, never had one...although I have to admit they are really cute and puppy breath is special...

Give us the older, mature, house broken (well, sometimes housebroken) and very grateful older dogs.  Our senior adoptions have been some of the best companions you could ever want.  Makes you wonder about the people that give up such wonderful friends.   :scratch:

[klsb]

I think the reason im attracted to starting with puppies, is because i want as long of time as possible with them. I would love to be able to be one of those special people who adopt senior dogs and give them the love they deserve in their last years. But i just cant. It is to unbearably heartbreaking for me to lose a pet. I cry when my fish die! So even though i know the benefits and joys of adopting older animals, it scares me to think of only having them a few years. I loved Fin from the second i had him, if he had been taken from me the next day i would have been devastated. I just connect too fast and am not strong enough. Maybe with time. But not now. I cry when friends pets who i have only HEARD about pass away... Im a tad sensitive... haha

Im not against adopting like, a five year old.. But i totally understand the appeal of having a puppy for that reason.

[auntydoxzz]

I love puppies and puppy breath BUT I also loved my Twinkie angel very much and if I get another dog I think it will be a senior doxie! 
Especially if I can find what I call a granny dog like Twinkie!!  she was 15 1/2 when I lost her, and I had her since she was 3 years old.

I can only remember twice that she seriously took off on me. Once was here where I live when I think she got upset because i was loading the van so we could drive to Wausau. I thought she was still right by the bedroom door(almost back of house) but she was not. As I opened the door she flew out, down the steps, down the driveway and turned right going South on a one way North bound street!!  Thankfully she was in the gutter but traffic speeds onto this street from around the corner.  Lets just say I hurried after her as fast as I could go, she was bopping along as fast as she could go, and a couple if idiots were sitting in truck right across the street laughing as I went yelling after her. They would have laughed more if they realized she was deaf anyway!  I caught her she before she got to the corner!! Mind you this is a very busy street.

The other time also is funny now but not then.  I was laid up with broken leg and had sisters Zeke and Zelda and my Twinkie.  I always had screen door latched with the leash attached to door handle so i could put them out when needed. I was sitting in wheelchair and not mobile at all.  There was a knock on the door and of course the 3 GUARD dogs were barking their heads off and I heard tsomeone outside the door say POLICE.  Then they asked for Gary(I never heard of that person).  Then I opened the door so I could talk to them through the screen door(which they had kindly OPENED! )  Wooshhh!!  THREE STANDARD doxies go flying out!!  There are though 3 cops.... I started screaming you let the dogs out and I CANNOT  get them I cant get out of this wheelchair!!  So 2 cops take off down the step after the trio who of course run through my yard, up the street, then down the street, etc.  One of the cops was using his hat to try to waive them back to the house.   Turns out the guy they were looking for was from 2 trailers above me and was being hunted.   Finally after about 2 laps around my yard and a couple runs up the street and down the street, Twinkie(my angel) as they are flying up the street again veers into my driveway, up the steps and into the house of course followed by Zeke and Zelda!  I think they almost bowled over the cop that was trying to calm me down because I was so upset!  This was maybe around 10pm so dark out, but I will admit I almost had to laugh as these  2 cops(one was quite tall) both chasing after them and came running back towards the house, I think fearing they were about to take off through the yard into the next street!

Anyway, senior dogs are not quite as energetic as the puppers, and so any dog I care for has to be a little slow. I no longer use a wheelchair or walker but do not walk fast!

[Shumard4]

I should give anyone advice on house training but for you hikers have you tried belly bands?