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What is the hardest part about owning a dog?

36K views 145 replies 116 participants last post by  ADogCalledQuest 
#1 ·
What is the hardest part about owning a dog?

Exercising and keeping your pup fit? Cost? Lack of affection from pup? A washout? Saying goodbye? Vacationing? Keeping the house clean?...

Why?
 
#2 ·
I would say that moment when your humility kicks in because you realize that you don't know everything. It's not that having humility is hard, it's hard to recognize when you may be in over your head with something involving your dog and asking for help while risking judgment. Just my very humble opinion. :)
 
#3 ·
I think the hardest thing is when they are sick or hurt. They can't tell you whats wrong. They have to go to the vet and sometimes stay several days. They don't understand why and just want to be home. That's the hardest thing for me.
 
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#6 ·
Definitely saying goodbye. I've raised, trained, and care for many dogs. I've nursed quite a few through sickness and injury. But saying goodbye that last time is always the hardest. I can eventually comfort myself knowing they lived a good life with me, and they're free from the growing discomfort of old age. But there's always a very selfish part of me that wants them to keep going no matter what. To keep living because I don't want to be without them. I often feel very ashamed of that, but it's always there.
 
#8 ·
The hardest thing for me is when my Shepherds want to go out and I let them out and 2 minutes later they want to come in, than 2 minutes later they want to go out again, so I let them out and 2 minutes later they want to come back in, than 2 minutes later they want to go out again !

ETC, ETC, ETC !
 
#9 ·
Saying goodbye. Watching that light in their eyes go out forever, hearing that last exhale, feeling that unstoppable heart flutter to a stop. It's a deal we make when we bring them home, and it looms in the distance like some great void until that final moment when it reaches out and pulls us in.
In that moment the all the rest, the mess, the work, the mud and hair, the aching muscles, the spilled drinks and stolen steak, become the things you yearn for. Each and every moment is a fallen leaf, that will never be again until finally the tree is left bare with only a memory of what it was to blossom.
 
#10 ·
This made me tear up. Everything in this post. Whenever I think they are frustrating me for whatever reason I always think of a way to make it a precious memory.
 
#11 ·
I agree, having to let them go, they don't live long enough.
 
#13 ·
Sabis mom really put it eloquently, having to make that decision just tears you apart from the inside :( You know it's the right thing to do but that doesn't make it any easier and having to be strong and not break down while you need you in those last moments...heart wrenching.

I also worry a lot as much as I try not to. I worry about their safety, health, happiness, etc and do my best to make sure they have the best life possible
 
#14 ·
I work full-time and struggle with guilt over that. My pup has to be crated quite a bit because he isn't trustworthy yet to stay out (we tried and spent a weekend patching drywall not long ago).

I also have a 14 1/2 year old shih tzu that has cataracts and is almost deaf. Recently, he was diagnosed with keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eye syndrome). For a week or so, it was bad enough that he was completely blind and I bawled frequently over it. However, with religious application of FOUR ointments in his eyes twice a day, they are much better and he is now able to see about as well as he did (has pretty much lost all peripheral vision). It's so hard to see this tough little guy getting so old. :( I lost my 16 year old cat a couple of years ago and I'm not ready to go through it again.
 
#16 ·
The hardest part for me is that they don't live as long as I wish they could. Saying goodbye is so hard. I can deal with anything else.
 
#19 ·
Saying goodbye. It will be 2 years this month on the 25th that we lost Daisy. I still miss her.

Watching them get older and and trying to figure out how to make it easy for them and what might be wrong. Three seniors have really made me very aware of all the leaves falling.( to quote Sabi's mom's beautiful analogy).
 
#26 ·
Yeah, with Riley I really thought if we got him to the vet and then the specialist and spent the money he would get better, but he just kept getting worse. It was only 4 days, but he just went downhill so fast.
 
#30 ·
Besides goodbye for me would have to be the criticism. My sister will say he is a bad dog for the most simple things that most dogs do, and it really makes me upset. I know you are supposed to just brush it off, but I can't. That's just not the type of person I am.
But people criticizing us makes me and Jaxx even more eager to fix all of the problems no matter how big or how small they are. :)


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#31 ·
Besides goodbye for me would have to be the criticism. My sister will say he is a bad dog for the most simple things that most dogs do, and it really makes me upset. I know you are supposed to just brush it off, but I can't. That's just not the type of person I am.
But people criticizing us makes me and Jaxx even more eager to fix all of the problems no matter how big or how small they are. :)


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This! I already said my hardest part but I agree. My most frustrating moments have come in the past 2 weeks with family members that some have never met my dog, some never see him, none of them live my life with my dog. These people have made me second guess everything I'm doing in life with my dog, telling me my dog is dying, his organs are shutting down, I'm going to lose him and it's all my fault for not doing more than I am. I have stopped talking to my mother and my Godfather because of this. They have done nothing but make me cry every day and feel like a failure because in their eyes (people with money, which I don't have) I would have done everything that needs to be done a month ago. I've been dealing with this as the one who is controlling his diet, his medicine, cleaning up his diarrhea inside and outside. Yet everyone else seems to think I'm not doing enough. Sorry to rant, but you hit something right on the head.
 
#32 ·
Other than saying goodbye, the hardest part for me has nothing to do with the dogs. It's dealing with people. Parents letting kids run up and hug/grab your dog, strangers petting your dog without permission, ignorant people telling you how to train your dog, and other people letting their ill-mannered dogs "play" with yours when he or she is not in the best mood are the hardest parts about dog ownership in my eyes.
 
#33 ·
Baron is my first 100% mine dog. I will have a hard time with his departing.
The hardest thing for me now is constantly thinking about ever decision I make for him. Seconded guessing if they are the correct ones. So far they have been working out. (knock on wood)
 
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