How about some discussion on Good Parents du Jour?
Feb 10 2010
I got an e-mail not too long ago from a young lady who was growing up in a hoarder’s house of horrors. Â I don’t want to give details, except to tell you that she and her horse are safely out of there, but it really made me think about how grateful I am that I was raised by someone who loved animals and taught me the importance of providing proper, consistent care. I can’t imagine growing up in a home with someone neglectful or abusive toward animals, knowing that you are under-age and may have to tolerate the situation until you are 18.
There really wasn’t any question in our house about animal care. We always had dogs, and those dogs always had fresh, clean water. I spent many a weekend afternoon picking up poop in the yard and can still remember my mom saying “you want a dog, well, this is part of owning a dog!” The dog came from the shelter, a super cute Collie-Sheltie mix, so I learned early that you could get a beautiful dog from the shelter and that it was a very good thing to save a life if you could do it.
I’m not sure I was ever specifically taught to be kind to animals, or if I was, it was too early to remember it. Â I may have just learned by example. Â I distinctly remember decking my cousin when I was 6 or 7 because she was pulling her dog’s ears to make him yelp. Â This was when I learned that not everyone took animal abuse as seriously as I did. Strangely, we never got invited to their house again…
Most of all, I learned that daily care was not negotiable. Â It did not matter if it was a holiday. Â It did not matter if it was my birthday. Â It did not matter if I was sick, or tired, or crabby or whiny. Certain things had to be done for the dogs every single day. Â Fact. Â Not up for discussion.
So that’s what I want to talk about today. What did your parents do to teach you about proper animal care? What rules did they have? What happened if you didn’t feed the dog or brush your horse? What did your parents do that turned you into the good animal owner you are today? I’d love to hear the stories – and I’ll bet they’ll be helpful to my readers who have little ones now and are thinking about how to ensure they set them on the right course early where animal care is concerned!
170 comments to “How about some discussion on Good Parents du Jour?”
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I was not allowed to have pets when I was a kid. My parents were rabid on the “responsibility” aspects of pet ownership. We finally got a dog when I was older-perhaps Jr. High. Care was drilled into us.
IMO the LACK of parental guidance for almost every aspect of life, but particularly animal/pet care is a huge issue in America and has been for the past several decades.
Before I got my first cat, I had to prove myself by cleaning the litterbox and feeding every day for a month. I was happy to do so because when I got Panda I was in absolute heaven. Today, I have a serious chronic illness. It really doesn’t matter how I feel but that litter box gets cleaned and my cat is fed and brushed. He thanks me by being my “tail in the air man,” happy and healthy. I also, however, have failsafe mechanisms in place. A few friends that know the extent of my illness can be counted on to help me if I should ever truly need it (i.e. if I should be hospitalized unexpectedly).
Long (I mean looong) time lurker, first time commenter. We had some pretty strict rules to animal care ourselves. It started when we were really little (2 or 3), and progressed from there. The first rule I remember is the cat rule. If you are holding the cat, and it looks like it’s not enjoying itself, you have to let it go for ten seconds. If it sticks around, you can keep patting/playing with it, if it runs away, you have to let it go. Cat scratches are always the kid’s fault.
It progressed from there to other animals, eventually we got horses, and my sister and I were each responsible for the care of our own horse. We took it seriously, because the punishment was dire. If we didn’t care for our animals, they would be sold or given away, period. It was a real shock to the first time this actually happened, my parents gave away my little sister’s ginuea pig because she didn’t care for it properly, or give it the attention it deserved.
There were, of course, times when us kids didn’t clean the stalls as much as we should have, or left the horses without feed until 7 at night. In those cases, our punishment was generally that we had to do all of the chores, for all of the animals, for a week. Coming from a house with 10+ animals, that was a bit of a job. Along with that came a hearty guilt trip about how these animals depend on us, how if we take away their ability to care for themselves (by fencing them in) then we are taking on the responsibility for their lives, and not caring for them is betraying that responsibility. It worked! I now have the highest respect for animals, and there is still no one I would rather leave my cat with than my mom.
What a GREAT cat rule. We’d see a lot less of them dying in the shelters if more parents would teach that rule!
The thing that sticks out most in my mind was the rule that the animals had to be fed every morning as soon as we got out of bed and before we had breakfast. My mom used to say, “they can’t feed themselves like you can.”
I was the only one in my family that really loved animals. I have 6 siblings and none of them really cared if we had a dog or not. They weren’t mean or abusive or anything but they could take it or leave it. My mother was one of those that didn’t want a dog in the house. My dad liked dogs somewhat but could take them or leave them too. Basically, I had to learn on my own. If my dog needed vet care I had to beg my mom to take her to the vet. There were low cost pet clinics the were held at the neighborhood parks where I could take her to get her shots. My mom always wanted to buy the cheapest dog food and I had to work at her to get the better stuff. She learned quickly not to buy dog food with horsemeat though because I refused to give it to the dog :-]. I was only 9 years old when I got my first dog and with no example to follow had to figure it out on my own. I really did want to do what was best for her and I thought I took good care of her but there were certainly gaps where I could have done better. I didn’t get my first horse until I was 31 years old. By then I had read everything I could get my hands on regarding care and learned a lot. I’ve since learned lots more about animal care in general via the internet. I’m now 49 years old and am still learning.
My mother actually hated and still hates all forms of animal life. She couldn’t bear to look at my hamsters, she despised my cat, and she was annoyed with the dog. My dad likes animals, but not in a way that’s easily discernible and he seems to only really like “common” animals like dogs, cats, and birds. So I’m not sure where I developed this deep love and fascination with animals, especially horses. My mom can’t stand to be around them, either. I don’t think she’s ever seen me ride in the almost 15 years I’ve been working with them.
I guess it was my second cat that really taught me about how deeply an animal can feel and love. She was such a loyal companion, she followed me everywhere around the house and outside in the woods where I played when I was little. She would even run the trails with me and I would pretend she was my pet wildcat, haha. I would try to make collars for her out of pinestraw so she would look more ..authentically wild. It was silly, she tolerated a lot and I still miss her.
I think I learned the responsibility part from working in horse barns while I was growing up, and learning how much WORK was required to keep them healthy and happy. I loved horses, and wanted to ride, but there was no riding until all the work was done. So it was my riding instructor turned boss that taught me about the deep responsibility envolved when you own an animal or are charged with their care. We are still friends to this day. I’m glad that even though my mom disliked animals, she allowed me to enjoy them.
My family also always had a dog and we added a horse to the mix when I was 15. I’ll always remember how seriously my parents took my horse responsibility because if I was ever grounded about anything, I was still allowed to go the barn to exercise and take care of my horse. He was never a negotiating point (i.e. bad grades = no riding) because as my horse, he was my responsibility no matter what.
Responsibility, responsibility, responsibility! For ourselves, for our animals, for each other. I was fortunate that my grandfather bought me my first horse, but I couldn’t have one until I was ready to work for it. I ironed for my mom every week to pay part of my board. I did all the grooming, training, and care. I can’t remember how we got his feet trimmed, but I know it got done. When I started showing, my dad made sure I could get to the shows (he learned to haul a trailer and help load the horses) but I did all the work at the show. I got all my stuff together etc etc etc. My parents never stood next to the ring and shouted instructions or said much after a class except one time when I was being a spoiled brat. My parents were extremely supportive but whether things happened or not was squarely on me.
Nothing makes me more irritated than to walk through the 4-H horse barn at the fair nowadays and see the parents cleaning stalls, grooming, etc. I want to grab them by the collar and say “Let’s go have a nice ice cream while your son/daughter learns to do their own work!” My sons were involved in Boy Scouts and that’s one thing I really like about scouting – if done right, all the responsibility is on the boys. We had to ban parents from some campouts until both they and the boys got the idea, but we did it. I’d like to see more of that in 4-H, dreamer that I am.
So, while I am all about practicing safety, learning good animal care, etc etc I will have to say that owning an animal can be a marvelous educational tool to teach your children how to be responsible. Don’t miss a great opportunity to raise sensible, mature kids by doing all the work yourself and expecting nothing from your children. Responsible kids > any blue ribbon!
>>Nothing makes me more irritated than to walk through the 4-H horse barn at the fair nowadays and see the parents cleaning stalls, grooming, etc. I want to grab them by the collar and say “Let’s go have a nice ice cream while your son/daughter learns to do their own work!â€< <
YES!
Our eldest girl got an award, given by someone who had wandered round the horse lines watching to see which kids actually did prepare their own horses for a class specifically for ponies prepared by their riders!!!
She only gave the one award as ours was the only one who actually did it (apparently she was heard to tell me to “GO away!!” in no uncertain terms when I offered help!
Sounds about right, to me!!
I bet I would have won that award when I was little! Right from the start I never had a problem with doing my own work. I didn’t need encouragement, I just found caring for animals (even the dirty parts like scooping poop!) the most fun thing in the world.
This was my sister-in-law at the fair last year. She was the one out there putting the stall together, getting permission to pull out a divider and make a bigger stall, cleaning, decorating… It annoys the hell out of me because the neice terribly spoiled and is not learning a thing.
I have had animals, including horses, my entire life. My parents paid for the food, but they did not deliver it. We did not eat until the animals did. Period. Just because you were sick or the weather was crappy was no excuse not to take care of the animals. Horses, dogs, cats, whatever market animals we were raising… I had a small herd of dairy goats as a project for 5 years – that means twice a day I had to milk all the does and bottle feed the babies 8 – 9 months per year. Every day. I got a job at a stable when I was 12 so I could be financially responsible for my animals as well. We were also expected to do chores around the house so that my parents, who both worked full time, did not have to cook or clean when they came home.
I taught my son from the beginning about the care and respect of animals. The only spanking he ever received was for being too rough with the dog. He is such an animal lover (he’s 19) and cares very much for them. We recently saw a dog running loose and he commented on how much it broke his heart to see it, but also just pissed him off. I was so proud of him!
I was a member of 4-H horse for almost 10 years (only dropped out due to job commitements) In our club, EVERYTHING, (within reason, given age and height limitations) had to be done by the members. If not, or if parents were caught doing mandatory things for their children, they were quickly outed, AND THE PARENTs were punished. We were taught to ask an older 4H member if we needed a hand with anything. We were taught how to do ANYTHING that we did not know how to do, and then expected to do it on our own. The 4H motto IS “learn to do by doing”. It was a great way to learn. if a child could not do all of the basics, (Bathing clipping, tacking up, show grooming and braiding if desired) and had not proven this by the time the big fairs and PNE fair rolled around… They were not allowed to go! We had to earn it and by the time we got to show at PNE, WE WERE READY to show on our own. I always felt it was fair. The parents do their part in getting us TO the shows, we can do the rest! Ill always miss 4H, I learned SO much and had such a good time. Its a great program out here… Anyone ever want to meet indepedant, responcible children, the kids at the PNE fair will show you that!!
I think the best lesson I ever observed (it happened to my older sister) was her being nipped by our terrier when she’d had enough of being dressed in the dolls clothes and my Mom telling her it was her own fault for tormenting the dog too much. She wasn’t doing anything which hurt the dog but she was fed up with it and it taught me that animals have their own feelings and opinions which need to be considered. (I was about 5 at the time) Otherwise it’s always been taught by example.
I remember when I was very little-about 4 or 5-I had one of those rubber balls attached by a string to a paddle. I loved that toy, & one day started bouncing the ball off one of our dogs, a German Shepard/Irish Wolfhound mix named Major. Now, Major was my babysitter, & never did anything more than sigh at things I did, & drag me out of trouble. But this day my mom saw me & whipped the toy out of my hands & started to do the same thing I had been doing to Major. Needless to say, I got the point. Another thing my mother always insisted upon was that the animals we had were fed, watered, & taken care of before I got to eat. If the animals didn’t have food, I didn’t either!
Yayy first to comment!! I was raised the same way. I am of the mind that I get horse or dog food before food for myself because they can’t help themselves. I am now in a relationship with someone who wasn’t raised that way. He believes the dogs can wait if he’s tired because that’s what his parents taught him. I was VERY quick to tell him that if he was with me, his pets are like his children and he will let the dogs out as much as is humanly possible, he will put sweaters on when it is below 35, he will feed 3 times a day (I am a full time student who also works part time. I pick up any slack.), he will get them their shots on time, not after there’s a problem, and he will NOT teach his daughter about the miracle of life by breeding low end chihuaua puppies!! And the answer to my horses’ behavioral problems is NOT to smack her. I think his mother would be better off not being in this world, I’m just going to put it that way. What a moron that woman is.
Oh just kidding guess I wasn’t first comment
My father died when I was 8 and I was raised by my mom who was very much a “hands-off” mom. Hands-off as in I had to stay out of her hair as much as possible and figure things out on my own, but I do have to give her credit for one thing: she drilled it into my head that if I was going to be allowed to have any kind of pet I would be the only one responsible for it’s care. My first pet was a hamster, and my mom told me if she found it in a dirty cage or with no food or water she would give it away and I would not be allowed another pet. You know how parents get that scary face when they’re dead serious about something and they want you to know it, so when I saw that look on my mom’s face when she laid down the rule about caring for a pet I knew she’d follow through on everything she said.
Many years and many hamsters later mom decided it would be nice to have a cat or two. I was told we could only have a cat under the following conditions:
-It will ONLY come from a shelter. (Yay, mom!)
-Cats were absolutely NEVER allowed outside at any time. (Yay again!)
-Every cat MUST be neutered or spayed and vaccinated. (WOOT! 3 for 3!)
-Food, water and litter is to be kept clean at ALL times. (Go mom! Go mom!)
-Cats must be declawed. (Uh…well…I guess 4 out of 5 is a decent score, mom.)
And that is how I learned to properly spoil the felines and worship them for the small, furry gods they are.
I grew up with a stepdad who was on the abusive side to animals. Not all the time, but he would go way overboard if they messed on the floor or chewed something up. Other than that he was usually loving towards them, but was an ass about taking them to the vet. To this day I hate him (my mom divorced him several years ago) for allowing two of our cats to die, who probably would have lived had they gone to the vet. And he punched my mom’s horse, a 2 year old unbroke stud, whom he was convinced didn’t need gelded) for striking him after pulling away from the person picking up his front foot. Well ya moron, he’s not trained or handled, don’t stand in front of him!!! Yeah I hate that guy.
But I just knew he was wrong. I certainly don’t treat my animals like that, and they go to the vet when they need to.
My daughter is being raised in a house full of animals, and has been going to the barn almost daily since we got our horse 2 years ago. She’s nice to them, and learns by example. About the only discussion I’ve had with her is in regards to how we have to be fair to our horse. He was lame and she wanted to ride. I explained (she was 5) that we have to put our own wants aside and do what’s fair to the horse, and if his foot is sore, it’s not fair to make him work.
I also require her to wear a helmet when she’s riding, and frequently on the ground as well. She’s not allowed to mess with a horse unless I’m right there, and knows when I say “Out of the way!” I mean it, right NOW. For a while I was bringing horses in at night for feeding at a boarding barn, and she needed to understand that it could be dangerous and she needed to stay well clear of them when I was moving them.
She’s great around the barn now. We get there (I clean 4 stalls daily in exchange for my board) and if the horse are out she grabs a wheelbarrow and her fork and gets to it. And, under my supervision, she can get the pony that she rides out of the stall, tie her, and groom her. But we know “safety first” and I’m teaching her how to do things right from the start.
The answer is simple, if I forgot/didn’t take care of my horse/dog/cat/fish or whatever it was my parents would say, “There are several other kids around here that would like to own (insert pet name here) I bet we can find them a new home since you don’t seem to want to take care of them anymore.”
They threatened to take the animal away and give it to someone else. Boy, that usually got my butt in gear!
Looking back, I would never care for my pets today like my parents cared for our pets when I was a child. They certainly weren’t abusive, but our dogs and cats lived outside, on the cheapets food available, rarely got spayed or neutered, or vaccinated, etc… when one got sick enough to need vet care, it usually got a bullet, not a trip to the vet. Which I have to say is better than just letting the animal suffer, but still… I learned from my parents, though, that it’s your responsibility to keep any animal you take in fed, and if it gets really sick or badly injured (hit by car, for example) it’s your responsibility to put the animal down humanely, if you can’t afford to take it to a vet, which we could not at the time.
As I got older, things changed some- our dogs got vaccinated and got taken to see the vet if they got sick or hurt. As I got older my parents could afford vet care, which I think is mainly why things changed. These days, they have a spoiled rotten house dog that gets everything he needs and more. Part of it is that over the years, their income has gone up and vet care has gone from a luxury, to a requirement for owning a pet. I also think that they are better educated about animal care now than they were 25 years ago.
My parents did what they could with what they had. I’m fortunate in that affording vet bills is not an issue for me, and all my pets are very well cared for. When I have children, they will be taught to respect our pets and treat them with kindness.
Pets can be a great way for children to learn about life, and about responsibility. But if parents don’t teach children to treat pets well, they can be very badly abused by children, who don’t understand that an animal feels pain, unless a parent teaches them. I have gotten myself into awkward social situations more than once, for reprimanding other people’s kids for mistreating a pet! I simply will not stand by and watch a child torment an animal for fun, especially with a parent standing there ignoring it!
Melissa
Yeah it absolutely DISGUSTS me the way my fiance’s daughter and his ex wife’s other children are raised to deal with animals. The dogs stay outside and are too skinny, the horses are on 14% sweet feed (which is far too much for their lifestyle) and are fed enough but their toplines are AWFUL and it’s obvious they are malnourished for lack of forages and minerals because of their toplines, their growth is stunted, every mare they have is bred (maybe, “we’re not sure”), and they’re exercised on an inclined mud pit with TERRIBLE footing. They have grazing shank bits with no give that are too big for their mouths (I actually watched her stepdad put the bit on BACKWARDS and then he tried to tell me one of those triple pronged shedding blades is a curry comb….UM NO!!!) which they hang on when they try to get them to GALLOP in said “arena” and the 5 year old girl yanks the crap out of her fugly little pony’s face. I just stood and watched in horror the entire time I was there. I couldn’t speak, I was SO stunned by the total lack of ANY knowledge….the children crawled UNDER this saintly horse whose face nearly yanked off when the ex wife’s husband “rode” her. I wanted to upgrade the poor mare, and, if I could afford to, I would!!!!!! I know I could do a better job than them on about $250/month. They probably spend that on all 6 of their horses. Sickening!!!!!!!!!!!!! I tried to tell the girl there are better ways to care for animals, but there’s only so much I can do! OH and get this, Carly wanted another dog, so her parents told her “ok, as long as you get rid of your other one.” UMMMMMMMMM DOGS ARE NOT DISPOSABLE PROPERTY. THEY ARE NOT A PURSE YOU EXCHANGE WHEN YOU DON’T LIKE THE OLD ONE ANYMORE!!! Good God, the ignorance of poeple astounds me. I can’t stand it. Not only that, the child wants to be a vet. So, either she will be saved by education, or she will hold on to her raising and be the one who says “Sure 18 months old is old enough to ride him!” and make other vets look bad.
Oh that sounds awful!
I can relate though. I board at a very large boarding barn, and since it’s one of the cheapest in the area, we get all the beginners who think they’re ready for horse ownership. We watch them ride/terrorize their poor new horses for a few weeks and then they disapeer. It’s really very odd, because we never seem them or their horses ever again. But while they’re there, the treat the horses exactly how you described. It’s disgusting.
UGH I really wish people would educate themselves before taking on living creatures!!!!! That’s how most of kentucky is, though. Once you get out of Lexington and the surrounding counties, it’s a whole bunch of bumfuck hillbillies with horrid barbed wire fencing and malnourished horses. And I honestly DONT think these people are INTENTIONALLY doing this, I just think they have NO CLUE. I’m not sure what’s sadder, taking on live animals having no clue what they’re about or neglecting your animals on purpose. I mean, the mother gets thrown from her horse and I’m supposed to feel bad. I don’t!!! She totally deserved it!!! When you are yanking your horse around AND trying to make it go forward, that’s just not fair to expect the horse to let you stay on its’ back!!! Horses are the most willing things on earth, if you treat them right. That’s why poor horsemanship like this disgusts me.
I got my horse from a barn like that. I’m ashamed to say that I was actually there for a few years (I couldn’t afford to buy him yet, so I wanted to stick around and try to help). As soon as horses were able to trot nicely they were thrown into lessons. The schoolies lives consisted of 2-3 lessons a day, with jumping in each lesson, and they were lucky if they got a day off. The footing was hard as a rock and she got all of her dirt from roadside construction projects, so we found all sorts of trash- including glass and metal fragments. The owner would feed crap hay, and they wouldn’t even always get fed twice a day.
My horse has respiratory issues because she wouldn’t treat his pneumonia, and arthritis because she jumped him at 2 years old (yes, 2).
Hmmm… My father was indifferent to our having horses– a frequent warning was that if I didn’t want to take the time to take care of my horses, then they could very easily be sold.
My mother always wanted to become a real horsewoman, but started at too old of an age. She was thrilled that I also wanted the same dream, and she made sure I had wonderful broke horses, and challenges to make me learn.
Between the two of them, I learned to love and care for horses, and I learned not to take having horses for granted. Both offered good lessons to me.
I want to point out something about your pictures, FHOTD.
In the first picture, supposedly a great picture of a caring mother and happy child in a safe environment: The lead line clipped to the bit is one of the worst possible ways to leadline a horse. Show bridles aren’t designed to take a lot of pressure, and if that horse pulled back or became startled, loving Mum will most likely either break the bridle, or pull it right over the horse’s ears. This will leave her beloved daughter sitting on an upset horse, with no bridle or halter.
In the second picture, while I don’t like to see children piled on, one up front and one behind, the mother is riding in control of her horse. If this picture were from 20 years ago, I would fault having more than one child with her, and leave it at that– helmets are a new invention. Valuable, or perhaps even invaluable, but new.
The point is, there are more similarities between those pictures than you may realize. Both parents are making choices that could result in real problems– the only difference is that one is doing it in a back yard situation, and one has her mistake dressed up in expensive gear.
That is a good point – I’ve always leadlined kids with a show halter either under or over the bridle, however it fit. However, given that the particular horse is sleeping, I will bet he’s the quiet type where you get overconfident. The kid has a helmet and everything else looks good, so I’ll forgive that one.
BTW we had helmets 20 years ago. I know, I’m old.
They weren’t great quality, but we had them!
I remember the old English style helmets that had no chin strap whatsoever… We had to wear them regardless, but my friend fell once and actually knocked her head ON the fallen helmet! So it’s concept has certainly gone a long way, but there were helmets back then… I concur!
They weren’t called “helmets” back then. They were “hunt caps.”
Gotta love the elastic strap….
My daughter is going to do lead line this year. I hadn’t thought far enough ahead about the halter – I always lead the horse around by the reins while she holds the grab strap on the saddle.
She is 4, the horse is big. Next year it looks like I’ll try to lease her a pony, or at least get her lessons on one. For now, we just do ground safety, sedate walks around the arena, and lessons in not tormenting the barn cats.
Is there anything wrong with actually getting a pony to fit the child??
And a noseband to fit the bridle??
Children grow out of ponies, while old semi-retired show pros, no matter the size, make good first time show horses. An old ex-grand prix jumper was the most favored lesson horse at my old barn.
My parents were “mediocre” in making sure that we provided adequate animal care. My brothers were in charge of the goat and I remember having to tell them that it had no water and was drinking it’s own urine! ICK!
RE: The Fail pic…..Is is just me or does that horse look VERY young? Not to mention the obvious accident waiting to happen!
My mom put the fear of god into me regarding treatment of animals. One summer my friend and I caught a frog, and we put him in a half-filled bucket of water for the night. We didn’t put in any rocks or twigs, because we thought that frogs, being amphibians, could breathe air OR water.
My mom discovered him in the morning, clinging to the side of the bucket to keep his head above the water. He was alive, but had probably had an unpleasant night, holding himself in that uncomfortable position. My mother is a quiet, meek little mouse who never got ruffled or raised her voice. But boy did she yell at me for that, and made me feel AWFUL for being so careless with the poor frog. It was such a shock to see her so angry, that experience instilled in me the idea that I must be very careful how I treat all creatures.
I think an early lesson like this is worth so much. You never forget it when you get in trouble for something like that! Glad the froggy made it.
My mom made darn sure that we cleaned the parakeet cage every Saturday, and the fish tank had to be kept tidy too. The cats always received vet care and we would never had owned a dog or cat unspayed. As for the number of pets, it was kept low and the house was never messy or smelly and we just assumed this was true of everyone else. With the cats we were taught to never hit of hurt them in any way or even to yell at them or pick them up incorrectly. It was again, assumed that everyone else had the same ethics.
I remember assuming the same thing; that everyone who had animals cleaned up after them. Wow, was I in for a shock the first time I spent the night away from home at a barn friend’s house! They were stepping over huge piles of dog poop, cats were peeing on the counter, parakeets were flying through the living room pooping on the sofa.. it was a nightmare! It made me physically ill, I spent the night throwing up and wishing I had the guts to call my mom to get me.
On a side note, is the the same “dustmeat” who’s also an artist? :3 Kind of an unusual name.
Yup, you found me
EW. I dated this guy whose mom’s dog peed all over the house, and the first time (out of 2 total visits) I overnighted there, I didn’t take any slippers with me. Mmmmmm, nothing like stepping in a still warm pee puddle in the middle of the night…. and jumping right into a COLD one.
I hate that dust + pee smell that so many animal people’s houses smell like. I know, I know, it’s a hard thing to clean up the barn and THEN do a Martha on the house, but that gritty stank… I can almost feel it crunching in my teeth.
Here’s what my parents taught me about animals…its okay to beat your children with a leather belt, but its not okay to beat your dog with a leather belt. Our dog never got beat, but was treated very well with lots of clean water and fresh food every day. Every once in a while I’d get to unchain him from his wooden doghouse to go run and play in the countryside, even in the freezing winter. He died of old age, chained to his straw-filled doghouse, at the age of 14. Thats what you get when you have stupid peasants for parents.
I don’t feel like my sister and I were taught about animal care as much as it was understood, if you want it, you take care of it. Luckily our mom was reasonable enough to keep our dogs to a maximum of 2, although we’d have kept every stray that came through, she’d say, “That dog probably has a couple of girls at home just like you, worried sick about him.” ..and we’d call animal control. I had guinea pigs and if I let the cage go too long without a cleaning, the smell was horrid! So I guess I mostly taught myself, that and reading Black Beauty 5,000 times, made you think about the animal’s welfare first and foremost. And in our house, I always felt, if I didn’t take care of it, who would?
Oh yes, Black Beauty! That indeed is a great teaching book. I remember it vividly to this day. Should be required reading for all children.
When I was young, we had a cat. She stayed outside and had an insulated house for her to sleep in. Sometimes, she would’nt show herself for a whole week, but we knew that when she came back, we had to feed and water her properly. Then we had rabbits. They were a bit wild, so we weren’t allowed to pick them up, plus they were a big too big to do that! We were allowed to pet them. For as long as I can remember, I knew not to hurt purposely an animal and I couldn’t bare the sound of a yelping dog, it would just tear through me! So I never did anything to hurt them. I remember we used to steal our neighbours dog from his yard to play with him, we had a leash for him and always returned him to the yard before his owners came home… I know, it’s not right, but I was a kid and didn’t know better!
For horse care, I learned the first things from my friend’s mom. She was serious about not overworking the horse, not overfeeding it and proper care to keep them comfy. We applyed her rules to a T and my friend had taken lessons so I worked on my posture and care first thing. We weren’t allowed to ride a horse without a helmet, ever! and we were allowed to ride bareback at whatever speed we were comfortable with. The horse was properly cooled and placed back in the pasture and was not fed more than a cup of grain for a treat when we wanted to spoil them.
Now I’m not saying that I never hit a horse, I did. When training, we often get those intense cases of “I’m the leader to I’ll bash your head in”, so I have corrected extreme behaviour with my fists, a whip or lead rope and halter… or anything I could swing at them to save my skin. It worked and I no longer need to use these extreme methods since all of my horses are now completely controlled. But I will not get bitten, kicked or punched at by an unruly horse without reacting and my reaction not only includes hitting… If the horse turns away, I will chase it down for a little bit (just like real horses do) or he might challenge me again, therefore, the process continues until I can chase him off and continue with what I was doing. Dogs are different, my dog is 3.4 lbs and I can’t scold him, so I use the scold verbally then ignore method. Of course he does anything he can to grab my attention so that I can just look at him for a second, but nothing works. I am now to that point with horses too… a simple “hheeeyyy” will get them focused on me and quit their nonsense.
A great WIN for the first pic and an epic FAIL for the second one!!!! Poor horse!
Looking back, I actually have to say I was born being nice to animals. It might have been because my mom was nice to animals but I never remember having any specific rules. I did grow up in a physically/verbally abusive household, and while I don’t remember much of that, I do know that I hate hate hate people who hurt animals. Even the smaller things — not giving a horse release while jumping — really just set me off.
My parents were great about overseeing our care of the animals but still making it our responsibility. I remember reading a book once where the character hadn’t cleaned the dog’s food bowl as was his responsibility. His mother then stopped washing his plate so the next night’s food was served on a dirty plate from the night before. When he protested his mother said “If you don’t like it why do you think Rover would like it?” That book really stuck with me and I still find myself considering if I would like the save situation or no!
I didn’t learn kindness to animals from my parents. My father was an abusive asshat that got pissed off at my cat one day and went looking for her with the intention to drive a screwdriver into her brain (fortunately she was MIA until he had calmed down). Both my parents let her, several years later, get to the point that her kidneys were failing and she was peeing all over the house from hyperthyroid disease befor they finally had her put down.
I now have two kids of my own. They learned from my VERY tolerant cat “Nice pets!”. They weren’t even two before they got the clue that you pet very gently. They are now learning to be dog trainers at 2 1/2 – they know how to tell the dogs sit, stay and wait, and tell both dogs “good boy” (even though one is a girl, the intent is there). They hug them and pet them gently as well but also know how to lay some smack down when the dogs get into their faces by using their voices – not their actions.
The horses still make me nervous – I got my yearling off a trailer and the kids entertained themselves but holding the end of the lead rope (with me in between them and the horse – my trainer was also there if things got hairy) and walking around the yard saying “good boy!”. They know to pet gently – unfortunately at the moment they don’t know the areas to stay away from so they are closely supervised.
Both girls love to ride, they have little helmets that they ALWAYS wear on the horse and occasionally just around the barn. The one exception is when they were about 9 months old and my horse was taking a nap in the cross ties and I held my daughter up on his back for a picture. It’s cute even with my hands in the way! I have a picture of my daughter riding in front of me on my OTTB – helmet and all!
Same at our house…they learn “nice pets” as babies with me holding their tiny hand and showing them how to pet gently (and in the right direction!). They are always closely supervised when they decide they want to give the dog or cat “special” attention. All six of our kids (16 years – 3 1/2 years) are gentle and (for the most part) responsible with animals. The harder part is teaching the young kids WHEN it is okay to pet. For instance, we have two fairly young, playful house cats right now and sometimes they want to bat at your hand rather than be pet, or do the grab and bite thing (they never bite hard, but its enough to scare the 3 year old). We’ve been working on it though, and if she wants to pet them now she’ll ask me if the “kitties are ornery right now?” Sometimes she can tell all by herself and she’ll tell me “don’t pet the kitty, he’s playing.” I think this also benefits kids, learning how to “read” animals intentions/feelings.
On the other hand, my aunt has a cat and a small dog. Her grandchild lives with her, he’s about 2 years old and she has never taught him to be nice to animals. Her technique? Make the dog and the cat fearful of the child so they run from him before he gets too close to maul them! Oh yes, she yells in a high pitched voice at the dog and cat to “run, run, run” when the little boy gets too close! Of course, when this doesn’t work and the little heathen child gets a hold of or corners the poor little dog (cat is much too fast), the dog panics and snaps at the kid. Now, she wants to get rid of the dog because she “bites”. When I was visiting one day, when the boy was a little over 1 year old, I tried to teach him to nicely pet the cat, just as I teach my babies, and my aunt and the boys parents looked at me in horror like I was beating the child!
I learned some of my animal care from my mom, but she still does some things that leave me completely shocked and horrified. I do a lot of reading and use a lot of just plain ol’ UNcommon sense a lot of the time. I’ve noticed that I seem to be really good at empathizing (sp?) with animals and “reading” their thoughts. My kids always beg me to tell them what the dog is “saying” now, etc. To me it’s just common sense from understanding what animals want. But it always surprises me that a lot of people can’t look at an animal and tell what that animal is “saying”. Hmmmm… maybe I missed my calling and I’m supposed to be an Animal Communicator! LOL!
We were taught by my dad that we were responsible for an animal for their whole life.. We had dogs growing up, and started riding lessons at about 4 and a half. I never take in an animal to this day, that I know we’re not equipped to keep. If the conditions are not right, you aren’t doing that animal any favors. We only have shelter pets.. So, when I find a stray, I call the shelter. We’ve tried in the past to take in stray cats, had them vet checked 1st, and they’ve had Feline Leukemia, or something.. it’s happened about 3 times. We have our vet euth these cats, rather than have them living and dying sick, in the elements. The shelters here are loaded with cats, and the Coyotes are starting to kill off the strays. When will people start keeping their cats? Around here, people move, and just leave them. They have litters and form colonies.. Some local folks have begun to trap and neuter them..but they are feral..hard to catch..O.k. Sorry, end of cat rant!
It’s like that here too: cats and dogs run wild and unspayed and no one seems to care if they get run over.
Here’s an opposite story. My non-horse skilled neighbor’s young daughter wanted a horse. They acutally bought her one, a large QH used for trail riding, never shown. She had no lessons, no help, and they only allowed her to ride up and down the road in front of her house when they were free to be able to watch her. So you know how often she got to ride. Took her to her first local show. Told her if she didn’t win her WP class, that was it and she’d never be allowed to show again. Of course, she didn’t. She didn’t have a clue what to expect or to do in the class. And, true to mom and dad’s word, they sold her horse. I often wondered how that affected the poor kid as she got older.
Oh, that’s a whole other blog – wacko parents. Met many when I was teaching lessons!
I am afraid that what this really has to do with is lack of empathy: the inability to put yourself in anothers shoes and truly understand how they feel. This ‘culture of cruelty’ as it is being called is now widespread in the U.S. and it affects us and animals every day. It’s being fed by media- ‘Reality’ tv shows, radio commentators spewing hatred, even commercials that celebrate people one upping each other without care.
But here are some real results:
* Of the nine school shootings between 1996 and 1999, half of the shooters had histories of animal cruelty.
* The largest single survey to date of serial killers found:
o 36 percent admitted to committing animal cruelty as children
o 46 percent admitted to committing animal cruelty as adolescents
o 36 percent admitted to committing animal cruelty as adults.
* A 2003 study found that of 354 serial killers profiled, 21 percent were known to have committed animal cruelty, although it is speculated that more might have committed unreported incidents of animal cruelty.
* A Canadian Police study found that 70 percent of people arrested for animal cruelty had past records of other violent crimes, including homicide.
* Of 332 animal cruelty arrests studied by the Chicago Police Department,
o 70 percent of suspects had arrests on felony charges (including two homicides)
o 86 percent of suspects had multiple arrests
o 70 percent of suspects had narcotics charges (68 percent of which were for sales or trafficking)
o 65 percent of suspects had been charged with battery-related violent offenses
o 27 percent of suspects had previous firearms charges
o 13 percent of suspects had been arrested on sex crime charges
o 59 percent of suspects were alleged gang members.
* A Massachusetts study of 153 animal abusers found that within 10 years of their arrest, 70 percent were charged with other crimes:
o 38 percent were charged with violent crimes;
o 44 percent were charged with property crimes;
o 37 percent were charged with drug offenses;
o 37 percent were charged with disorderly offenses
And there is more:
http://www.hsus.org/acf/cruelty/publiced/cruelty_serial_killers.html
Well, nothing in this post is scary or anything.
Going along with this I had a horse at friend’s house I was supposed to take her home after she foaled. There was a wacky neighbor with a grudge and he killed three mares, including mine, and wounded her barrel horse. He had German Shepherds that he taught to kill and then turned them loose on neighboring farms livestock.
The guy had a record that was as long as “War and Peace” and he finally died on death row, convicted of a triple homicide, one of the victims was tortured.
Growing up on a dairy farm, two milkings a day, every day, along with feeding, clean-up etc drills responsibility into you like nothing else!! As I go out to do horse chores at 5:00 AM on work days, I often think about my grandfather, who milked cows from age 21 to 75! My husband, who is a lovely humane guy, was raised in the suburbs, no animals, and he just doesn’t get it. “Why are you going out in a thunderstorm at 2 AM to put in the horses?” Sigh. He is teachable. I wonder as our population shifts away from the rural model, if our knowledge of basic animal care is going to diminish. Quote from 1920 Farm Animals by Hunt and Burkett (as quoted in The Compassionate Carnivore by Friend) “Whether kept for pets and companions or for the production of work, clothing, and food, compel habits of care and responsibility and inculcate habits of mercy”.
I have been around horses as long as I can remember and when i was little whenever i wanted to ride my aunt always told me i had to brush my horse, pick his feet,etc. so I guess im one of the lucky ones who learned from and early age proper treatment and care of animals. Recently a girl who is on my college rodeo team had a horse who got worms. I was shocked that she didnt do the simple and easy task of deworming her horse regulary..lets just say some words were thrown around and I no longer speak to her. my animals are like my kids, i want the best possible care for them I can get. Im a college student and my animals eat better than I do. I wouldnt have it any other way!
I learned animal care by observing my Mom who taught me to be observant of animal needs. “They can’t say what they want, or how they feel, or if it hurts.” So, I just learned intuitively about animal body language from her. I wasn’t responsible for our pets directly but was encouraged to participate in their exercise and triaining. By the time I got my own as an adult, I was well prepared. I didn’t start learning horsey stuff until adulthood but had a cousin who was really into jumping as a teenager and she was very happy to share her knowledge. So much can be learned by just asking.
Outside of animal care, it’s been fascinating to me that my portions of my extended family love animals too. My grandfather, uncle, great uncle, great aunts, cousins, all are very kind, animal people. All have well loved pets. My elderly great aunt loves to tell me stories about her childhood dog. Leashes were optional back in the day, and her boxer mix used to take a nap outside church while he waited for the family. One day they noticed he was getting fat, so she followed his daily romp with the neighborhood dogs and saw that they had a circuit of beg-able homes where friendly housewives would feed them scraps. I wonder if animal love is genetic?
Conversely, one of the most chilling episodes of animal cops involved a puppy who had been tied tightly to a backyard fence. The puppy was found dead, from dehydration/starvation. The household adult claimed that her teenage son was responsible for the animal. She professed ignorance because she couldn’t see the puppy from the kitchen window. It was gratifying to see the shock on her face when she was arrested.
My Dad taught me how to take care of animals mostly by example. He never made any of us kids do all animal care, in fact, I know he enjoyed some of it himself, especially feeding all the cats and dogs in the morning. That he took joy in taking care of the animals was the best lesson of all, it really showed me that the care aspect of pet ownership was a prime way to be with and enjoy the pet.
We shared kitty litter scooping and dog walking chores amongst the family. I remember him showing me how to scoop kitty litter for the first time–bending over the box holding the scooper loaded up, looking at me with a grin over his shoulder he said ‘you love the cats don’t you? well love is SH*T sometimes, see?’ So now whenever I have a pile of yuck to clean from an animal, I always see it as a chance to prove my love for the animal. (That was also a pretty good lesson in life generally LOL)
He would often say ‘you can’t let an animal suffer’ and that phrase has become the yardstick in my mind of pet care. It really covers everything–they are in YOUR care, YOU can’t let them suffer, for want of food, clean water, or anything else– because they cannot help themselves.
My sisters all have fat, healthy, happy, well looked after pets as a result. In my case, I don’t have a pet right now because I know my schedule and budget as a student doesn’t allow it–sure I’d love a kitten right now but I know that it would suffer because I don’t have the time for it or the money to get its vet needs taken care of. Looking back I think he did a really good job showing us by example how to care for the animals while also giving us some of the responsibility ourselves.
I guess I was very lucky to have parents who loved animals. They had a dog before my older brother was born and we always had at least one while I was growing up. I don’t remember being taught how to treat the dogs but they were never mistreated. As soon as we were old enough to feed, water and pick up poop, we were taught to do it. When we moved out to the country, we had dogs, cats, chickens,fawn, baby javalina, turkeys, calves, pigs, ponies and a horse. The animals got fed before we did. It was just the way things were done. If they were sick or hurt, the vet was called. Rain or shine, sick or well, school or holiday, we took care of the animals first. No argument, just done.
My mom always told me that when you get an animal it is your responsibility for it’s entire life. It’s not right to decide you don’t want them for petty reasons and give them away and if you have to, then you must ensure you find a perfect home for them. My mom always hated people who dumped animals for no good reason. (Actually there IS no good reason for dumping animals. Period.)
Brought up on a family farm, my whole younger life was a constant lesson of animal ownership responsibility. I could curse and swear at a stubborn pig, but I could NeverEver take out my anger on it. When I got my first pony, it was me who went up and fed and cleaned him, try to lie in on a cold morning and there’d be holy hell to pay.
It’s always funny to watch my dad get worked up about those animal abuse stories, he curses the lady up the road with a pony in a garden shed the size of an outhouse, and hates hoarders with a passion. To him, having too many animals to feed is a sign of mental deficiency. His entire life, everyone he knows and works with, have the ingrained knowledge in their heads about the livestock to feed ratio and what it’s supposed to be. While I’ve tried to change his mind, he thinks that yes horse slaughter is a neccesary evil, but he knows that if people would stop breeding horses, and start gelding colts, it would be stopped a lot quicker.He thinks the horse industry and those in it is a joke,but that’s probably because of the rampant closure and bankruptcy of the stable owners around here, who can’t seem to realise that No, another foal to feed is not a good idea, even if he’s out of your champion mare and best stud.
If there is one thing that good parenting has taught me, it’s that it’s one thing to love your horse, but another to respect him as an animal with needs that have to be met.
My parents had their “first child” before I was born – a wonderful Great Dane who was very loved. That was my first experience with animals – always cared for and loved. They were members of the family and even the 160 pound dog who took up the entire floor of our 950 square foot house was an inside dog. Later, any dogs we had were always strays (living in the country we were a magnet for drop-offs) or were adopted from the humane society after we fell in love with them while being a foster family.
The first horse my mom bought when I was little was one she “bought” at a garage sale for $100.00 (this was 1976 – so $100.00 was more than it is now). She was basically a rescue as the man that owned her abused her – she had 1 1/2 teeth knocked out and a dent in her forehead where the vet says she was probably beat with a baseball bat. She would not tolerate a man to be anywhere near her. She was also extremely thin and malnourished. Once she was back in health she became the most amazing trail horse ever. Mom kept her at a barn that belonged to a friend. She would ride and put me on the front of the saddle with her and off we would go on the trails.
So, yes, that would probably get her featured as a “bad parent” these days – but it made me the horse lover that I am today. I was 2 years old when these rides started and I still have memories of these rides – vague fuzzy memories – but I do remember. She has told me how even at 2 I loved to ride. They would ride year round and in the winter she would wrap me in a blanket and put me on the saddle in front of her. Mom has told me that they would ride for 5 or 6 hours and I would never once complain.
When I was 9, I started showing in 4-H. From that time on, the horses were my responsibility. We had moved to the country and had our own barn. I fed morning and night, and cleaned stalls, because they were my responsibility. One of the hardest, but most important lessons I ever learned came at fair the first year I was showing. My mom would wake me up at 4 a.m. to go and bathe the day of our show. I remember seeing all of the parents out there washing and scrubbing the horses and the tack while their kids would show up later when it was time to get ready to go into the show ring.
My mom didn’t believe in that. I was out there standing on a milk crate doing my best to reach my gelding’s topline and she wouldn’t help me. Not that she didn’t want to – but she understood that this was something I was supposed to do. We had a “Good Grooming” class that was required for our 4-H grade. I got a “B” that year, because there was some “dandruff” along my horse’s back – where I couldn’t reach to scrub.
As a parent myself now, I understand how hard that was for my mom to stand back and do nothing – knowing I would get a lower grade because she was determined I would do this myself. But it was a learning experience – just one of many. She did it right.
I’m trying to instill this into my girls. I haven’t turned over the care to the girls for a few reasons. One – I board a friend’s horse who is young and unpredictable. Two – I still love being in the barn! I love doing the chores, I love cleaning stalls. (I really hate putting up fence and stacking hay – but everything else is great! ;o) ). But they are learning how to be safe around the animals and how to care for them. And once they are old enough, they will have to earn the right to have their horse.
I remember one year watering my horse. (It was probably 50 feet from house to trough) I left the hose out to freeze. The next day (or two) when they needed water again…I asked dad to thaw the hose or the spigot or both and he handed me a bucket and said “get to work”. I told him the horses could wait, he told me that it was MY fault and I wouldn’t punish them for my problem.
I also lived with a ‘breeder’ family as far as dogs and I even thank them for the education. Watching a momma dog rip open at birthing a too big pup, watching a whole litter of dogs die from parvo, having to put a drain tube in my male dogs side, b/c he was always getting in fights, watching some get killed onm the road. You name it…those things made me an ADAMANT rescuer. My dogs are all fenced when outside, neutered or spayed….
Really….those lessons were as important as the “don’t eat until they eat” one. Sadly! Out of the fire, comes the hardened steel!
I grew up on my grandpa’s Arabian ranch and learned that sick or tired or appts of any kind were worked around the horses… they were priority. Now I have ducks, cats, a dog and 3 horses (and right now LOTS of snow to shovel). My kids have all learned that animals come first – even the snow has to be removed before we can get to the ducks and horses so that they can be watered or fed. And we have the “poop patrol” here! As far as kindness, I guess it has just come naturally or by example, maybe? If someone is cruel to one of our animals, the kids eliminate them from coming over anymore without even me telling them.
FHOTD said: “I distinctly remember decking my cousin when I was 6 or 7 because she was pulling her dog’s ears to make him yelp.” Why doesn’t that surprise me?
One of my best teachers was the family cat, who didn’t hesitate to use her claws if she thought it was time for her to be put down. I very quickly learned to let go the moment she started protesting!
My parents always showed me what was expected of me animal-care-wise, and if I didn’t do it (clean the litter box, feed the dog, brush/ride the horse, treat injuries, etc.) they told me that it was part of the job and if I wasn’t going to hold up my end of the deal, then I wasn’t going to have pets. Period. But that was never really an issue. Once I knew what was expected and necessary, I WANTED to do it, because the work attached to animals is so much less than the privilege of having them in my life. They deserve the best. I think it’s really all about showing kids a realistic perspective of animal care, and not just doing it for them when they don’t want to. It’s about showing them that, rain or shine, the animals are counting on you to feed them, water them, pick up poop, etc. and if you don’t do it, that’s neglect, because when you’re an adult, your parents aren’t going to pick up the slack anymore.
Way OT but I am new to posting and I wanted to make sure you saw this hoarder’s story..
http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2010/02/068.shtml
My father’s one, non-negotiable, no exceptions even if you’re dying rule: Take care of the animals before you take care of yourself. This meant that after a 5 hour trail ride we had to totally cool out the horses out before going to the bathroom, eating etc. If your toes froze before the stalls were cleaned too bad…that’s why God gave you 10…who cares if a few fall off from frostbite. His reason was that our animals depend on us for everything so we have to put their needs first.
In today’s world this might be considered child abuse. I grew up thnking that he cared more about the animals than he did about us, but I find now that I have a very strong work ethic and the ability to empathize with people and animals.
Eh, I bet you still have all your toes.
Kids are whiny. I was seriously whiny. I still had to go outside and shovel the driveway. I was pretty sure it was going to kill me, but ya know, I’m still here. 
Way too many kids are not taught any responsibility from their parents, including being responsible pet owners. I teach high school students and know this first hand. I’m so grateful my parents didn’t skip teaching me and developing such a powerful character trait as responsibility in myself and for others. I showed market lambs, steers and horses in 4-H and always had to take care of my own animals. I remember once I was shopping out of town with my mom. I was probably 12 years old. I realized while shopping that I forgot to water the lambs and it was a hot summer day. We couldn’t get home quickly so my mom made me dig out my own money to make a long distance call to the neighbor from a pay phone. I had to do all the talking, too, asking the neighbor to give the lambs water. Then when I got home, I had to go knock on the neighbor’s door and personally thank him for helping me. How many parents would do that today?
More than you would think, but still not enough!
Now on topic. I grew up dirt poor in the ’60s so any animals we had were strays. Vet care was minimal at best. Pets, to my working class parents, were nearly invisible. I loved animals and gave the best care I could. I got my first horse from my cousini n May 1973, who had owned the pinto gelding since he was a yearling, when the horse and I were both 14 years old. I had saved money from mowing lawns, etc and paid $250 for Kazar (pinto) and a Hereford saddle. I still have that bill of sale and the saddle.
I worked at a local hamburger drive in to pay for feed, farrier, pasture rent. I learned to give vaccinations myself to save money. My care of horses was learned from the fellow boarders at the pasture I rented. My love for this wonderful creature, my sense of responsibility, some luck, and pure determination kept this horse alive and healthy for 26 years and 3 marriages, until I had him euth’d due to colic in May 2000 at the incredible age of 40 !! Kudos to EQUINE SENIOR !! My dedication to animals comes from my heart. When I make a commitment to an animal it is for LIFE. LOL….the fact that I’m on marriage #3 reveals I don’t put up with CRAP from humans. 2 weeks ago (on my birthday) I had my 14 year old Akita put down after a stroke. I currently have 3 fat, spoiled, horses. 2 siblings who are rescued Missouri Foxtrotters and an APHA palomino paint; an 8 year old cat who was dumped here as a kitten, and 2 dogs, one a pit mix that was dumped here and another shelter orphan. They are my life and have forever homes with me. I have written instructions and cash in my gun safe for their care and re-homing in the event of my demise.
My parents were farmers. While responsibility was taught to us from an early age, there was a certain amount of cold pragmatism involved where animals were concerned. Hunting dogs were NEVER house pets and lived in outside with insulated boxes unless it got bitter cold. Wounds were treated and everyone got wormed/vaccinated but, for non-pets, a bullet was a more likely outcome than a vet visit if the injury went beyond my mother’s ability to sew it up. Pets got taken to the vet but if it was more than $100, it too got a bullet. Part of it was just that we were dirt poor and couldn’t afford to spend lots of money on an animal but I still feel guilty about some of our pets.
On the other hand, there were strict rules about the animals being cleaned & fed every morning and evening. They got taken care of before we could eat, otherwise no food for us. If we didn’t take care of it to my mom’s standards, we didn’t get to keep it. Let me tell you, the first time your puppy is given away because you weren’t spending enough time with it is the last time you make that mistake. Tough love, but effective.
My mother is rather dismayed and amused over how I treat my current horse. Blankets and chiropractors and saddle fitters and supplements and twice yearly physicals. She says she only wishes she had someone paying for all that for her, all for a couple hours of work every week.
There was no giudance in any way when my sister and I were growing up with an alcoholic mother who would stay away for days on end. I did have a loving grandmother though who taught me to love unconditionally, and as for caring for my pets and other animals – how can I sleep peacefully knowing someone is out there hungry or thirsty? It’s a no-brainer and always has been. The dogs sleep inside unless THEY chose not to (even then I would prefer them in the house so the coyotes don’t gang up on them). Being hungry and thirsty hurts and there is no way I would ‘forget’ to feed and water no matter how tired or sick I am. Whe I broke my arms I ‘supervised’ my kids, husband and friends and only felt okay when everything was looked after. I’m anal about my animals having everything they need. They can’t control their enviroment, so that responsibilty is mine and the day I brought them home it became my duty to keep them comfortable. I don’t coddle them and they have to work hard, but they NEVER miss a meal and always have water, salt and minerals in front of them. No one likes being hungry, thirsty or cold so what makes anyone think it’s okay to let their pet freeze, starve or dehydrate. Even a kid should understand that.
I don’t recall any specific “sit me down and teach me about pet ownership responsibility”, but I do know that a common theme in my childhood was safety (for you and the animal) and compassion to the animal’s feelings. It wasn’t something that literally had to be spoken, it was just assumed. The purpose of getting a pet was to make that animal happy and spoiled and never know what it feels like to suffer — as opposed to people who get one because they’re cute and furry and do silly things that are entertaining for a while. It was always for the animal, not for us, and the fact that we liked it too was just icing on the cake. Impulsive pet buys are one of my strongest pet peeves. If you want to see cute animals, look at them on google images. If your kids want to play with them, take them to volunteer at the shelter! I volunteered at the local shelter in college and there were only two things they ever had me do when I went: take the puppies for walks in the field out back, or play with the kittens. You get your puppy and kitty fix, and they get socialized so they are easier to adopt out.
***Now, I have also had some very BAD volunteering experiences at other places, but that’s for another day. Fugs, maybe that would be an interesting topic one day. I bet we’ve all had some shocking volunteer attempts to share.
I always think it’s interesting when I take my dog for a walk and different kids want to come pet him. Sometimes their parents are really good and say things like “you have make sure he wants to be touched first, do it gently”, and sometimes the kids want to smother the poor thing and their parents just watch while they talk on their cell phone, and I have to be the one to explain the right way to handle the animal.
Also, although it was never literally stated to be nice to the animals, it was definitely modeled by my parents, and I remember multiple instances where my mom really laid into some people who were not so nice to theirs. Call me genius, I guess I put two and two together.
I wonder if women and men “normally” treat pets differently? (I know it’s not good to steroetype.) My SO is wonderful with my horse, loves to ride, plays with him, very gentle. Last year I got our first house pet — a guinea pig (low maintenance). Love the little guy, he spends alot of time on the couch with us. But the SO just loves to tease the darn thing, and it makes me mad. Want to give Piglet a treat? Hold it just outside reach, make him “use his brain” for about 30 seconds before you give it to him. If you pet him hard on the head, Piglet will flip his head up to show that he doesn’t like it, so why don’t we just keep doing it for half a minute to see if he stops? Rather than give Piglet some celery right there in the cage, put the celery on the roof of his house, or wedge it hard between something so he can see how long it takes before the now-crazy Piglet can find the darn thing by smell…. He doesn’t do anything mean the guinea pig, but thinks it’s funny to watch Piglet “work it out”… I wish Piglet would bite him.
Yeah, I think there are no men who love animals, and no women who abuse animals. LOL
What a dumbass stupid thing to imply.
All of the animal hoarders that I have ever heard of who keep 100 dying starving cats in a locked up feces-filled stench-filled house are WOMEN…US…WOMEN. Lots of women horse-hoarders as well, who starve their horses.
and that woman, a few blogs back, who sent her horse and donkey off to the slaughter-house kill-buyer pen, with instructions to only sell them for kill. What was she?…a WOMAN.
Please pull your head out of your ass, child. My husband loves animals as much as I do.
WOW no reason to lash out about it! I think you totally misread the point of her comment. She wasn’t saying that women are never the abusers or that men usually are. She was suggesting that in normal, loving, NON-abusive homes, perhaps men and women tend to have some slight differences in how they handle their pets. I mean think about the stereotypes, even in TV commercials — anytime you see a dog grab a beer from the fridge and bring it to the owner, the owner in that commercial is going to be a guy. Anytime you see a tiny chihuahua dressed in a pink glittery sundress it’s going to be snuggled under the arm of a girl, unless they’re going for a comedic effect. I’m sure that she and her SO both absolutely adore their little Piglet but it sounds like she’d rather just snuggle and spoil Piglet all day, whereas her SO wants to “stimulate his mind”. Neither way is bad or harmful to Piglet; I’m sure Piglet loves the snuggles, and also doesn’t mind having to use his brain every now and then to interact with the SO as long as there’s a celery stick in it for him.
Anyway, to reply to the actual comment, I think it has more to do with personality type than gender, even though each gender typically has it’s own stereotypes of personality traits associated with them. Some people are more nurturing and comforting and snuggly by nature, whereas some are more concrete and analytical. Both might love their pet just as much, but they just enjoy different types of interractions. Just like people– some people like being friends with other people that they can sit and have tea with and talk about knitting, and some like to have friends that embarass each other in front of everyone in a bar and both think it’s absolutely hilarious!
I wonder when you will realize it is time for SO to change or you to go.
KT – sorry you got jumped on for your post. I think you are right – a lot of men relate differently to animals than women do. Especially if men were raised on a farm. Animals are “livestock” whether they are pets or not and treated differently. Not good, not bad, just differently. Less emotional attachment. I don’t see your SO as being cruel – just aggravating. And maybe you should mention that Piglet doesn’t like that, so please don’t do that. But, honestly, is he endangering the guinea pig’s life? No. People need to ease up – geesh!
Yeah wow, didn’t expect that. It’s just that I have noticed that women and men “normally” interact differently with house pets. From what I see, men are more likely to rough house with a dog. They will “tease” dogs to rile them up so they can play harder with them. Don’t abuse them but like to mentally challenge them. Women, more apt I think to want to cuddle and quietly enjoy their pets. I’m sure these bashers would have to admit that watching a little girl with a cat and a little boy with a cat — I think you can generalize what their play behaviors would be….
My SO loves Piglet and will sit on the couch with the guinea pig sleeping on his chest for an hour, won’t even get up to go to the bathroom until the Piglet wakes up on his own. But both of us have noticed that guinea pigs appear to be way down the evolutionary scale in intelligence! They basically have to bump into their food to find it. So that’s where my SO loves to “hide” the food and tease him with it, because he likes to see Piglet take forever to find the stuff, whereas I just give him the food. Piglet has learned to climb up our legs because of his keeping the treats just out of reach (it’s like he’s trained the pig to beg, our visitors think it’s cute).
Yes, I do ALWAYS tell him not to pet the pig when it’s obvious he doesn’t want it. But he pulled a horse training thing on me — he said that if he stops petting the second the pig flips his head, then the pig learns that flipping his head means he gets his way….
Wouldn’t leave my SO for anything in the world! We are soulmates of 20 years, the happiest couple that I know of, sharing all our interests together … I wish every woman could find a man as good as this one …
My son has grown up with cats, dogs and ponies. From the time he could walk, he was taught to respect the animals. As a toddler, those cat tails were so tempting to grab! But he learned “no tail” from us and was never left unsupervised around the animals. We would explain to him that grabbing their tails hurt them and we want to be kind to our animals. He is now eight years old and has grown up with so much compassion. He would never dream of hurting an animal!
He had an interesting riding lesson last week. He was riding one of my nicest show ponies, who happens to be more sensitive than Sprocket and Thunder (the two ponies he regularly rides). This pony has so much tallent that it blows my mind! But my son will need to be quieter with his hands and feet than he has ever been. After the lesson (which went better than I expected, but was far from perfect), I asked him what he thought. “She was wonderful, mommy. But I will need to work harder to get it just right for her.” Never once has he blamed the pony, even when the pony was the one having a bad day.
So, my advice is start early!
That is too cute! Sounds as though he is well on his way to responsible compassionate adulthood, thanks to you!
As a child, I was the only true animal lover in my family. My first pet was a goldfish when I was five, then I moved up to a parakeet when I was ten. Man, did I love that bird! We also had a terripoo when I was about eight, but I can’t really remember doing anything with that dog. My mother got rid of him when I was nine because she was tired of taking care of him by herself. When I was ten, I had begged enough that my parents got another dog, a Rottweiler. She (the dog) taught me how to care for her, along with reading Black Beauty, of course. Now that I’m all grown up and have a family with children of my own, I still LOVE animals. We currently have two cats (adopted from the shelter) two dogs (one came from the shelter) and four horses. My children are still young (seven yr old boy and three yr old girl) so I do all the animal care. I love them, and consider them all MINE, so I don’t expect anyone else to step in, unless necessary. My kids love to feed the cats, but I clean the litter boxes, and I don’t let them around the horses too much yet. My son doesn’t care much about the horses, but my little girl is horse-crazy like I was. She rides our miniature pony with her pink helmet and pink boots and looks adorable. Do you know what’s neat? That Mini, and our Shetland LOVE my little girl. Because they both know how much she loves them and isn’t that what it’s all about?
I could be the kid in front in the “Fail” picture. When my brother was a toddler, he would be in one of those backpacks made for carrying kids and I would either sit in front of her or behind my brother. And off we would go to see the neighbors! Along the highway and other roads, trails etc. Fortunately the old gray mare, named “Marquita”, was the ultimate babysitter, worth her weight in gold. When my brothers got older (about 4 and 6 years old), mom would let them ride her. I remember one riding and the other chasing her to get her to trot cause their legs didn’t reach far enough to get her going. If one fell off, she would stop and wait until either they got back on or someone came to help. My mother wouldn’t put a saddle on her, so I learned to straddle her head and climb up her neck to get on. Being a parent now, I shudder at the thought of my kids learning the same way, but at the time, I thought it was normal and didn’t think anything of it. I later got a large pony, spoiled and barely broke and he and I grew up together. My dad would say, “if you want to see how much a kid wants to ride, give em’ a pony.”
My parents started me small and worked up when it came to pets (make sure you can take care of a rodent fully before you can get something bigger, etc). I got a couple of mice when I was a few years old, got a rabbit a couple years later (although my parents didn’t have much choice in this one as someone had dumped her in the woods by our house), got a cat a couple years later (they sent me to the spca summer camp, I think they must have known I’d insist on coming home with something!), and then me bought me a horse at age 14. I don’t remember them specifically telling me anything about how to treat them, I guess they’ve always just lead by example ( good food, regular vet care, spaying/neutering, etc).
They didn’t know the back end of the horse from the front but they signed me up for pony club when I was 7 which helped me immensely, I think every kid should be involved in pony club (or similar orgainization). I always feel bad for the kids with the crazy parents I see in your blog who don’t feel the same way.
My lord i was one of those evils kids when i was very young, especially with my neighbours cat… i’d go up and pull its tail when it was sat on the chair, and no matter how many times i was told ‘ don’t do it, she’ll scratch you etc’ never listened.. and the scratches never stopped me either (apparently.. i was too young to remember.. think i was only like 3 or something!!)
I grew up to a huge animal lover.. i started off with a hamster, mum had said if i don’t look after it the hamster is gone.. well i ended up with said hamster, a rabbit, a guniea-pig, 2 pet rats, goldfish and the family pets of 3 cats and a dog… but my animals always came first.. as they slowly started dying on old age parents said no more animals in the house… so i got horses… lol Miniature horses now as i don’t ride much but my horses are my life.. there feed, rugs, feet and vet care all come before my own needs.. i rarely get new stuff unless someone else buys it for me but my horses always have good quility feed, hay and an assortment of rugs that they proberly don’t need and hardly wear! lol
Now i look at others who i’ve shared a yard with… my horses are turned out, mucked out and done and dusted by 9am… before anyone else is down even to turn out.. if mine are still in at 8am i feel guilty.. equally i don’t bring them in too early or too late… and they all get attention, go for walks etc
For the past 2-3yrs i’ve have a young kid been coming down helping, she started coming down when she was 6yrs old with her mum but now comes down with me on a saturday and has her own.. well when i say her own.. he’s mine.. but he is her’s on a saturday… she knows chores come first, she knows if she even attempts to get on him without a hat i’ll collar her one! She knows if she is harsh to any pony i’ll murder her… as a result of not being pushed being taught to love and care for them if she can’t ride her pony for months due to injury, she doesn’t complain (when he was gelded she couldn’t ride for 2 months! But she still came down, mucked out his field, gave him lots of tlc and grooming… ), she happy just to take him out for a walk or spent time with him in the field and not overly bothered if she doesn’t get to ride one week. Her pony is a saint for her, but i’ve seen him really act up with other riders, which just shows the bond the two of them have. But even her parents agree.. if she doesn’t come down (for anything other than sickness) then thats it.. her pony will be sold (he won’t.. as he is too much loved by me as well and too useful.. but she understands if she doesn’t look after him, and do all the nasty bits as well as the good bits, she won’t have a pony to care for period!)
I would say my Mom was sort of hit or miss in regards to teaching animal care. Our dogs were always well fed, always saw the vet when needed, got their shots, etc, but looking back I would say she often went way overboard with disciplining if the dog had an accident or chewed on something. I don’t think I was ever completely responsible for all of my dog’s care, it was more of a family responsibility. I was responsible for my hamster, though and since it was in my room keeping the cage clean wasn’t too much of an issue, even back then I wasn’t too keen on the smell. I do remember my mom rushing my hamster to the vet when it was very ill. The hamster did end up dying (of old age, most likely) but it taught me that even something as little as a hamster deserved proper care.
When I was older I got a German Shepherd. We had always had poodles before and we had always taken them to the groomer to get their hair cut and nails, trimmed, etc. I will never forget taking my German Shepherd to the vet and the vet reaming me out b/c my dog’s nails were way too long. I told him I didn’t know any better and then I got reamed out again! Well, I really learned a lot that day, first how and why to keep your dogs nails trimmed and second ignorance is NOT an excuse for neglect, especially if you are even remotely educated. There are plenty of books/videos and people out there that can help if you take the time to find them, so most of the time being ignorant is really just a sign of laziness.
With my own children I’m still trying to figure out exactly how I’m going to teach them about animal care. Right now I take care of all of our pets, why? because they are mine. I just don’t think giving the kids the chore of cleaning up after my animals is the way to go. When they get older and they want a pet of their own then it will be their responsibility. I also don’t take my kids to the barn very often right now. Mostly it’s just selfish. Barn time is MY time. It’s my escape from my kids and stress so bringing them with me is hard. When they get older, if they show any interest in horses then I will start bringing them but only when they can prove that they know how to listen and do what they are told when they are told. Having a kid that doesn’t listen around horses is a real recipe for disaster.
I guess my goal is to simply teach my kids to be compassionate and empathetic towards all creatures, and it really starts with how they treat each other. I don’t care if my kids don’t end up being famous, rich or whatever else society deems important; I just want them to treat others, including animals, with respect and compassion. (sorry that probably sounds sappy but in my opinion this world could just use more compassionate people and less famous, rich or whatever else people.)
My mother is a sterling example of proper animal care. Growing up, she was a good mom, but an even better animal owner. She alone cared for a barn full of horses, numerous dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, etc. Today, in her 60′s, she continues the same way. Regular farrier, vet visits, worming schedule, constant monitoring of feed relevant to each horse’s needs, status of grasses, finding the best hay and impeccably caring for emotional needs of all the animals individually.
If it’s hurt, sick, “acting funny”, etc the animal will have a vet, period. She has slept many nights on hay bales in the barn. She has bottle fed 2 orphan longhorns from the first day of their lives (they had beds in the bathtub until they regained some strength), she will never pass a dog, cat, cow, horse, etc on the side of the road without stopping to pick it up or get it to it’s home. She knows the limit of animals she can care for, and if another pops in unexpectedly (frequent “dumpers” in her part of the world) it gets a vet check and complimentary stay until proper no-kill arrangements can be made.
If she owns the animal, it has a home for life. It will be loved and cared for until it shows her that “its time”. She will summon the vet to her farm where the entire family gathers to say our goodbyes and then humanely euthanized. If it is a horse, the bulldozer has already been out to dig the hole and it waiting patiently for us to finish. Dogs and cats are buried with a shirt or blanket from the house and all the other pets get to see the deceased prior to burial.
I’m an only child – well, I’m 35 now – and we still have horses that were around when I was 3 years old. I know each as well as I’ve ever known a person. There has never been any alternative shown to me BUT my mom’s actions. She never had to tell me how to care for an animal, just watching her was the best lesson of all. I’m a mom now, and I can only hope to show my daughter as well as my mom showed me.
Your mother sounds like a wonderful woman!
Well, I grew up in the 70′s, and one day my dad brought home a dog. Us girls begged and begged him to let her have just ONE litter of puppies- we wanted them so bad! He refused and insisted that we have her spayed. His reasoning? He grew up on a farm, and one of his most vivid memories was that of his dad drowning 5 of the 8 pups they were unable to find homes for. He told us that if she had puppies, they could very likely end up going to the pound and getting put to sleep.
Common knowledge now, but in the mid 70′s that was very advanced thinking. In fact, most vets recommended letting female dogs have at least one litter in that day and age.
I’m now nearly 40 and have still never had a litter of pups.
To add a little to this, he stressed to us that there was a strong possibility we might not be able to find homes for all the puppies, and that once you fall in love with a puppy, knowing that they are going to die is heartbreaking, and he refused to take that chance.
That’s stuck with me forever.
I think it’s really great that your dad drilled that into you guys from such a young age!
We bred cats when I was a kid, and only bred when we had people already lined-up to take the kittens. My parents were big on talking people into adopting from a shelter before buying a kitten, but they loved their purebreds and my mom’s family had been breeding for generations. Now I have a cat who won best in show at an international cat show as a kitten, he’s the “ideal” for the breed, but he has health problems and we will not breed him and pass those genes along! Even when there are plenty of homes and there’s money to be made (kittens of this breed sell for a minimum $1000 for pet-quality from non-show cats) breeding isn’t always okay! I’m a big supporter of humane societies and small-animal rescues, and all our dogs were rescued mutts!
Always had animals of some sort as a kid – my first pet of my own was a rabbit bought when I was about 5 after threatening that I would write to ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ (TV programme in the UK at that time where kids dreams/wishes were fulfilled) and ask for a rabbit – Mom decided I was serious and bought me a rabbit. I got my first dog of my own at 11 – we had 2 family dogs but this was the first of my own. And I was 18 by the time we got our first horse. Till then I had worked for the few rides I got as a kid and so learnt the ‘you work before you ride’ thing. Now up to 3 horses within the family and I will usually be at the yard sorting them out before going home for my dinner, however we eat before the dogs – it’s a hierachy thing, pack leaders eat first then the lower ranked members, however they are fed right after – this way they can also get any scraps depending on what they are
At the moment vet care, hay etc is a struggle but the animals come first – I’ve gone without to ensure I had enough to feed the horses before now and thats the way it should be, however I have found that non-horsey people don’t always understand – they go ‘well sell the horse then’ – I would and have sold the house before the horse. We moved 120 miles a few years ago to drop our livery bill from £45 a week to £22 a week.
When we bought our first horse my mom was convinced we’d (my sister and I) be fed up of mucking out within a few months – 7 years later and I still enjoy it – I like taking a mess of a bed and making it nice and clean for my mare!
LONG time lurker, finally going to post…
My mom has a chronic illness and she drilled it into us that if she could take care of the animals before herself, we certainly could! When our horses lived at home, I fed every morning before school and every evening before dinner. Mucking, stacking hay, cleaning water troughs- it all got done no matter what! I’m sure I whined a few times but I remember loving it. Seeing my horse healthy and happy was the best reward, and it still is! We also had turtles, lizards, snakes, cats, dogs, mice, and salt and freshwater fish. Two of the cats are still alive- they’re both 19 years old and in great health, and my childhood dog lived to 19 and my horse (who we got free when he was 25 and had COPD) to 32. Some of it’s luck, but some of it’s solid life-long care.
I volunteer as a feeder and rider at the horse rescue across the street from our home and nothing makes me as angry as neglect by owners who clearly had the time and money to do it right, but got lazy or didn’t do their homework! Argh! We have horses who TRUELY need our help, and you’re dumping your horse on us because you don’t want to try harder? F^(k you!
On that note, however, I am grateful to owners who no longer had the time and/or money to keep their horses and are standing there in tears as they sign them over- you guys rock for doing the right thing BEFORE it’s the only option! Your horses get adopted quickly 90% of the time, and as they don’t require rehabbing they’re not a huge drain on our resources, which they would be if you held out too long…
My mom loves cats, so we always had a couple… For the most part they were strays we found and took in, cleaned up, got their shots/all the vet stuff, and they were generally happy with us. One of the best cats we ever found my moms friend found in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Our parents always taught us to be nice and gentle, and if they didn’t, well, the cats often taught us a little bit harsher…
As many times as my parents would tell my little sister not to squeeze the cat, or she got in trouble for it, she never really listened… She was only five, so it wasn’t like she could squeeze him too hard, he just hated it. Then, one day, the cat got his revenge. He would sit on the back of the recliner and jump on her head every time she walked by, and bite her nose, and run away. He managed to bite it so hard once that she still has a very faint scar to this day.
Our parents? “Well, you shouldn’t have squeezed the cat.” And after a couple bites on the nose, believe me, she never did it again.
We also had the most tolerant cats I’ve ever seen when we were a little older though (after this cat had passed away). They were a litter found and hand raised, and they would let us hold them upside down (when they got tired they’d just relax their legs and slip down to the ground), and dress them up and push them around in a baby stroller (actually, most of the time they slept in the baby stroller at night, it was comfy for them I guess), I’d pick one up and wrap it around my neck… We never did anything to hurt them, just a few things that might have made more responsible people uncomfortable.
My father’s family never allowed him any pets (he was an only child) so he tolerated whatever my mother allowed when it came to animals. She had been raised with cats, so I grew up with a house full of indoor/outdoor cats. Like several others here, any time we got scratched or bitten the first question was always, “what did you do to the cat?†When I was finally old enough to get my first horse, (11 or 12) mom asked her father (my grand dad) to have a talk with me. He had been a Stable Seargeant for Black Jack Pershing, prior to the First World War. He had also met Col. Podhajsky during the Second World War, as well as having seen him in the Olympics. Needless to say, when I got done listening (this was not a two way conversation), there was not any doubt about who was responsible for MY horse. It became a fact of life that my horse always got feed before me, and I had better be willing to drink out of his bucket too. Rain or shine, Christmas or Easter, unless I was on my death bed, he was totally my responsibility. Both my girls know this too and I can always count on them to follow thru if something unexpected happens to me. I buy the animal’s food first, they get better health care than I have and their clothes are all top of the line, while I shop at walmart. They get pedicures (no polish please) every six weeks without fail, while I get a pedi maybe twice a year. Today, since it is raining my living room is full of doggy crates, because with the exception of the Pyrenees everybody was shivering so they are all inside till the sun comes out.
I still remember the day that I “forgot” to water the livestock and my mom wouldn’t let me drink anything with dinner. We had mexican food that night. Anyway now I am majoring in Animal Science and Industry.
LOL! Your mom made that point, didn’t she? But I bet your horses don’t colic.
Hi Fugs.
I’m sorry, off topic, but I’d really like to ask your readers for help.
I had sent you the story of the “free pony” back in the fall and the failure who wanted the unbroke filly for their 8 year old daughter’s b-day. Well, free pony did find a new owner (now please understand this filly was NEVER mine, I just tried to help my friend re-home her). New owner apparently didn’t know that horses cost money in board, upkeep and maintainance and now he’s trying to SELL “Free Pony”!
http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-pets-livestock-for-sale-Awesome-Horse-for-sale-W0QQAdIdZ185324743
Is there anyone out there (around the Edmonton area) that can help? I’ve already got 3 rescue mares. Please contact shimmere@live.ca as I have her boarded at my place, still
Thank you!
When I was little, my parents never had to encourage me to care for my pets — I wanted to care for them. I felt so good to make them happy. It was the satisfaction of it, I suppose. My mom actually had to make be lay off the care for my dog — I was giving him TOO many baths! He started to get dry skin! I used my allowance to buy food and other care products for them.
I got my first horse when I was 14. I saved up the money to buy her myself, and I worked off her board by assisting the barn owner (an old family friend) with taking care of her animals (she had all types you could imagine!), and helping her with her other boarders horses. I rode horses who needed exercise for her as well. My horse was definitely the most spoiled horse in the barn. I didn’t show her, but she was always clean and groomed to perfection. Clipped and mane pulled, tail never had knots. In the summer we did a lot of long trail rides and heavy work, and I used my allowance to buy electrolytes to supplement her feed with.
I have never understood the riders who want someone else to tack up/groom their horses…that’s fun time for me. It’s time to laugh and give hugs and scratches. I can’t imagine why you’d want to miss out on that! Besides, if I am the one who tacks my horse up, I KNOW my gear has been put on the right way…
I have another separate note today though…I posted a comment last night about the man who starved the 13 horses to death…well, there’s more bad news in my part of the state today. A totally unrelated case, but it’s just heartbreaking.
http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/83893567.html
Some disgusting examples of human life shot a pregnant mare. My barn owner told me today when I went out to see Jack. They’re saying the owner believes the mare was targeted — I’d love to find out why. I hope the bastards are caught and given the maximum penalty. Or better yet, maybe they will commit suicide like the other man. I really wish people such as that would fall off the face of the earth, because really, who needs assholes like that? Poor horse. It’s like everything bad is going to happen in the horse world in my area this week! People just piss me off.
When I was younger we had to feed the animals before we got any breakfast. I will be eternally in debt for the way my parents taught me to work and care for our horses… all through high school my days started at 3AM so I could make sure the horses got fed, fresh water, and stalls cleaned before school. My parents also taught me about sticking to a schedule and keeping a routine… the horses got fed at 5AM even on the weekends and holidays.
We had a dog when I was really little, and from what I was told, we weren’t supposed to have him, and he was taken away from us by the pound. (I guess we were reported?) I remember he looked like Benji, and his name was Max. Anyways, we didn’t get another dog till I was about 11 years old. Her name was Pepper, and she was a border collie mix. She was very smart! My father was the first to show me what animal cruelty was. I had never been taught responsibility for animals, but I knew what he did was wrong nonetheless…. He wouldn’t give her fresh food, or water. I used to pick the maggots out of her food, in the hopes that she would eat it if I took them out. ( I vaguely remember being “scolded” for trashing her food and giving her fresh food. So I was afraid to give her fresh food.) One day we went for a walk, and she say a squirrel or something and was trying to chase it, she kept pulling on the least, making my dad mad, so he proceeded to pick her up by her collar, her body hanging, and tried to choke her with her own collar! I remember yelling at him, telling him to put her down. I’m sure I got beat for that too. It was a thing of coincidence that the day she was hit by a car and killed, he died of a massive heart attack. I now have 2 cats and a horse, and I provide all of the care for them, unless I cannot make it to the barn, then my co-workers care for my horse. I had to teach myself about cats, but the internet is a powerful tool for learning! I’m still learning!
My mom, upon me cleaning my rat cage: “I thank you and Snowflake thanks you.”
I have said it before an I will say it again, I was not a particularity reliable pet owner until I was 18 and got my first pet bird. Mom had to nag me a great deal to clean up, feed and water, etc. I’m sure it drove her nuts. I wasn’t deliberately neglectful, thinking back on it it really feels like I was having memory problems (pet care wasn’t the only thing I forgot about, homework was a huge problem for me, and I would also forget about things I enjoyed, meeting up with friends at the movies or what book I was going to buy at the bookstore etc). I don’t know why I had problems or why they stopped, maybe my brain needed to mature more. Maybe my problem were normal for my age, I don’t know. It was a good thing my mom was on top of the pet care in our house or rat cages might never have been cleaned and the high-energy dog never walked. She would nag me to death until I did it.
Oddly enough pet care was the one thing I didn’t fight with Mom about, probably because I realized that her nagging me about it was completely correct. Anything else, expect a huge blow up!
My parents are cat owners, they like how low maintenance they are I think. They were the ones who taught me that neutered pets are easier to deal with. Mom didn’t want to have to deal with litters of kittens or spraying toms, and she told me so fairly often. Keeping the cats UTD on shots and other assorted aspects of pet care are in her opinion a matter of convenience, a healthy animal requires less care and is less messy and more pleasant to deal with then a sick one.
I remember one time begging Mom for a horse, she came back a week later and started going through all things a horse would need and why she didn’t want to afford it. I remember that she had actually priced out what farrier care would cost every month. Keep in mind, she knew NOTHING about horses and, in fact, is scared to death of them! I think she might have called around to some of the boarding stables in the area and talked to a barn manager or trainer to get a good handle on what horse ownership involves. She put her foot down and said No, at the time I was greatly disappointed but now I realize she made the right decision. Instead I got shipped off to horse camp on the weekends three or four times a year.
I want to add, when I was 16 I started volunteering with my local zoo’s birds of prey program. I think that really helped me learn how to be responsible (as well as to develop an iron stomach, raptors are fed rats, mice, day old chicks, and even the occasional hamster and rabbit, we didn’t have to kill them, but we did have to chop them up!) Having someone other then Mom or Dad teach a kid about animal care sometimes sticks better IMO. It’s easy to learn how to tune out Mom, but when one of the Staff tells you to straighten up you do so fast!
I board at a jumper barn, and one girl who used to be there comes back for shows occasionally which everyone dreads. She steals stuff you loan her out of her tack box, leaves her horses with saddle sweat stains on them, and flips out whenever she gets mud on her. Her mother is no better – they hoard horses and keep breeding their mares, even though they can barely afford rent. They do send in the foals for proper training but they could defiantly go without showing. My barn is very friendly and most everyone hates how she bitches about how the younger kids can’t ride and are annoying even though they are only young. She also blames her horses for loosing events and shows way out of her league. her mother always pushes her as she can’t show the horses making her really sour about riding, and making everyone that rides with her want to dig their ears out with a rusty spoon.
I grew up living next to my family’s dairy farm, so I knew from the very beginning that animals needed daily care. As we used to say, “The cows can’t milk themselves.” We also used to say that the cows got better care than us kids
We always had dogs and cats and birds and sometimes fish growing up. Picking up dog doodoo was always a “kid chore” so me and my brother became pros at it. When we got our puppy, a male yellow lab (not the smartest of the littler, but definitely the one with the biggest heart) I learned ALL about puppy care, I even went to all the dog training classes that my mom took. And let me tell you, he was not an easy puppy. He chewed through a wall and a door, dug up our entire back yard, and everytime we’d go to a doggy park (still to this day) he put on the moves to every pretty dog in his sight (thank god he’s neutered). He was destructive for a while, but eventually grew out of it. It was then that his medical issues started to surface. He developed an allergy to dog food. Yep thats right, my dog is allergic to dog food. And he has extremelly sensitive skin. That’s what you get when you buy an overbred breed from a breeder without having any knowledge of overbreeding issues. I learned patience, responsibility, the basics of dog training, and how to be flexible and love him despite his issues.
I guess I was taught to love by looking past the flaws. Out dogs takes so make extra accomidation to stay healthy because he has so many allergies, but it doesn’t matter because he gets the best care possibly, he’s spoiled more than you can imagine (he has his own futon because he doesn’t fit on regular dog beds and he can’t sleep on the ground because of way too sensitive skin), and he’s more loved than any other big yellow dog named Cabo haha.
I can’t stand seeing friends or family who treat their animals badly. I was brought up in a home where the animals were a part of the family, and it’s weird seeing when other people treat them like they’re not.
Lol, sounds like our cat! Like I said in my post above, he won everything as a kitten and young adult and is the perfect example of his breed, but his parents were a little too closely related…
He gets bathes every week at least once, eyes and ears cleaned twice a day, rubbed with baby oil because his skin dries out otherwise, his teeth brushed , his claws cleaned, and he has his own twin bed with a down comforter and a heated bed by his favorite window because he can’t maintain his own body temp! But we love taking care of him, and his personality is so great it totally makes up for everything else!
At a hunter barn I was once at, if your horse came in ungroomed, you had to get off and brush it in the middle of the arena so everyone knew you hadn’t! The trainer who came up with that is a genius.
LOVE that!
Brilliant! I knew of a coach who found out one of her students hadn’t been picking out her horse’s feet before OR after lessons (thank God this was a lesson horse and there was more than one person riding this horse in a week, so its feet weren’t always neglected). Anyway, trainer got mad and put pebbles in student’s boots and made her ride like that.
That’s an AWESOME rule. I love it.
My mother taught my brother and I about good responsible animal ownership. We’d always had pets, all our dogs diedf old age or were PTS when they got to that point. I got my first dog when I was 7 and I had to clean the backyard every week, I had to pay for mogs food (the good stuff not any old rubbish) out my pocket money, I had to book her into the vet myself, I took her to dog training classes every Sunday, I had to groom her thoroughly at least once a week and I did chores around the house to earn pocket money to pay for her.
We also rescued several gs from people who lived down the road from us that frequently starved, beat and left their doout care. I’ll alwa remember a tiny pupy no older than 4 weeks crawling out under a gap in the fence following us home, he was covered in fl they were en his eyes his little tummy was swollen and sore. We took him to the vet, paid for his treatment and got the vet to to rehome him and never did say anything to the owners when they came looking for him.
I was 12 when I got my first horse, a rescue. I had to clean the paddock out every week and be there every day rain hail or shine to feed him. I had to groom and take care of him, clean his gear etc. I don’t think I ever forgot anything failed to do something for my pets – I was WAY too scared of hurting them like that poor puppy. My mother and grandfather always told me since tinthat if I didn’t do everything to care for my animals properly they could die and it would be my fault for not doing the right things.
Now I a daughter who is nearly 3. She’s learned right from infancy about animals, she’s learned to be gentle handling them, I’ve taught her to NEVER EVER pat somebody’s animal without asking the owner first. She’s grown up watching the farrier trim the horse’s hooves, the dentist come for their teeth, the vet come for any ailments or us taking them to the vet, she’s learned that you must be gentle because if you’re rough with animals you hurm and tthey bite (we have ferrets) she has been helping me muck out stables and fill water troughs since she could walk, she’s been attempting to help me lead the horses or groom them and clean out their feet but because she’s still so tiny she must just pass the right equipment to me to do it, she knows to keep well away from the horses unless I’m holding her hand or have her up. She knows she has to wear a helmet to have a ride, she helps me mix up feeds every morning, and then helpes put the feeds out ready for the horses – and she’s seen the procession of starving, neglected horses that come here to be fixed up.
She has a favourite Teddy and I have had my heart filled with joy to walk in on her playing, making feed for Teddy, pretending to clean Teddy’s teeth, clip his nails and when Teddy was sick she borrowed an empty dropper so she could give him medicine to make him better. She also takes Teddy for walks and pats him and tells him he’s a “Good Boy” all without prompting – just playing what she sees going on around her.
She also suprised the lady at the check out when we were shopping and told the lady that the toothpaste we were buying was a wormer for the horse! Well, they ARE simularly packaged LOL
Ack! Is there any ‘edit’ option? The amount of typos in my post is awful!
My daddy didn’t care for the animals that he forced on my mom. They were toys to him. He would bring them home like a reward or gift for me (some wanted and some not) and never take care of them. My mother who did not even like animals was left carry buckets of water to the horses who lived in horrid conditions (but I did not know that then) because the property was not set up for horses. I was only 6 and only weighed 35 lbs but I loved the pony. I was not taught anything but how to sit on a pony. My daddy (most likely my mother) fed the horse and pony, but there was no cleaning or mucking and i don’t remember any grooming. My mother had no interest or experience and my daddy just did not consider it important.
My pony regularly jumped the fence to get away and eat grass in the neighbors’ yards and gardens. I don’t remember him being injured, but it was barbed wire so it would be shocking if he wasn’t injured. I came home from school one day and he was gone. I was told he went back to the trainer who sold him to my daddy. I am sure it was the luckiest day of his life.
I once received and English Setter for my birthday. She was not spade, but, my daddy thought that it was good idea to lock her in th crawl space under the house when she was in heat. He took her hunting and lost her. Maybe she was lucky too. Maybe she was not lost but ran as far from him as possible. We always had dogs but the yard was never fenced and they would get run over or just disappear. They never went to a vet or got shots.
When I was about 20 years old I was given a Cairn Terrier (not by my parents) and I learned to care for him and kept him until he died at 17. I took riding lessons at a really good barn for 2 years as an adult before I ever bought a horse. Then I boarded my horse. I put forth a lot of effort to care for my animals and it isn’t because I learned it from my family. I wish it was.
My parent du Jour was my father, the rocket scientist (really – he worked for NASA) .
I came out of the womb saying “horse”, which frightened my parents to no end; my mother was raised an indulged upper MC daughter, my Dad was raised in a fairly rural environment in Camarillo. At 15, my Dad recognized the wisdom of getting me a horse, to keep me out of trouble (which I was exploring…)
So, He dealt with me with mutual respect as a responsible human, and wrote a contract that I had to sign and live to, in order to have a horse. To this day I think it was a complete stroke of brilliance on his part.
Our contract was this (signed by both parties and in force for no less than 2 years):
Initial investment by Dad – $1,000 (1978)
2 year commitment by Dad – $90 / month
Any costs above and beyond (barring emergencies) to be born by me (and he found and bought a SCARY $500 horse trailer..a bit beyond the contract…)
If I sold the horse prior to the 2 years, I had to repay him the initial $1,000.
We found Westfall Corkey, a foundation Poco Bueno 4 year Gelding that TAUGHT ME EVERYTHINg for $800.
I bought a cheapy barrel saddle, plus some add’l tack for about $400. (I had some savings from chores)
Found boarding for $75/mo – shoeing at that time was $26.
I got a part time job immediately; rode every day for 2 years, walking or bicycling to the barn; got tossed a bunch, read everything I could get my hands on; finally got a job at a Burbank tack store (more info from some of the greats from the Paddock , prior to the LAEC!) and kept that horse until I let him go at 33 years.
I have told this story to people with kids who need their passions supported. I cannot appreciate my father enough for having the wisdom for structuring such a success story and influencing my life.
I hope there are still some readers this late in the day who might consider this approach for their own children – no matter what their passion. I felt important, adult and respected the way My father handled me (and Corkey! RIP!)
I don’ really remember many lectures about animal care, and I do remember scary things I did to animals- the look on the cat’s face when I tried to put a makeshift lead on him is burned in my head forever. He’s forgiven me now, though. My parents did all of the work, I just fed the dogs when I was told to do it which wasn’t often, and I spent long hours ‘training’ the saintly basset.
On the other hand, any vomit was my responsibility since I was the only one who didn’t get sick when confronted with it, and I did a lot of the ‘gross’ stuff and dealt with the more ill-tempered chickens. There was never any question of giving animals away, or keeping them for any less than their full lifespan, or not giving them vet care. We didn’t even get that people did things like that. The only animal we rehomed was a stray dog who killed our chickens, and even then we kept him until we found a good home.
I discovered a great method of teaching kids exactly how to befriend animals, which is to send them to the grandparent’s house to stay, where they have the dog who truly loathes kids and will attempt to kill them. I’m now quite good with vicious dogs, I even managed to win that one over though she still bit the other kids.
It was mainly teaching by example. For example, my mom is very afraid of spiders, as so many people are. One of my abiding memories is of her pulling a spider out of the sink and carefully putting it outside the window with her bare hands. She knew that no matter how scared of it she was or how ugly it was, it wasn’t the spider’s fault and it didn’t deserve to die- one of the best lessons for kids, I think.
I then took that lesson and attempted to beat it into the head of other kids I encountered. I got into serious trouble in primary school while trying to champion an earwig. It was always ‘pets are part of the family’, too: there was never a huge distinction drawn between the humans and the animals, except that the humans had to be responsible. All of us had to be well treated, none of this “it’s just a dog” stuff.
I was raised on a dairy farm so animals of many sorts abound. I can remember having 35 cats at one time. They were an important part of the farm. My parents led by example that animals were to be cared for before ourselves. Dogs were part of the social scheme of things and usually 2 or more were part of the family. Both my parents were “animal” people. When I did get a horse it was many years after the farm life had left us but I cannot remember any of us kids ever not showing compassion for any of our pets. Don’t know if it was taught but more likely nurtured into our being. I have instilled that very thought process into my own children. We have animals (cats, dogs and horses. 2 of each). I couldn’t tell you how I taught them. It just happens.
Where I live now I am appalled by how people treat their “pets”. I would much rather if they would just let them run loose than to keep them tied or penned up. So many are out side freezing (right now) in substandard conditions it makes me sick. I cannot make too much noise about things or my own may suffer at the hands of some psycho poisoning my cats or dogs. Way too many creepy people here. When I mention I grew up on a dairy farm they tell me it was “glorified” farming. Apparently when things are kept neat, clean, and well tended to it, it is referred to being “frue-frue” and not recognized as real farming. They have no clue to animal husbandry. No body neuters or spays. They are all dumb asses. Even the vets work for their own best interest, not that of the animals.
I keep my horses at a remote farm where only the farm owner and immediate neighbors know about them. They are not visible from the road. I cannot trust people here. There are people not far from here that have horses in squallier conditions, but because they have a scroungy round bale outside they are within the perimeters of the law. Shelter is not a necessity here if there are trees around.
I really need to move so I can regain my sanity….people make me sick!
I know what you’re talking about the psycho neighbors! My mom turned in the drug dealer down the road. He had 5 or 6 pittbull rottweiler mixes. The drug dealer often caught raccoons, opossums, and cats in live traps and threw them to his dogs. I can still remember my mom crying because we could hear them at our house. He was gone for weekend doing god knows what and Mom called animal control because all the dogs were skin and bone but it was also in the middle of winter. Two dogs were frozen to the ground. But anyhow two of our four dogs got poised when the drug dealer came back home and two of our three cats came up missing. Then in the spring we don’t know if he did it on purpose of if his new dogs got of their chain but they ripped apart our rabbit hutches and killed most of our rabbits and their newborns. We also lost countless chickens but my pony and our two remaining dogs where in well built pens. My dad shot two dogs and hit one. Then the drug dealer came down to our house to chew us out and my dad set him straight! The drug dealer then moved far away very soon after. (You just don’t mess with an ex-green beret family or pets!) The sad thing is my dad was so upset about shooting the dogs because it wasn’t their fault! But anyhow be careful and good luck!
Ug, that’s horrible. One of my childhood friends had her dog shot by a neighbor, they weren’t home when in happened so they didn’t know which neighbor did it, but apparently they thought the dog was ‘too noisy’. To keep the other dogs from being shot my friend’s mom had the other two de-voiced. Horrible.
You have to be SO careful with people like this. My grandma lived in a remote area in Southern Oregon and her neighbors were a true-to-life hillbilly clan. Whenever one of the kids would get old enough to start having babies, they would just park another old singlewide trailer somewhere on the property and raise a whole new brood of ignorant, cruel, drug addled, welfare suckers. There were several generations living there, and around seven separate residences. Anyway, my grandma found a meth lab in her barn one day and turned it into the police (she didn’t use her barn). The police traced it back to one of these neighbors and he was arrested. He later came back with some relatives and shot my grandma in her house. She survived, barely. This was in the late 80′s. He and his cohorts in crime went to prison, but my grandma had to move out of state and change her name because the clan would try to run her off the road and/or threaten her whenever they saw her.
I now live nearer to this location than I would like. I try not to think about it. But our town is so small that I’m bound to run into them at the grocery store some day. I try not to think about it.
People like this are truly scary!
VERY scary. And that stuff is explosive – she could have been killed!
My parents were pretty strict. We were in a very warm client, with the summers reaching 110 or so. When they found the water empty one day, they wouldn’t let my brother or I have anything to drink the next day. The kept track of us to make sure we weren’t getting severely dehydrated, and we both learned a message. When my brother forgot to feed the horses one night, the next night we were sent to bed without dinner. They thought the best way to teach us was to let us experience it ourselves. M dad told us we wouldn’t understand how hungry the horses were, unless we went hungry ourselves.
I grew up on a hog farm in a VERY rural area ( the town population was under 800 at the time). I often got up with my dad at 5 am to check and feed the hogs. Even though we raised hogs for meat my parents treated them with respect and kindness. I think that is my biggest pet peeve is treating animals we eat poorly just because “they are going to die anyway” WTF! I owe it to my parents and grandparents for my deep love of animals of all shapes and sizes! Both my grandpas loved horses! Papa bought a run down horse that was a sack of bones and standing in a small dirt lot. He got him back into shape in a few weeks. My other grandpa beat the crap out of a guy for hitting a pair of pulling ponies in the head repeatedly with a beer bottle for not pulling the sled that was to heavy for them. My mom saved goats that were a starving and had over grown hooves. That doesn’t even count 1/3 of the animals that they saved. So I don’t just have my parents to thank for teaching me to cherish animals but also my grandparents! I got lucky! 3 generations of animal lovers!
My parents used to breed Persians (before I was born) and we’ve always had cats in the house. I was never given a specific lecture on animal care or anything, but my parents were always sure to set a good example. When we got our first dog, we had to switch off chores (feeding, walking, etc.). We now have 2 dogs, 3 cats, and 15 horses and they are all treated with nothing but love and respect. Even if sick, injured, etc. chores get done properly, daily.
I don’t remember my mom actually saying “be kind to animals”. My Grandparents had a dairy farm and I can remember a bunch of cats in the barn, they were all spayed or neutered via the farm vet, right there in the barn. If a new one showed up pregnant my Grampa would bring it to the screen porch to be out of the weather until the kittens were old enough to be on their own. My mom rescued dogs and when I was about 3 or 4 it was my job to brush them. I do remember watching her, 9 months pregnant, hotter than hades outside and she was out there cleaning kennels, giving them fresh water, checking for injury, feeding them. There was no such thing as a “day off” for animal care. I guess I learned by example. Oh there were always the admonishments “don’t pull her ears, “leave his tail alone” but mostly the adults in my life were kind to animals, cared for them first and would not tolerate someone abusing or neglecting an animal.
I grew up on a farm – chickens actually – but I was blessed with parents who believed that safety was always first regardless of what sport you did.
For us it was Pony club – and I have become a firm believer in the power of pony club. I love the safety aspect that is drilled into the kids, the excellent testing levels and the club atmosphere.
I tell all potential rider wanna bees to check out their local pony club before they buy a horse. You dont need to have one to be a member and learn tons before taking the plung into equine ownership.
I agree. Three important things I learned from Pony Club are (1) always put the horse’s needs, physical AND emotional, before your own, (2) safety first, and (3) learn how to do it yourself! My husband always gets mad at me when he sees me carrying a saddle over one arm, with a girth and several saddle pads draped over it and a brush tray in that hand, and a bridle over my other shoulder, boots held between my arm and ribs, and a bucket filled with polo wraps and helmet in that hand, waddling and clunking from the tack room to the horse trailer. He’s always like “you know, you CAN ask me to carry something for you.” My response is always “hey, I was a Pony Club kid, I’ve been doing it like this since I was 12 and asking for help will only slow me down!”
dad ownes a small boarding barn now and always tell us – you can always judge a persons character by the way they treat their animals.
Posting OT, and I apologize in advance. (Maybe not too OT, this is a good thing) I have a friend who is involved in a group that encourages organizing community events and fundraisers. She has decided to do a trail ride fundraiser this spring and wants to donate all procedes to a local equine rescue. Anyone know any good, legitimate rescues in the Cincinnati area? I know of several but am having trouble finding one that isn’t pumping out babies from every mare, etc., this is FHOTD so I don’t have to describe the type. If anyone on here can recomend one we will check them out. You can email me contact info at cowgirlup12203@aol.com Thanks!
Check out the Kentucky Equine Humane Center, near Lexington, KY. http://www.kyehc.org Very much on the up-and-up, all-breed rescue that also trains/works their rescues. They do get a predominance of TBs in due to the location, but it is indeed an all-breed rescue.
Like several others here, I am a long time lurker, first time poster. This is a great topic and one I wish that more people would read if they want to get their children pets. I was born in 1959 and was put on a horse immediately upon being brought home from the hospital…. so my love for horses and animals in general was ingrained at an early age, lol! My parents grew up with horses and household pets (my Dad was born in Arizona in 1929 and rode horses as a form of transportation daily) and made sure that my sister and I always had pets and horses to grow up with and I remember from an early age being taught how to properly care for them and the consequences that came from not following the rules (though THOSE times were very few and far between).
As my sister and I grew up and our horses evolved to show quality, I remember working well into the night before a show washing horses, cleaning tack, packing the trailer and making sure that we always had our horses needs taken care of well before our own. My parents were VERY supportive of our horse and pet goals, but made sure that WE took care of everything and that we found ways to pay for it, (not to mention keeping our grades up in school). My sister and I worked part-time jobs, stayed in school and always, ALWAYS took care of our animals (from getting up to feed and water animals at 5am EVERY DAY to walking a colicky horse at 2am waiting for the vet) to making sure that my horse was properly taken care of before letting my sister take me to the hospital after I almost severed my thumb off.
My parents were always on hand to help take us to shows or take care of the animals of we were at an overnight one and we learned so much from them. My dad was a BIG bear of a guy with an extremely gentle heart. I never once saw him get angry with any animal and he had an amazing touch with horses. We always thought that nothing could ever get him mad, but we were wrong. One of the most vivid memories I have from a show came from my Dad. We were at an open show and were waiting to hear about the high point awards when we heard a shout and a lady screaming at a man who was hitting his horse with a bat. We had watched this bozo all day, typical backyard trainer with a bevy of “hangers on” try to get through a class without his horses blowing up. I remember thinking about how to stop him when my Dad got up from the bleachers,and ran over to where this altercation was taking place. He picked this asshat up off the ground and threw him about 10 feet away from the horse, then picked up the bat and stood over the guy while he was on the ground and the owners got the horse away from the scene. Throughout this whole thing he never said a word, he didn’t have to. He was always a protector, whether it was for his fellow troops in the service, his family or the animals around him. Both he and my mom have since passed away, but the lessons they both instilled in us about how to treat animals and people in general are still practices we both live by today.
I just re-red the part about my thumb. I meant that I wouldn’t let me sister take me to the hospital until after my mare was taken care of, NOT my parents LOL! They weren’t home at the time and met us at the hospital and chewed me out because I lost a lot of blood while taking care of said mare…… LOL!
Glad to see you lurkers coming out to play! Really, we’re very nice here – just (a) take care of your animals and (b) try not to say anything TOO off the wall regarding your personal beliefs on non-horsey issues.
Your parents sound great. Your dad was my kind of guy! I would have paid to see him throw that dude!
Yes, my dad was something else, LOL! Both of my parents started my sister and I off well with our animals, but we have kept it up for almost 50 years. Both my sister and I ended up in the horse business as a profession in one form or another, I have been a trainer, judge and professional announcer for most of my adult life and kept many of the horses that I started out showing with me for their entire lives. I lost my last original mare 2 years ago, she was 35 years old and I bought her when she was 2. To me there is no question as to how my animals are treated, they are my responsibility 24/7 and they are the loves of my life.
Wow, I just have to say that your parents really do sound like they were great people.
OT
but just curious if any BC locals are interested in taking a FREE registered TB mare. Saw this ad on Castanet.net
http://classifieds.castanet.net/showproduct.php/product/631933/cat/14
Dearly wish i could help this mare out. Hopefully someone can pick her up and give her a home.
I remember when I was quite young, perhaps 5 or 6, I saw an uncle telling his dog off for running away.
Except he was doing this by grabbing it’s ear, wrenching it back making it yelp.
Obviously at that age I was quite impressionable, so I thought I’d go home and try it on my dog. A HUGE Japanese Akita, fighting dogs, who probably could have killed me if she tried (worst she ever did was snap at flies thank goodness).
I did it when the parents weren’t around, so I obviously knew it wasn’t the right thing to do.
And you know what? I felt SO DAMNED GUILTY afterwards, for doing that to her, it haunted me for ages and ages.
I’m not sure I was ever ‘taught’ about responsible pet ownership, but definitely must have absorbed something… But I guess my story just goes to show you how kids really are monkey-see monkey-do.
I’m just thankful I had enough compassion at that age to realise that what I did was wrong, and I know it’s stuck with me for life.
I worked at the Animal Welfare League for a while, and have had some parents come in, with kids in tow, who I’ve just wanted to SLAP. (The parents and the kids mind you). There’s definitely a difference between the people ‘surrendering’ animals and those looking to adopt, that’s for sure.
I was fortunate enough to grow up on a dairy farm where all animals were well-cared for, healthy and happy. It wasn’t explained to me as a child in terms of comassion for the animals so much as the animals were a business investment. If they weren’t well cared for there was no money to be made off of them. Grandpa tried to make it all sound like business but I saw the way he looked at those cute little babies… We never had indoor animals, and up until recently I never was one to keep an indoor pet. That is until my sister’s cute little puppy grew up into a 200lb English Mastiff and she dumped him on me. With no prior experience with dog care I just applied my horse care methods and adjusted them for an indoor dog. They are as follows:
Diesel gets premium dog food and I eat Ramen Noodles
Diesel gets his own couch and I stay scrunched up on the loveseat
Deisel has his own half of the bed and my half when he pushes me off of it
Diesel gets regular vet visits and I duct taped a broken finger
My friends tell me my dog is too spoiled and I let him get away with too much; I say go to hell
He is always happy to see me, always cheers me up when I’m in a bad mood and always has a kiss for me, even if he just got done licking his butt. How can anyone not appreciate that?
when i was younger which wasnt long ago, my parents always told me that if i want to have a pet i had to take care of it. my first pet was my pony coco. i was only eight years old but twice a day you would find me in the barn cleaning her stall or grooming her. when i turned ten i lost interst and when my parents put coco forsale i got my act together and have since learned my leason. at twelve coco went to a good home and i got panama. he is an old man now at 36 and he will always be loved and well cared for.
My mum taught me the best lesson of my life… A typical child all I wanted to do on my horse was gallop flat out! I hated walking it was boring and trotting wasnt to far behind that. I just wanted to canter or gallop all the time with no consideration for my poor horse. My ma sorted me out though she filled my school bag full of books to make it heavy and made me run laps around our house with it on my back she watched me the whole time and threatened me with a hiding whenever I slowed down…I was so tired…just like my poor horse and when she let me finish she told me how lucky I was that my bag wasnt kicking me in the guts. It taught me empathy and that my horse was not a machine. Hats off to my mum she was a smart and considerate woman who taught her kid the lesson the only way she would learn.
well i really didint learn much from my parents my mother used to punish the dog by hanging him until he passed out or keeping him locked in a cage 24 and a half hours a day only out to use the bathroom most the time and she wondered why he didint like people but still thanks to my parents mostly my mother i have my love of animals. you see my mom was a alcoholic with bi polor. she NEVER took her meds and would have severe mood swings i was usually the one who had to deal with it or as my dad called it “wore the black hat” i remember 6yrs old she got mad at me for agreeing with my dad she was drunk out of her mind and threw me out i had to sleep in the alley in north milwaukee between two garages at 6yrs old my only friend a great dane who was my world curled up with me. he kept me safe and warm. after he died there was a great dane named ice i remember locking myself and him in a room when my mother decided he wasent good enough to show and he had to die so she could get a show dog. i wasent going to let that happen he was my world we didint go to school( mom pulled me and my sister out when the school started asking about abuse) we had no friends ice was it he was everything to me. i played with him when my mother was asleep she spent alot of time passed out and my dad wasent around much if she were awake he wasent allowed out of the crate because he blocked the tv screen etc.i remember as a kid tying a cape around his neck and riding my bike pretending to be super heros.lol.and like pirate he watched over me when i would end up on the street. i truly belive having a bond with them like that is what gave me my love of animals now. except i seem to only really be able to get along with animals not people i still only really have animals as friends so yes i can atleast thank my mom for that.i guess in a wierd way i am broken but thats ok i like it that way
Sometimes parents are great examples of what not to do, and lots of us like animals better than people, even those who were raised in great homes. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you. My guess is you’ll find plenty of friends among fellow animal lovers if you haven’t already. I’d recommend doing some volunteer work for a good shelter if you have trouble meeting people in real life.
I think the hardest thing for me with my parents, even though they did teach us responsibility, is that my parents were from another generation and a much different one. They were young parents, but my mom was raised near a man who took the OTTBs and trained them for other jobs, the other neighbor raised and trained exotic animals for the movies. They were both her ‘uncles’ and she was raised in a rural area and in a generation where barbed wire was acceptable, and helmets weren’t worn. She applied that to us.
We had a barbed wire fence for our horses when I grew up, and my brother and I never wore helmets. I grew up in very rural Arizona, where no one had panels, and they couldn’t even be bought at any of the tack shops. Luckily our horses were always very smart, and didn’t run into the fences. The first horse my parents bought was a 26 year old been there done that show horse. He was a quarter horse and morgan named Cheyanne, and was shown in some type of event that requires tricks, I can never remember what. He had been there and done that and never was excited, which helped him to break in my brother and I, in Kindergarten and First grade respectively. He even managed with my father, who had never been on a horse. The first time my dad was riding him, he ended up falling off. Cheyanne always stopped and waited when someone fell, and did the same, even nudging my dad while he figured out that he was on the ground to make sure my father was fine.
The next horse was a paint with a very bad right front leg. She had been a show horse as well, very beautiful, and probably bred. She was abandoned on our property by a friend that was ‘only keeping her a week at tops’. A week turned into never returning, so we kept her. My mom had a farrier out that retired in our town after a fulfilling career in Scotland doing the jumping horses shoes. He did our horses and gave the horsecorrective shoes that kept her from being in too much pain. When I turned 15, my grandma wanted to give me a quincenara. I didn’t want one, and never was into being the center of attention, so I asked for a horse instead. I got a nice 16h quarter horse that was my dream horse. He was a rodeo horse in a past life and didn’t handle new riders well, but he was a dream after I convinced him a tap to the ribs didn’t mean run like hell. He was given to a friend of ours by my parents when I left for college (without me knowing), a 80+ year old man that had a ranch. He still dotes on the horse and loves riding him to check cattle, as the horse will cut cows even if the rider is a newbie that holds onto the saddlehorn the entire time.
Unfortunately, I feel guilty about one thing – I’m pretty certain the Cheyanne and the other horse and donkey were sent to an auction at the same time my horse was given away. My mom honestly doesn’t know that there are kill buyers, and I fear that an old horse, a lame horse, and a donkey that’s afraid of people (except for me) went straight down to Mexico. It’s heartbreaking for me to think about, and I feel so guilty. I haven’t told my mom what the certain fate of the horses were, because I know she’ll feel guilty too. I was always the person that handled the animals. I worked for a vet when I was 14 until I left for college. My brother never was held accountable for animals, and I wonder about how we turned out. I’m responsible and do the best I can, and my brother can’t keep a job, doesn’t think of others, and never really behaves. I was the one that buried the animals when they died. Me and my dad. I was also the one that asked for animals, and we had chickens, rabbits, the horses, dogs, cats, 2 green iguanas, a cockatiel, conure, rat, guinea pig, and more. My brother would aquire animals then not feed them, and I’d inherit them. That continues into adulthood with him abandoning pets at my parents house and them giving them to me and my husband. We take care of our animals, he takes the brunt since I’m disabled. We have hermit crabs that have lived 4 years, much to the shock of the pet store (hermit crabs are considered ‘throw away animals’ and are another rant entirely) and he feeds and waters the dog and cat. He is the most caring man, and I have a feeling that, just like with the pets, I”ll be the disciplinarian if we have kids.
Sorry this is so long, I had to air my guilt and crime with the sending animals to slaughter thing. I feel guilty every time I read this blog.
There were always animals around when I was growing up. My mom has this cute story about how I learned to walk: I held onto Snooky, a white poodle, as she walked me around. We’ve kept dogs that have come with houses and cats that wander by.
I was eight when our family got its first horse, my aunt rescued Buddy, 17 hands 3 y/o, bright red TB and sent him down to us because of the horrible trainers where he was at. He saw my Pop and had a total fear response: shakes sweat eyes rolling back but all 4 feet locked on the ground. We had him for a year before Witch, I mean Lady. I’d like to call her mine but I know my mom rode her every day.She was the epitome of alpha mare. 13 hands and maresy year around the first 15 min of riding her was spent trying to not being rubbed of on the fence. After that she would go for hours, in the field. There was no chance of anyone but my mom controlling her in the open. We got as far as we could with Buddy in the Three years we had him: wasn’t scared of men, I could safely lead him on walks, he would take a saddle with no issue (apparently the Sacramento definition of greenbroke is way different from the central valley, as soon as you cinched Buddy and stepped away he would flip…the trainer said that was normal. At nine I was crying Bullsh*t.) Buddy was sold to a trainer and we got (and still have) Sugar.
We had our mistakes, I learn a painful lesson with my dog and Buddy. Pretzel started trying to run Buddy away when people were out there (protect the people), so we had to chain her before feeding the horses. My friend was visiting so I asked her to chain pretzel while I got hay (I always feed in the evenings). My friend didn’t. Pretzel came out to run Buddy off, scared the horse and my dogs back got broken. My Pop had to shoot her. I had to explain this to a friend years later when I went behind her and checked the gates: I trust you, but I’m still going to double check.
There have been times (like female cats propensity to just ‘know’ when you’ve made their spay appt.) that somethings go wrong (to my dogs: the fence is not a challenge of your escape abilities). But taking care of the animals was never a question, except I wasn’t aware of how often some horses need the farrier. I giggle when I think about Hatty’s first visit. I had Ray look at Sugars hooves and he asked me if I wanted her to have a pedicure, ’cause she didn’t need a trim. When I said she hadn’t been trimmed in 6 months (with riding 2-3x a week), he said if there were horses like this he’d be out of a job.
I, honestly, didn’t understand how bad people could be to horses until I bought BooBoo. We had Hatty and Sugar, but I was not going to put my little boy up on either of them (to untrained and, even at 20 just too much horse). So I went hunting for a horse/pony that was a anyone can ride type. There were some truly evil ponies, ‘broke’ horses that didn’t listen to cues and well, I’ve taken lessons, I have horses, I halter trained a yearling mustang, really I know what I’m looking for.
Found BooBoo with a guy who trained horses for sheriffs mounted units, he also retrained and rehabbed abused horses. The ad said something like: 12 y/o gelding, easy going ranch horse $2500. I called and asked if he would put his grandchild up on this horse he said ‘she is riding him right now.’ Now BooBoo is an absolutely FUGLY horse his head neck back and butt do not match and (tho I love him) he is dumb, he just is NOT what you think of wanting in a horse. We bought him, bought my son a helmet and after I rode him for 2 weeks almost uneventful weeks. He has bumps on his nose from a tie down with a rebar nose piece, white lines and tearduct issues from a too small fly mask and was terrified of lung whips in hand (but lungs without it just fine.)
I put the 5 y/o of him. Reins in hand, lead line attached and BooBoo was taking every command From The Boy. Which is really cute considering Boo is 15 hh and worth his weight in gold. The tiedown reason became very clear: he has a very sensitive mouth, head goes up when it hurts. He gets schooled in a snaffle, ridden in a bosel head down totally relaxed.
After Boo came other rescues, it has been decided that BooBoo, Penny and Sophie have been through enough and when the 2 broodmare are done having babies (likely next year, even with the bad econ, these 2 aren’t young. Even with that breeding Sophie is a maybe. Penny has OMG babies.) they will be ridden and make manure.
But, yeah, there is never a question of care, good dog food, cat food, hay, suppliments. Which, by the way learned something new: I’ve never stabled a horse so I had no idea that stable bales are 150-200lbs, I just got a retrever load and went to move some.)
AND to brighten everyone’s day: when nosy neighbors are encouraged: The in the rescue situation that Penny came from the ex son in law took in the 80+ horses that his mother in law was hoarding and breeding. Two pens appox 40 horses each 1 bale per pen, these horses looked bad. Son in law called animal control after his mom in law called and said that AC was going to take her horses in 2 weeks. SIL hadn’t been out in a while, when AC explained what was going on SIL said ‘how about I buy the horses from her you get me hay and we will go from there?’ AC agreed and was present to document the animals leaving for the charges. From day one at SIL place everyone that drove by left notes to the effect of ‘feed your horses’. SIL printed a note stating the rescue situation, refeeding issues and thanking everyone that had taken the time to stop and call AC or leave a note. He included AC and Vet notes. (I imagine it looked really bad, I got penny 1 month later and 200-300lbs under weight/ no muscle tone). End: woman got fined 15000, 1 year in jail, 3 years no animals and perm. suspended with every horse org I could think of to send the court papers to (ApHC AQHA APHA NSHA JC Arabians) horses got homes and I know of 3 kids that got Penny babies and are 4h/pony clubbing on them.
Wow. I wrote a lot.
I had no lessons, my first riding pony was a dogger owned by family friends, who knew he had me beat and I had many scarey moments included bolting when I was 10 and straight into a tree, 3 stitches and a bloody shirt later, I decided I’d have to save for my own horse. Finally got one when I was 24 lovely, lazy and quiet.
Because I had to wait long and hard for a horse, I had heaps of time to read and learn and I already had a passion for animal welfare. Our daughter has had horses now for nearly 4 years and I taught her on long line for nearly 2 years, lol, before I finally trusted enough that she had a idea of what to do and that the pony was not going to kill her, extra LOL.
She has had hammered into that the animal comes first, she has a voice, they do not, hopefully what our daughter has learnt will carrier her through life, her favourite cable channel is Animal Planet, I think she’ll be right
my mom was allergic to all kinds of animals, so i wasn’t allowed to have one for a very long time time. then my parents got divorced and my dad (the animal-lover) was free to have pets, so suddenly i had a rabbit and two cats and a golden retriever and parakeets. i was so excited to have the animals (even if it was just on weekends or whatever the arrangement was) that caring for them was never really a chore (plus it was just weekends). i do give my mom credit, though, because even though she was allergic to and afraid of animals, she *always* encouraged my love for them and never let her own fears affect me.
I grew up in a family where the animals always came first NO matter what. I got it and all of my animals come first and two of my sisters got it, but sadly one of my sisters didnt. She owns animals like they are a new pair of shoes. Being a vet tech myself I go and steal her dogs and get them vaccinated and such. She just got a new pup about 6 months old now and when I asked her about spaying she said “probably not going to”. I immediately started grilling her as to why and her response was because she wont be outta the back yard and we dont have any other dogs so its a waste of money. HA I stole the dog last week and brought it to work…. Now its done and she cant say anything. I havent lived in the same state as her for a few years now so I didnt know how animal stupid she was. When I brought the dog back to her she said she has never had any of her animals spayed or neutered, I about hit the floor. Slowly I’ll educate her and if not I’ll stay close enough that I can just keep stealing the animals.
As for my kids we use the “they eat before you do” method. Once my oldest daughter was having lots of issues taking care of her now 34 yr old morgan mare so my husband told her if she didnt straighten up he was gonna get rid of her (he never could he’s a big softy and we owe that old mare). Well she had heard it so much before that she didnt take it to heart and continued to slack on the care (she was 7, now 10), so daddy loaded up the horse and took it to a friends farm who was in on the whole thing and told my daughter he sold her. She had to earn her back, but boy did she. She took the best care and still does of every other animal we own.
I think some people are born with it and just have to be shown how to just like common sense, and sadly some people will never get it just like common sense.
My parents raised me that animals could be easily disposed of the first time they did something you didn’t like. Paying for vet care was optional, and “wait and see” was the preferred method of dealing with a pet’s illness. If an animal couldn’t thrive with the cheapest food or minimum of care and training it could easily be dumped, turned loose, sent to the shelter or just popped in the head with a .22 and tossed over the fence. Pets should be born trained, any that weren’t were clearly too stupid to be worth keeping.
These were the same folks who decided one year that they just HAD to have a wolf dog. Thank god I talked them out of that foolishness.
Their early training actually helped mold me into the animal lover I am today. The day I held my American Eskimo puppy in my arms while she died of parvo because they had company coming over and didn’t want to change plans to take her tot he vet I made a vow to never ever EVER treat animals that way… and to do my best to make sure they never did either.
To this day I resent them for the puppy that died of parvo, the rabbit they “forgot” about after I moved out, the pony my mom sold while I was at my dad’s one weekend, the mare I had to give back because they wouldn’t get treatment for a friggin abscess… the countless cats hit by car…
Oh, and did I mention that my grandmother on the other side had a massive puppymill? *bangs head on wall repeatedly*
Well then, congrats on breaking the cycle! Think about how many people do things JUST like their parents did without ever questioning it.
Sheesh, good thing you talked them out of the wolfdog. Best case scenario they would have bought one from a scammer (husky/malamute crossbreeds are often sold as ‘wolfdogs’), worst case they would have gotten their hands on a REAL one! Dogs and wolves, while the same species, are very different as adults. Dogs stay puppies their entire lives, meaning they naturally defer to dominant animals (ie us) and continually welcome new adult pack members. Wolves go through an extra developmental stage that dogs never do, it is natural for them to leave their original pack and hook up with a mate upon maturity and start a new pack. Adult wolves will challenge anyone they see as dominant. High-percentage wolfdogs are exactly the same as wolves, except they are usually larger due to being crossed with large dog breeds, and because they were raised with humans they have no natural wariness toward us. (high-percentage wolfdogs look exactly like a wolf BTW, if it doesn’t it’s probably one of those husky/malamute crosses)
Form the time we were children we had animals and although I don’t specifically ever remember my parents having to tell us to feed them, clean up after them, we just did it. I think that is more because they lead by example and the animals were all well cared for. To this day, all the girls at the vet’s office tell me when they die they want to come back as one of my pets. Even my trainer is impressed with how the welfare of my mare he is training is paramount to winning a competition. I can’t take the credit, my parents are extremely ethical and responsible people and that is how they raised us. My daughter was also raised with good animal care practices even though I didn’t have a dog until she was around 10 or 11. I think it goes deeper than parents enforcing good animal keeping practices. IMHO, I think parents that raise responsible, ethical children instill values in them that manifest in all areas of the child’s life as an adult and there is a grave lack of that type of parenting in our present society.
We always had a dog when I was growing up, it was usually mom’s responsability to feed him, but I was to play and clean up after him, dad just left him alone. We also had chickens, they were my babies, they were seen as dinner by my father.
My horses are my children, there isn’t weather cold or hot enough that I will neglect them.
However, funny/scary story. I was at a friend’s house a few years back as she was watching her little 2 1/2yr old niece. We found a baby bunny in the yard and was telling the little girl how we’re not supposed to touch it, and let it’s mommy come and find it, etc. etc. A few minutes later, we find the little girl JUMPING ON AND STOMPING THE BUNNY TO DEATH!!! We were both completely shocked! Devil child????
I would be interested to see more from the grown children’s perspective with growing up with an animal hoarder. My parents were hoarders of stuff. (NOT as bad as the TV shows, but we had waaaaaayyyy more usless stuff than necessary) I find I have to be careful that I don’t fall into that situation, as I easily find myself buying/collecting things that I don’t need. I have to really pay attention and say to myself “Why am I buying this thing? Do I really need it? Can I justify having this item?” or else I’ll just buy anything and everything that catches my fancy. I wonder if grown children whose parents were animal hoarders have the same hoarding tendency or if they are able to step back and say that “That wasn’t right, I can’t be like that.”?
That kind o behavior is pretty common for kids that age, actually. The brain-development necessary for empathy for non-humans (or even humans) just isn’t there yet. That’s why small children should never be left alone with an animal. In all probability she thought it was just another stuffed toy. Sad but true. She’ll probably grow up to be a normal kid as long as her parents don’t make a big deal of it.
Now, if this were an 8 year old, then I would worry.
When I was young I guess my folks were trying to teach us on how NOT to be.They starved a dog to death once, same dog suffered a broken leg from a kick, its sibling was shot cuz it wouldnt ‘eat’.Pony was beat w/ a bat,cats were never fed unless us kids snuck something to them,the horses, cows and sheep were fed but everything could have been improved.
So I grew up defending the goat he(stepdad) punch while milking, trying to save anything I could.They became my friends as a small girl well into my teens.I made sure the rabbits chickens were fed and watered.They were my refuge because his treatment of people wasnt much better.
So to this day I am an animal lover, just ask the 3 labs that nap on the furniture!I freak out if I see an empty dog dish!
I will never let an animal suffer and am ultimately their caretaker in this house.Horses eat before the family does!So as I live w/ furry and feathered creatures around me I thank YOU, MOM & Walt for teaching me what NOT to do!You still suck!!!!
I saw one comment about the cats and dogs running wild…You should see where I live!!! It’s horrible! Beautiful cats and dogs just running nilly willy. I saw a beagle running around pregnant then I saw her again with 5 pups in tow…I tried to catch them but I wasn’t quick enough. The next time I saw her, she only had 2 pups with her, they were about 6 to 8 weeks at the time. I was able to catch both puppies but not the mom. The pups where so ladened with worms…I’d never seen anything like it before and they were skinny. I got them all fixed up and was about to find them a home together. I so regret not just keeping them myself now. I just found out that the family I gave them to is planing to breed the female with his male and sell the pups. I cried when I heard him say that. I asked for the puppies back. He won’t give them to me. I would have been better off putting the pups to sleep but no…I condemned them to a backyard breeder. This is very recent. And very painful. I am still very angry with myself and that man. You can check out a situation to the max and still get screwed.
With cats. I have strictly indoor cats. Cats here are a not a dime a dozen, they are a penny a dozen. which means there are a ton of stray cats here. One of my cats didn’t get neutered correctly. We ended up with kittens. I did try to give them away at first but people wanted outside cats and after seeing all the smooshed cats on the road I just couldn’t give them to those people. My husband finally had me take my signs around town down and we kept the kittens. We also got my female fixed and the cat who ended up still having a nut, he is fixed as well. So are all 5 kittens. I have 12 cats now. A stray kitten wondered into my yard right before this last christmas. We kept him and named him Tinsel. He’s awesome! He gets to visit the vet next month to lose his puffbals.
I learned responsibility for my animals from my mother. She let us have pets from the first time I brought a stray kitten home. I don’t remember any specific lessons. I guess we just learned naturally by her example. But I know that she only said no once to a stray I wanted to bring home. Even when I was 13 and brought home a $40 blm mustang some poeple were about to shoot. I bought him and brought him home without asking. She understood why and let me keep him. I do remember when we were poor that if we couldn’t afford to keep a stray that I brought home, she would let us keep it until we found it a home. That taught me to know how many could be too many. When my husband and I had fallen on hard times…we bought our pets their groceries before we bought our own. They never went without. They didn’t ask to come into this world…we are responsible for them. They don’t understand hard times or lost jobs…animals just understand that all of a sudden there is no food. That is why I agree with having a savings account for emergencies just for them. That is what helped us through our hard times. We still do the savings account for emergencies. We’ve never had a emergency we couldn’t pay cash for due to that savings account. I am very thankful for that.
Today…I have a lot of pets. People think I’m crazy for having so many but they are well taken care of, spoiled to the core. I’m lucky enough that I have a vet that is awesome!!! When he asked where all the kittens came from and I told him what happened and why I kept them…he gave me a discount on getting them their kitten shots and spays and neutering done. He will come to my house and check out my one dog with cancer(she hates car rides) and he checks my horses at the same time. We spend a fortune on our pets. They are our kids. The only ones we will ever have. By choice. I like animals more than I like people. They are honest.