Cat - Paws for Thought - Your Kids and Their Pets

This column comes with a health warning: readers of a sensitive disposition should be aware that I am unbearably smug and self-congratulatory at the moment as 3 year old Goldilocks and the 8 year old Tweenager were both offered places at one of the UK's top schools this week. Naturally, we have accepted, even though it undoubtedly now means that we will have to cycle everywhere and live off baked beans for the foreseeable future. After seven years of island life in Cyprus, Busy Husband and I have decided to head home to the UK, back to the incessant rain, grumbling and tepid tea. I for one can hardly wait, but that's another story. Now that the euphoria has worn off (a bit), a mild panic has set in: there is Too Much To Do. There are also decisions to be made and right now our lives are revolving around the biggest decision of them all: The Pets. So much for being the cats that got the cream, we are now dealing with the cat who got the microchip, the C5 customs form and a Snugrug (whatever that is) in a quarantine centre a million miles away from where we will be resettling. But we love her, and so we must persevere. The decision to take our kitty cat has been a decidedly laborious one, fraught with emotional pitfalls. We have had tears, pleading and cajoling but, politicians take note, we have finally achieved a settlement: the cat can come, but the dogs must stay. Ouch. Having been forced to stare down the barrel that is quarantine, Busy Husband and I have unreservedly balked at the idea - and then felt extraordinarily guilty, years of those 'A dog is for life, not just for Christmas' ads throttling our consciences. Leaving Cyprus has forced us to confront the fact that, gulp, we are not actually sure why we have pets at all. Moving to Cyprus is, for many, a trial by fire introduction to animal husbandry. I had never owned a dog before I came here and was fairly indifferent to our cats. Within a year of moving to the island, we had three dogs, all strays, all uninvited guests in our garden, all hideously mistreated. Kipper, the first, was two and still wearing the chain collar put on her as a puppy which hadn't been removed or loosened since. Jack the Perfect Pointer arrived at our gate at the end of one hunting season and fell in love with Kipper. Poor old Jack isn't blessed in the machismo department and would probably rather get a manicure than fetch a kill, hence the 'manly' hunters decided he was of no use to them and went off in their full combat gear to shoot more bullets at tiny birds. Dumping dogs. Isn't that what we are doing now? This is the question I confront myself with in the dead of night now that we have two dogs, Jack the Perfect Pointer and Holly the Lovely Labrador, whom we simply cannot love enough to take with us to England. I read a recent study by the RSPCA which analysed pet ownership and the reasons for buying a pet. A large percentage of respondents bought a pet 'for their kids'. Scroll down and you'll see that the pets' 'primary care giver' is the respondent, that is, definitely not the kid the animal was bought for in the first place. So many of us convince ourselves that it is important to have an animal in the house, for the kids, to somehow teach them a level of responsibility and maturity that they would apparently lack without copious amounts of dog poo to pick up. I know that Busy Husband and I have done that over the past seven years. In a futile attempt to please and edify the kids, we have allowed every Fido and Fifi that crossed our path to stay and make themselves at home. Every exclamation of 'But he's so cute!' has tugged ferociously at the heart (and purse) strings. As a result, we have come to expect too much of kids and dogs alike: we don't understand why the kids aren't interested in pup when the cute stage has been and gone and why aren't those darned dogs getting on with teaching our kids to be responsible animal lovers? And here's the gap: parenting is all about leading by example. If you are constantly complaining (like I am) about the smell/hairs/poo/barking, your behaviour is going to have two major consequences: your kids are not going to learn to respect your pet as a member of the family or, as has happened in my house, your kids decide that, actually, they love the pet because of your lack of respect for it and think that you're a pair of selfish old farts. As with so much parenting, I think the best option here is to learn as much as you can by proxy. Other people's mistakes can be so useful. Our neighbours have four little dogs which are kept in a cage and are, by my amateur pet psychiatrist calculations, demented. Useful lesson in selfish animal husbandry, Number 1. Number 2 comes in the form of a family we know who have, over the years, experimented with various animals in their search for the Perfect Pet. Dog (mad), rabbit (eaten), hamster (?) and now goat - their young son clearly couldn't care less. And why should he? Each temporary pet has had a definite shelf life (quite literally it seems, in the case of the rabbit). Back to our pooches. Yes, we will have to leave them behind and yes, I will feel awful doing so. But no, we won't dump them, either in a rescue centre or in a field. We will rehome them. Failing that, it's Plan B. Just don't tell Busy Husband. Nikki is a freelance writer whose work is regularly commissioned by and published in a variety of international magazines and newspapers. As a mother of three young daughters, her writing often focuses on parenting and lifestyle issues but, secretly, Nikki also has a 'proper' job, as an expert writer on overseas real estate investment. She acts as a consultant to agents and developers, identifying and marketing key emerging markets. She is currently collaborating with Property Club International. See more at http://propertyclubinternational.net Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nikki_Newhouse Cat - Your Dog and Your Furniture Some dog owners believe that a dog is a dog, and that his place is on the floor exclusively. Some feel that he is a member of the family, and that he should be allowed up on chairs or sofas if he feels like it. And there are attitudes in between that may dictate permission for him to get up on one "favorite chair." Generally the split is between country and city, with country dogs being relegated to the floor and city dogs having the run of the place. If he is going to be strictly a floor dog, then he should never be allowed up on any piece of furniture, right from the start. Being up on the couch with you or solo hold little distinction for him and it will only confuse him later if you deny him the privilege. When he is little, he won't be able to negotiate the height, so there is no problem with him climbing up. As he grows and investigates, he will try to climb up just to see what is there. Push him off gently and tell him "no" a few times and he will get the idea. Later he may try to occupy it while you are out of the house. An easy solution to train him is a few light mousetraps covered with a sheet or newspaper set near the back of the cushion. The trap can't hurt him and the snapping noise will solve the problem. If you decide that he is going to be a full member of the household with all privileges, the problems are only those of dirt and reactions. As for dirt, he should be trained to wait at the door for a quick cleaning with an old rag after he has been out of doors. By the time he is old enough to climb onto chairs easily he will be old enough to have learned the "sit and stay" and there ends the problem. As far as reactions go, this is really something between you and your friends. Somewhat fastidious friends who come to visit may find dogs on furniture disagreeable, particularly if the dog has to be shooed off of the chair they are about to sit in. If he is a chair sitter in your house, he may try to be one when he goes visiting with you. So set up a rigid rule for him - okay at home, forbidden elsewhere, and don't make exceptions and he won't be likely to be confused.