Well, I read the dog thread and the cat thread, and I have come to a conclusion.
Danny, you are not an animal person. That's not a flame, just an observation. That's just the way it is. It shows in every post. No, I can't explain it to you, but every animal lover can see it plain as day.
The happiest course for you, your kids, and any pets you might adopt, is..
Don't do it. Accept the fact that you and animals don't mix, and find other things to fill your life.
Once your children are older, one of them might become an animal person - time will tell. But not now - not until they are old enough to do it on their own.
Again, this is not meant to be a flame or an attack, nor even "bashing" . (Stupid word!) It's just an observation, pointed out in an attempt to save you, your kids, and some poor animal from painful experiments. I admire your persistence, but it's time to face reality.
<font color="red"> "Now I realize I should have taken that advice and not gotten the cats." </font color>
I certainly won't argue that! The problem is that my kids (9 year old twins), especially my daughter, love animals. The other thing is that I was not involved with the rabbits much (besides buying the food, all I did was get a used hutch and fix it up real good and paint it and I sometimes helped retrieve the rabbits when they would run off), so it wasn't me that caused them to behave like they did. My wife and kids treated them real good and were patient. The rabbits just seemed to dislike people. We found out from 3 or 4 friends later that they experienced the same thing with rabbits. I always find these things out AFTER I get the pets.
Danny, animals have different personalities, just as people do. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] I raised New Zealand White rabbits, pretty large and very docile. Rabbits are among the worst mothers you could find, so they generally will not do anything to defend their young. But I had one doe that would attack as soon as you put your hand in the cage when she had a litter of young ones. My wife wanted me to get rid of her, and I'd have eaten her if she hadn't been one of my best producers. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] So instead I just put a leather glove on one hand when I had to handle her or her babies. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
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The problem is that my kids (9 year old twins), especially my daughter, love animals.
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I know what you mean. Kids universally want pets, it seems. But that doesn't always really mean they are animal lovers - they like the idea, sometimes, but not the problems that go with the romantic image they have. It would be good to think about that, because if your kids really aren't animal people either, it's not going to get any better.
But maybe your kids would be fine with animals, but it sounds like you are not. That's another deal altogether.
Unless you can learn to put up with the downside, you are going to keep hitting your head against the same wall. Pets are work, and they make messes, and they don't always return what some people expect. If you're an animal person, you are fine with that - don't even give it a second thought.
We've got - how many threads? - of you giving it second and third and fourth... Well, you get the idea. Anyway, either you have to learn to accept the downside (and the variablity, as pointed out above) of animals, or tell your kids they'll have to wait until they are on their own.
I know - that's hard to do. I'm sure you WANT them to have the benefits of animals, even if you don't click with the critters yourself.
But if the kids really DO want animals, and YOU (or your wife?) are the ones who have the problem, you really only have two choices that I can see. Suck it up and put up with the problems, or tell your kids to forget pets.
The point is, it's not the choice of which animal that is the problem here. It's your expectations of the upside and tolerance of the downside. Fix that, and it could be cats or dogs or whatever, you'll find the right pet. Don't fix that, and there IS no right pet.
Hope that helps. Again, not flaming, just trying to call it like ah sees it in the interests of helping you and your kids work this out.
BlueRidge, I appreciate your input. I am kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place on this issue. The truth is, there are a lot of others out there that are not really "animal people" that have animals anyway. I feel sorry for all the dogs that are just penned up or tied up all the time because whoever got them doesn't have time for them. At least I'm not going to be one of them!
I do feel for you. As a father of 6, and just finally got out of the city where we can finally have a dog or two, I know how frustrating it is to want something for your kids and not be able to give it to them. In my case, dogs and room to run and play and tress to climb and build forts in! Got the room now. It's time to find the dog and build the forts, but I don't have time or money right now! ARRRG!
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