5 ms·

> Meanwhile, the walks are enjoyable. Non-dog owners often complain about how much work a dog would be, but I find the time spent walking and playing with my d

by tjr225 7y ago

> Meanwhile, the walks are enjoyable. Non-dog owners often complain about how much work a dog would be, but I find the time spent walking and playing with my dogs far more enjoyable and rewarding than most things.

8fingerlouie 7y ago
I hardly notice my dog when we walk. I'm of course aware he's there, and we exchange looks every now and then to make sure we're still aligned on which way to go, but the thing i enjoy the most about our walks is the total peace and quiet, both of the surroundings, but also of the mind. I can walk my dog, enjoy nature and just let my mind wander off to whatever it finds most interesting at that point. I don't attempt to control my thoughts, i simply let them wander. In a way i guess it's like meditation, and yes, i also enjoy walking in the rain, perhaps even more than in fair weather - though 0C and sleet is testing my patience :)
astura 7y ago
It's not as unintuitive as it sounds... It seems like a tautology but you have to actually enjoy interacting with dogs to find dog ownership enjoyable and rewarding. Many people just don't find any sort of joy in a dog's company. Personally, I don't really care to be being around dogs, I'd strongly prefer to take walks myself (and I do). The more time I spend with friend's dogs the more I dislike them. However I absolutely love being around cats and few things are more enjoyable than a cat in my lap.
- scoutt 7y ago
  I was a "dog only" type of person until recently (a year ago) I saw this poor cat being hit by a car and left there to die. I quickly took her to the vet and then home. Now I own two dogs and the cat. The dogs know when it's the time to go out for a walk so I work on side projects at home (coding) between walks. Now it's over, since the cat would come over the keyboard and push her head on my mouse-hand for petting. I can't say no so it became a much needed stress-relief and natural pause from working. I wonder if that accounts into survival studies. BTW, give dogs a chance :)
- tjr225 7y ago
  Well, of course someone who doesn't like dogs isn't going to enjoy walking dogs :)
- MisterTea 7y ago
  Horses for courses. I've had both my whole life though presently I have two cats (male siblings). I'd love to get another dog but after having to put down the last two, one due to cancer and the other, a shepard mix, who had Degenerative Myelopathy and could no longer walk, was too much of a mental drain. I don't want to deal with the heartbreak of that again. Plus im high anxiety so it's a maddening panic when it comes down to those decisions. Takes too much out of me. Cats are easier in some ways (self cleaning, no walking) but they can be a hand full as they can get EVERYWHERE. Nothing is safe from them and they love to play and need attention just as much as a dog. So if you don't play with them, they will find things to play with. That is why they love knocking shit over; they're entertaining themselves and maybe sending us a hint. I kick myself for not leash training them and taking them out with the dogs. The neighbor walks her dog and cat together and the cat seems to enjoy it as much as the dog.
- magduf 7y ago
  I'm exactly the same. I generally hate being around dogs: they're smelly, dirty, and require far too much attention. I really hate it when other peoples' dogs jump up on me when I'm just trying to walk down the sidewalk. I like to take walks myself too, but in walkable districts downtown usually. I can't take a dog there, because that would require taking a dog on the subway, which isn't allowed (thankfully). I honestly don't see how dogs even make any sense in a city for people who don't have cars. They make some sense I guess as a rural or suburban pet, but lately it seems like every single woman in my city (DC) has one.
  - tjr225 7y ago
    > I honestly don't see how dogs even make any sense in a city for people who don't have cars. Why would you think that dogs that live in the city get any less exercise than a dog who lives in the suburbs or somewhere rural? Often cities are more walkable than the alternative.
    - magduf 7y ago
      >Why would you think that dogs that live in the city get any less exercise than a dog who lives in the suburbs or somewhere rural? Often cities are more walkable than the alternative. You can't take dogs on the train. So if your apartment is in a nice, walkable place and you don't mind never walking someplace else in the city, then ok. But if you want to walk in a different neighborhood miles away that you need to get to by subway, then forget it; you can't bring your dog there. I don't even know how you'd get your dog to the vet in a city, unless perhaps you can get an Uber driver to let you bring it in the car with you (not too sure about that; I wouldn't want to ride in an Uber/Lyft after someone had a dog in there, and other customers could very well be allergic, so services like this would be wise to ban dogs).
      - miranda_rights 7y ago
        I guess it depends where you live. My city (SF) allows dogs on public transit in off peak hours. The 24/7 animal hospital is 1.5 miles away from my apartment. If it were a real emergency (minutes to live), I can zipcar or uber since my dog is carrier trained and I'd be happy to pay a $50 tip in exchange for letting us ride for an emergency of that urgency. (As of recently, Uber is piloting a pet-friendly option in select cities as well, although this doesn't apply to me yet). In the suburbs, when I had a car, I lived about 15 miles away from the animal hospital so it's not actually better. My dog gets significantly more exercise now than when I lived in the suburbs because there are more parks, interesting sights, etc right outside my door and I don't have to drive to them. But otherwise, sure, I'll walk. According to my fitbit I take about 25k - 30k steps a day so walking a little extra to get to a different neighborhood isn't a big deal to me. Edit: It appears that dogs are allowed on the train/bus in DC if they are in carriers.
ssully 7y ago
I have two dogs and love them dearly, but dogs really are a lot of work for their first few years. The first dog we got of this pair was a rescue that was almost a year old. They believe she was on the streets for a lot of her life, and she was pretty under weight when we got her. She had numerous issues we had to slowly work through. A few examples: - She would eat her food so fast she would vomit. issue fixed by introducing a slow-feeding bowl. - She would drink all the water in her bowl at once, which led to her having to pee often in a short time. This meant a lot of accidents until we learned to deal with it. Solved by giving her less water. Even with less water, we still took her outside to pee almost on the hour every hour for months. This wasn't very fun, since we lived on the 4th floor of an apartment at the time. - When in wide open spaces she would get incredibly anxious and run in circles/jump around to try and get away. This took months to fix and was just solved with patience basically. If you got mad or anxious yourself, she would sense it and get worse. These are just a handful of the issues we had with this dog, with many more I didn't mention. After two years, this dog is completely changed. She is much less anxious, eats and drinks normal, and is incredibly intelligent. Non-dog owners complain about how much work a dog would be, because dogs are a ton of work. Eventually you get to a point where they mature, and you both learn how to work with one another, but it takes time and work to get there. With all of that said, once you get to that point, it's an incredible experience. The dog I mentioned here was a ton of work, but I would do it all over again without question.

by tjr225 7y ago

8fingerlouie 7y ago

I hardly notice my dog when we walk. I'm of course aware he's there, and we exchange looks every now and then to make sure we're still aligned on which way to go, but the thing i enjoy the most about our walks is the total peace and quiet, both of the surroundings, but also of the mind. I can walk my dog, enjoy nature and just let my mind wander off to whatever it finds most interesting at that point. I don't attempt to control my thoughts, i simply let them wander. In a way i guess it's like meditation, and yes, i also enjoy walking in the rain, perhaps even more than in fair weather - though 0C and sleet is testing my patience :)

astura 7y ago

It's not as unintuitive as it sounds... It seems like a tautology but you have to actually enjoy interacting with dogs to find dog ownership enjoyable and rewarding. Many people just don't find any sort of joy in a dog's company. Personally, I don't really care to be being around dogs, I'd strongly prefer to take walks myself (and I do). The more time I spend with friend's dogs the more I dislike them. However I absolutely love being around cats and few things are more enjoyable than a cat in my lap.

scoutt 7y ago
I was a "dog only" type of person until recently (a year ago) I saw this poor cat being hit by a car and left there to die. I quickly took her to the vet and then home. Now I own two dogs and the cat. The dogs know when it's the time to go out for a walk so I work on side projects at home (coding) between walks. Now it's over, since the cat would come over the keyboard and push her head on my mouse-hand for petting. I can't say no so it became a much needed stress-relief and natural pause from working. I wonder if that accounts into survival studies. BTW, give dogs a chance :)
tjr225 7y ago
Well, of course someone who doesn't like dogs isn't going to enjoy walking dogs :)
MisterTea 7y ago
Horses for courses. I've had both my whole life though presently I have two cats (male siblings). I'd love to get another dog but after having to put down the last two, one due to cancer and the other, a shepard mix, who had Degenerative Myelopathy and could no longer walk, was too much of a mental drain. I don't want to deal with the heartbreak of that again. Plus im high anxiety so it's a maddening panic when it comes down to those decisions. Takes too much out of me. Cats are easier in some ways (self cleaning, no walking) but they can be a hand full as they can get EVERYWHERE. Nothing is safe from them and they love to play and need attention just as much as a dog. So if you don't play with them, they will find things to play with. That is why they love knocking shit over; they're entertaining themselves and maybe sending us a hint. I kick myself for not leash training them and taking them out with the dogs. The neighbor walks her dog and cat together and the cat seems to enjoy it as much as the dog.
magduf 7y ago
I'm exactly the same. I generally hate being around dogs: they're smelly, dirty, and require far too much attention. I really hate it when other peoples' dogs jump up on me when I'm just trying to walk down the sidewalk. I like to take walks myself too, but in walkable districts downtown usually. I can't take a dog there, because that would require taking a dog on the subway, which isn't allowed (thankfully). I honestly don't see how dogs even make any sense in a city for people who don't have cars. They make some sense I guess as a rural or suburban pet, but lately it seems like every single woman in my city (DC) has one.
- tjr225 7y ago
  > I honestly don't see how dogs even make any sense in a city for people who don't have cars. Why would you think that dogs that live in the city get any less exercise than a dog who lives in the suburbs or somewhere rural? Often cities are more walkable than the alternative.
  - magduf 7y ago
    >Why would you think that dogs that live in the city get any less exercise than a dog who lives in the suburbs or somewhere rural? Often cities are more walkable than the alternative. You can't take dogs on the train. So if your apartment is in a nice, walkable place and you don't mind never walking someplace else in the city, then ok. But if you want to walk in a different neighborhood miles away that you need to get to by subway, then forget it; you can't bring your dog there. I don't even know how you'd get your dog to the vet in a city, unless perhaps you can get an Uber driver to let you bring it in the car with you (not too sure about that; I wouldn't want to ride in an Uber/Lyft after someone had a dog in there, and other customers could very well be allergic, so services like this would be wise to ban dogs).
    - miranda_rights 7y ago
      I guess it depends where you live. My city (SF) allows dogs on public transit in off peak hours. The 24/7 animal hospital is 1.5 miles away from my apartment. If it were a real emergency (minutes to live), I can zipcar or uber since my dog is carrier trained and I'd be happy to pay a $50 tip in exchange for letting us ride for an emergency of that urgency. (As of recently, Uber is piloting a pet-friendly option in select cities as well, although this doesn't apply to me yet). In the suburbs, when I had a car, I lived about 15 miles away from the animal hospital so it's not actually better. My dog gets significantly more exercise now than when I lived in the suburbs because there are more parks, interesting sights, etc right outside my door and I don't have to drive to them. But otherwise, sure, I'll walk. According to my fitbit I take about 25k - 30k steps a day so walking a little extra to get to a different neighborhood isn't a big deal to me. Edit: It appears that dogs are allowed on the train/bus in DC if they are in carriers.

ssully 7y ago

I have two dogs and love them dearly, but dogs really are a lot of work for their first few years. The first dog we got of this pair was a rescue that was almost a year old. They believe she was on the streets for a lot of her life, and she was pretty under weight when we got her. She had numerous issues we had to slowly work through. A few examples: - She would eat her food so fast she would vomit. issue fixed by introducing a slow-feeding bowl. - She would drink all the water in her bowl at once, which led to her having to pee often in a short time. This meant a lot of accidents until we learned to deal with it. Solved by giving her less water. Even with less water, we still took her outside to pee almost on the hour every hour for months. This wasn't very fun, since we lived on the 4th floor of an apartment at the time. - When in wide open spaces she would get incredibly anxious and run in circles/jump around to try and get away. This took months to fix and was just solved with patience basically. If you got mad or anxious yourself, she would sense it and get worse. These are just a handful of the issues we had with this dog, with many more I didn't mention. After two years, this dog is completely changed. She is much less anxious, eats and drinks normal, and is incredibly intelligent. Non-dog owners complain about how much work a dog would be, because dogs are a ton of work. Eventually you get to a point where they mature, and you both learn how to work with one another, but it takes time and work to get there. With all of that said, once you get to that point, it's an incredible experience. The dog I mentioned here was a ton of work, but I would do it all over again without question.