And also- isn't it better for a family to have tried to be a good home to a dog than for the dog to sit in a petstore cage for months and months? Even if the family admits that a Basenji was more than they bargained for, it doesn't make them bad people. Situations change. Sometimes it can be helped. Other times it can't. I LOVE Basenji's and sometimes even I feel like mine are too much. But I am committed to the things I take on. And I stick with them and know that they're animals who, with lots of training, we can learn to (mostly) live with in harmony. I think people today have a real lack of committment. To work, to marriage, to life. No one follows through like they used to. Someone's word doesn't mean as much anymore. It's a sad reality. I think people should try harder and realize that life does not consist solely of sunny moments, but rather of an array of emotions that make us appreciate the next. Life sucks sometimes. And it's often unfair. And that's just life. The happiest people in life are not necessarily the ones who have the most, they are the ones who make the most of what they have.
I got a rescue Basenji one month ago. He drew blood the first two days with our resident B. He's put holes in our couch and has shed like a dried flower. He's pee'd in the house, pooped 11 diahhrea piles, and consistently howls like a tornado siren when we crate him. Last week after having major surgery on my face to repair a deviated septum, the little guy kicked me right in the beak. This morning, he puked before 6am and then demanded to go out. When we returned, he did Indianapolis 500 before I caught him and told him that my downstairs neighbor did not appreciate that as I threw him back under the covers and told him to go night-night.
Do I regret getting another Basenji? No. Is he a lot of work? Yes. That's what I signed up for. But it's all those heartaches and crummy times that I look back at and laugh –or say, "God that sucked" that make me smile and adore him. Nothing that ever came easy was ever worth much. I wish we could go back to a time when people took more pride in earning something (like a dog's trust, love, and devotion). And they appreciated what they had worked so hard for. And people didn't throw in the towel so quickly when the going gets tough.
I think today's lack of committment is also reflected in today's parenting styles- or lack there of. Afterall, aren't pets the fore-runner to having kids? lol... Dogs are like the eternal toddler who cannot take care of themselves. We create a dependency. And we owe it to them to be good parents. Kids don't just inherently know what we want them to do or when to go to the bathroom or what is 'right' and 'wrong' (which is all perception anyways). It takes work. And practice. And people should be just as realistic with a dog as they would with a kid. People just need a reality check. And more committment.
Anyways, I think I just went off on a huge rant. Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now.
Night y'all. I feel better now that I have solved the world's problem... lol
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