two years ago, my cousin bought a spitz puppy. it was the cutest thing -- until it reached that potty-training hell period. when the pup kept having accidents indoors (the family never bothered to housetrain it), it soon got relegated to a cage outside the house, where it was eventually forgotten. visited once in a while, but since its owners grew tired of it and it wasn't so small and cute anymore... well, go figure.
then last year, my uncle (her dad) was offered a two-year-old lab, who they accepted. i have NO idea what they were thinking when they made this decision (sounded like an impulsive one, like with the first dog) because obviously a lab needs a LOT of exercise and stimulation, which was virtually impossible since they lived in a private apartment-like building. (the front of the house has all this heavy equipment and construction stuff for my uncle's business -- not the safest place for dogs.)
what makes me mad is that they don't even try to put more effort into caring for their dogs. the poor things are in cages ALL day, only taken out for a couple of minutes to be played with (by the carpenters as the family is scared of the lab because he's "too big" and "energetic" [8|]!). they used to bathe the dogs EVERY DAY until i told them once a week is the maximum, thank goodness. (what do they expect? they go in their cages, of course they'd stink!) in fact, the spitz has never had vaccinations in her life and lately she bit one of the workers "out of nowhere. what's worse is that i was told the carpenters had the lab mate with the spitz "for fun"!
now they're BYBs... geez...
when they come to my house and see my dog sitting in the living room, they say, "we should get a dog like that." i just sigh and think that if only they'd invested more time and care, their dogs would be well-behaved and they'd have a wonderful relationship with the family. they aren't mean; they just don't realize the kind of commitment and responsibility these dogs need... [
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