Does your dog live a cushy life?

Totally cushy!   Sam is my only dog so he is very spoiled.  He gets to go on walks everyday.  He has full access to the house, his choice of sleeping areas. Usually on our bed for the first 15min then off to his own bed.  He gets new toys every 2 weeks. He gets tons of love and attention.  Although we have a work schedule that does not require him to go to daycare, I still put him in daycare about once every couple weeks just for fun. He eats well , has a warm home and deserves every bit of it. 

Cushy...hmm. inside as much as they like. people-grade food. walks daily. children and adult playmates. frequent beach trips. tag along on errands and come to work with us. sounds cushy...sounds like...my dogs have the same life as ME!!!!

Wait...no dogs on the bed. no dogs on furniture. leashes everywhere (except beach). NO chasing the "feral' chickens. no food from the table. and of course NILIF!!!

phew...i was worried there for a minute.

our dogs definitely live a cushy life compared to the dogs i had as a kid. my parents dont allow pets in the house. so all our dogs lived outside, cold .... hot....rain....snow didnt matter. they were always utd on shots, vetted when sick, fed and watered everyday, and petted and played with almost everyday. so they werent neglected. they just werent exactly a family member like our dogs are now.

of course all the dogs we had were outdoorsy type dogs, and i think some of them may have prefered a life outside to one inside. most of the people in my family still keep their dogs outside all the time and cant believe how we cater to our dogs. i feel sorry for some of the dogs. my cousin has 2 dogs.... a border collie and (i think) a shih tzu. keeping the border collie outside is ok, not what i would do though. however, the shih tzu is a breed meant to be kept as a companion dog. i dont understand getting a dog like this to keep it outside all the time.

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

My dogs are spoiled ROTTEN, and I know it. Any dog that needs a section of the closet for her wardrobe qualifies. They sleep on the furniture, they have dozens of collars and leads, they go everywhere with me, and they eat better than I do (I make all of their food). Yeah, no doubt about it.

I don't really care, though. Most people my age want to put their money into partying or whatever else they do. I figure, the dogs are just the place that I waste my money[] Of course, I don't consider their actual needs a waste, but I have a strong tendency to impulse buys..... [][]

[]  I am glad I am not the only one.  Romeo has his own little chest of drawers, in it I keep winter clothes (sweater, coats) summer clothes (t-shirts)  bandanas, a myriad of collars and leashes.

I make all of his food, this way I know exactly what is going into his mouth, as a result he is healthier and I don't spend much at the vet.[]

He is such a good boy, that he has full reign of the house and sleeps where he wants as well. 

And yes, he goes to b-parties, black-tie dinners and the such.

Yeah, I have been told by many people they wish they were my dog.[]
 
But the most important thing that Romeo gets from me that is priceless, is unconditional love and respect. 

All of our dogs have cushy lives, but they all have jobs as well.  They all live inside, have a closet of their own, have crates of their own, we have a selection of collars & leashes (over 100 and counting), they recieve love and affection as well as training to insure that our lives fit together propperly.  With that said, Chyna is our only pet, she has no job other than to recieve petting.  This is not by choice but by necessity as ssshe has had 4 leg surgeries to date.  Bevo, Ozzy & Hariet have to "secure the perimeter" or patrol the yard when we go out.  They are expected to patrol around the entire fence (5 acre yard) and they take their job seriously.  They are expected to be alert at all times and to alert us of anything funny going on.  Brinxx's job is to herd her sheep (she got sheep for Christmas) and she helps work the cows on a very regular basis.  She goes daily with one of our workers to the pastures to check all of the cattle.  Shooter & Schatzi have tunnels that they have to find the toy for now, but as they mature they will begin to go to the barn to help the barn cat hunt rats.  The rule at our house is that everyone has a job, and their reward will be the cushy life.

Yeah, I'd say Gingerbread has a cushy life. He has a zillion toys, I feed him the best food, give him only purified water, share my bed and pillow with him, take him almost everywhere and when I do leave him alone he has a peanut butter kong and I leave the radio on for him. He has a sweater for cold weather, he goes anywhere he wants in our apartment (snuggling with my husband on the couch as I type this). So yeah... [] He's still expected to walk nicely on the leash and have good manners, he just enjoys the little comforts of life. []

cush·y adjective cush·i·er, cush·i·est. Informal.



1.
involving little effort for ample rewards; easy and profitable: a cushy job.



2.
soft and comfortable; cushiony: a cushy chair.

 
by those standards i would say so. i think my dog gets treats easier than my daughter [sm=blush.gif]

Yep, I knew I wasn't the only one[]
 
I have 5 large dogs, all are insight dogs with access to outside via doggie door. The 2 youngest are crated with matching beds, all have matching collars ( they are too big for dress-up), collars change with season.
They eat holistic food, my part of the meat everyday, treats.....the list goes on.
We live out in the boonies, they have access to a creek, woods, and they get to ride in our Excursion which is the official doggy mobile.
3 of them are couch sleepers, thank God for sectionals.............
 

cushy would be to me something out of the ordinary...ie .. my uncle and aunt mix all Moses' food with a meat base.  Whatever meat they are having Moses' has that meat too.. so another words a t-bone for them = a t-bone for Moses   He doesn't sleep with them but he does turn down the blankets when he is tired and wanting to go to bed.  I am not sure why he doesn't sleep with them... he takes naps on the bed.  Oh btw...Moses is a yellow lab
 
Our dogs are allowed on the furniture... sleep with us, go bye bye with us and are a part of the family but I wouldn't consider their lives any cushier than ours

Ratsicles...thanks for the explanation.  I knew there was something I had missed.  I also agree that you have the patience of a saint.  I do hope you are able to discover more of the root of Pepito's problems.  In the meantime...he's lucky as all get out and I would say he definately has a cushy life!

I think I'd probably be accused by a few coonhunters of totally ruining a perfectly good coon dog! Cushy? You betcha! But why the heck not? I have the means and ability to provide a good life for my dogs. Their needs are met, they have work that they do (arbitrary as it may be), they get to sleep as much as they want in pretty much any location that they want (they each have their fave spots), they get toys and games and field trips to fun locations.

The people that we used to live next door to in Maryland had three dogs (two JRTs and a gargantuan chocolate lab) that lived outside in a kennel. Now, it was a nice kennel and each dog had their own doghouse in it, but given the amount of howling they would do at all hours I'd have to say they were a little bored in there. The thing is, these people were loaded. The guy owned a huge contracting firm and their house was a huge waterfront mansion (we lived in a 60 year old shack built by the descendents of freed slaves). But despite how much money they obviously had, none of their dogs wore collars with tags, one of the JRs was not altered and had a festering sore on his poorly docked tail for months at a time, and the dogs had no toys in their kennel. By comparison, Conrad was totally living large next door in the little shack with toys and a warm bed at night and vet care at the first sneeze.

And we always wondered, why do those people even have dogs? They didn't hunt with the lab (it was so overweight and inbred stupid that I doubt it would have the ability even if given the opportunity) or the JRTs. All they were were loud, dirty, smelly (nothing like living on the beach for a perpetually smelly dog!) lawn ornaments. I'm sure those folks in their nice new custom built mansion had soundproof walls and windows but us next door in the shack where the windows didn't even fit in the frames right got to listen to the howling all night. We heard all about how bored those dogs were, how lonely, how cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

I think people with the 'tude about giving our dogs good lives are just operating under the principle that all animals deserve the bare minimum just because they are animals. To give them more would be upsetting the balance of the universe and calling into question the inherent superiority of humans. I, however, am all for callilng that in to question.

Yes. See below......

my2saints- Looks like a picture really is worth a thousand words! []

Yesterday Louise went for grooming, got two detoxifying massages, a bubble bath, a blow-out, scissor trim and lots of treats and kisses from strangers. Yes, she is totally spoiled. But I really just wanted her hair cut. I have to say that all the other stuff did make her seriously relaxed and happy, though. She sleeps in my bed, had a huge, crazy comfortable bed of her own, travels with me, eats good food, etc. When she goes to boarding I'm super picky about where she goes. But the things we spend most of our time doing and enjoy most are hiking and playing on the beach, getting covered in mud, work on 'street agility' and generally do total dog things that have nothing to do with 'cushiness'. She's happy, I'm happy and I certainly wouldn't decrease my standards because some may thing it's over the top or odd. Luckily, where I live dogs are generally considered full family members (not to be confused with human family members) so I never really encounter criticism for how I choose to live with and care for her.

"Just a dog" means nothing to me. The idea that dogs are worth *less* and we should not spend time, effort, love and money on them is ridiculous. People and dogs are social animals and it makes perfect sense to integrate her into my family while also finding activities to let her 'be a dog' - I personally don't enjoy biting dogs' ears and rolling around in the sand or racing at full speed through the forest, but I go with her so she can experience all those things. I also don't love meat laying on a towel in my living room, but she does so it's there.

I think people with the 'tude about giving our dogs good lives are just operating under the principle that all animals deserve the bare minimum just because they are animals. To give them more would be upsetting the balance of the universe and calling into question the inherent superiority of humans. I, however, am all for callilng that in to question.

nicely said. []