We have always had a dog or dogs in the home even when I was small,my children have always been brought up with dogs and it has shown them how to be caring to others not just animals,I can understand though that it is not everyone's cup of tea as we can have dog owners who would not tolerate a cat maybe the choice is for the individual,but our family have had their lives enhanced by dogs of all shapes and sizes.
When out and about more people speak and acknowledge you and your dog than if you where on your own or a couple just walking,children chat and ask can they say hello so all in all it makes for a very sociable life having my little Poppy out with me most days.
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The pleasures of being a dog-owner
You know what they say - "a home without a dog is just a house". "They" being dog owners far and wide, of course. One of those owners is Christopher Matthew, who describes a life happily lived with furry beasts. So, are you a dog devotee like Christopher, or happy to leave the fun and fur to other households?
Christopher Matthew
The pleasures of being a dog-owner
Posted on: Thu 06-Nov-14 12:11:46
(46 comments )
Man's best friend...and social wing man.
One of the great pleasures of being a dog owner is the easy way one falls into conversation with other dog owners while out and about. The other day, in London's Hyde Park I met an elderly Irish woman who was out walking with her perky little West Highland Terrier.
His name was Rocco and, being only ten months old, he was exceptionally full of beans - unlike our Kerry Blue Terrier who was decidedly off with him and brushed him aside with the odd growl, rather like a sixth form prefect with a bumptious new boy.
I gathered that the woman was a widow, and that she had decided to buy a dog by way of companionship. Things had obviously worked out well for both of them.
"He is my rock," she said - and no pun was intended.
Had my wife been present, she might well have commented, as she is wont to do, "I can't think how anyone can live without a dog."
It’s a sentiment with which all fellow dog owners would whole-heartedly agree. Kerry Blues have been our dogs of choice for the past 40 years. Indeed, there was one in residence when we first met in the early seventies. She was called Kerrels (the dog, that is) and, as one brought up with dachshunds, it took me a while to establish a working relationship with an animal that was a good deal larger, hairier and more boisterous than anything I had been used to.
When you have experienced the very real feelings that a dog has for its owner, the sheer strength of will that many possess, and the huge range of human characteristics that all breeds display, you can't help thinking that there is a lot more going on in those furry heads than scientists would have us believe.
Kerrels’s attitude to me was no less cool, and for some time her gaze was (to quote P.G.Wodehouse on the subject of a similarly hairy dog in a Blandings novel) "cold, wary and suspicious, like that of a stockbroker who thinks someone is going to play the confidence trick on him."
Happily, we developed a warm relationship and she became a central figure in both our lives. As have all her successors.
A friend once remarked of one of them called Milly, that he thought she was really a human being wearing a dog outfit. I am not one to anthropomorphise animals, but when you have experienced the very real feelings that a dog has for its owner, the sheer strength of will that many possess, and the huge range of human characteristics that all breeds display, you can't help thinking that there is a lot more going on in those furry heads than scientists would have us believe.
Emily Dickinson went further. "Dogs are better than humans," she wrote, "because they know but do not tell."
Mind you, their attention span often leaves a lot to be desired - to wit, this little verse I once wrote on the subject, called Puppy Love:
When Dad comes home at half past six,
I'm on him like a shot
With leaps and bounds and slurps and licks
I give him all I’ve got.
I couldn't love a human more;
That's why I treat him rotten;
Then carry on as heretofore,
Attending to my bottom.
If you're a dog owner, or lover, let us know why you think they're man (and woman)'s best friend below.
By Christopher Matthew
Twitter: @Gransnet
I sometimes feel I could write my life story in dogs. They have enriched my life for as long as I can remember and I genuinely can't imagine life without at least one dog to share it with. As a child, I adored my grandfather's spaniel/lab cross. He was a mongrel in the 1950's, but would now be called a springador and cost lots of money, rather than be handed over at the pub on a Friday night as grandpa's dog was. My maternal extended family seems to be genetically predisposed to loving dogs, whereas dad saw himself as the person who had to draw a line in the sand about the number of dogs we lived with. He broke his own rule by coming home one evening with a Lancashire Heeler pup, given to him by a local farmer. The breed appealed to dads sense of independence I think, and others followed over the years. I currently have two dogs, but we've often had 3. I do understand, and accept, that not everyone loves dogs, some people fear them, and do my best to ensure that my two are pleasant and well behaved. They fill our lives with joy 
I use plastic bags with a plastic beach shovel thingy; I couldn't put my hand in a bad and do it 
. I'm rather taken with pugs these days, but scared to switch from my sighthounds having adapted my house and life to accomodate them.
Mine are poodle crosses, so definitely don't qualify as 'proper dogs' in the eyes of some dog breed snobs. Are we bovvered, no, we aren't. 
My DH would agree with vampirequeen but as well as our two Jack Russells I adore DD's two chihuahuas. They are full of character, obedient, cute and very funny.
We miss having a large dog around the place but we know we'd never cope with one now. 
blackdog2, that's a moving post from you. Dogs are remarkable therapy, either used in formal settings, or simply sharing our lives. My mum died after several difficult weeks, during which I must have been on auto pilot, emotions firmly held in place (most of the time ) The night she died, I came home, sat on the sofa, and howled, cried, sobbed. My two dogs had been asleep in another room, they came in put their heads on my knee, and clearly wanted to comfort me.
I took my young dog to visit mum in law in the nursing home not long before she died. He's a lively, often reactive young dog, but I knew from his previous visits to elderly people in residential homes, that he simply knows what they need. He is very quiet, calm and slow in his movements, rests his head on their knees, and stands letting them stroke him for as long as they like. dogs eh, who'd have them
Oh dear. Sorry I didn't mean to offend those who love little dogs. In fact I didn't really think through my post at all hence the rubbish grammar.
I didn't mean that terriers, poodles, diddly little things or heinz 57s aren't proper dogs. I meant dogs of a certain size that need a good long walk and will make me feel safe outside. A sort of mutual support partnership
I don't suppose you have offended anyone vampire, the phrase "proper dogs" is usually aimed at german shepherds, labs and other big dogs. I know that the breeds I currently share my life with aren't for everyone, and understand why that could be.
So many discussions about dogs seem to polarise folks these days.
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