[flopay]

Sometimes people think I am overly cautious, paranoid, strict, or just down right nutty when it comes to caring for my dogs. I crate them when I cant keep an eye on them, and I watch them like a hawk, wont let anyone else take care of them. My sister said it would be OK for the dogs to be lose in her house which is 5 bedroom with 2 children and im like NO WAY cause there are toys around and im afraid of them eating something without my supervision. Does anyone else have the problem of being super careful with there dogs?

[Immusaatmonna]

im cautious and take xtra precaution for some things.

but..............not to that extent lol

[Serereids]

ya me too, then my girlfriend steps in and thinks her babies couldnt be capable of anything but perfection.lol i always take percautions especially since these two girls are the first dogs ive owned. im overprotective at times

[zdlupikkkdi]

I am totally that way.

I am a little bit paranoid because I am always imagining the worst happening; and sometimes I wish I could be more carefree like other people I see who don't seem to be bothered by anything.

For example; before we realized Veronica hated long car rides and that my mother prefered to have her home with her (my mother being the only person allowed to watch her ever; and I would never trust a boarding facility)...we used to take her to visit my in-laws in the country.

I had to always have her on a leash, or in her crate or within 6 feet/eye view in the house...because I was worried someone would open the door and she would get out, or she would eat something and die. Then I would get teased because she couldn't go outside without her leash and run around because there "was nothing around and she wouldn't go anywhere".

Then there would be my brother-in-law & sister-in-law (and they didn't live around there either) - they would let their dogs out to roam, forget them outside, forget to give them dinner...

and do you know...so far none of their dogs have gotten lost, eaten by a wild animal or ended up dead. In fact their Westie lived to be 17.

One day my sister-in-law mentioned they both were stressed and took xanax occasionally...and I thought to myself, "What the hell do you 2 have to be stressed about"? I've never seen 2 people seemingly less stressed about anything in my life! Guess you never know though. Well, I guess they worry...just not about their dogs.

---------- Post added at 07:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:29 AM ----------

Oh here's another good one:

one of our trainers mentioned that our goal is to compete in Rally O this November.

Then she said I should take a crate to put Veronica in so we wouldn't have to watch her constantly; that way we could walk around & watch the show while we wait for our turn.

Now I'm all stressed out; and the only thing I can think is: I can't not have her crate in eye view constantly...because someone will steal her, or mistake her for another dog and she will get lost.

Seriously. someone will steal my overweight, occasionally ill behaved reactive pet bull because she's such a catch!

[Louthcoombutt]

I believe in exercising caution.. or I call it common sense...
I have fire extinguishers in my home, but I am not expecting a fire...

[Zaxsdcxs]

I am cautious,too. I don't let anyone watch my dogs, I always keep them either in my fenced yard or leashed. I am now crating my adults (who I thought were wll past such things) when I cannot supervise since the couch cushion incident and I am super paranoid my dogs will eat somthing harmful as they love to chew and have a special liking for plastic bottles such as cleaners come in.

I spend a lot of time with slobber covered hands, looking into the mouth of a dog, going "Hey! Whatcha got in there? Open mouth!"

[luspikals]

I would say I am uber-responsible rather than paranoid... Living with roommates has definitely forced me to give up some control and made me put a lot of trust in how they are with Ginger when I am not around.

[CaseyFronczekHomie]

I say do what ever you need to do to give you your comfort level.
We just don't travel out of town except for day trips because it just isn't worth it.
We have some close friends who are over here almost daily to visit because we have their dogs here at our place at the moment(probably for a long time to come) that we could depend on if we had an emergency.
Plus I have been on call every day of my life for several months now..bleh.

[evalayCap]

I call it being prepared!

[ovenco]

I think I'm semi paranoid but 100% prepared.
For instance I don't let anyone else walk Athena. She's becoming DA and my biggest fear is someone else not fully understanding the extent of it and allowing her close to another dog in the neighborhood. Also, she's never ever allowed outside without me because a few idiots were way to interested in her when we first got her, if she ended up missing I would tear apart this state and all the surronding states to find her. And she is crated when we leave for many reasons, 1. her own safety so she doesn't get into something, like wires, that could hurt her. 2. She's still a pup and like to have accidents if you don't rush her outside when she says she has to go. I think as a dog owner, especially a pit owner, you need to be extra aware of your surrondings and your dog's surrondings. It's better to be overprepared than under prepared.

[tearidrusydet]

My in-laws always rolled their eyes at us and how we take care of our dogs, but unlike our in-laws our dogs......

....have never been hit by a car for running into the road.
....have been shot for running loose throughout their rural area.
....have never had ticks latched onto their eyelids and under their arms.
....have never had consistent explosive diarrhea because they change their food to "something they can afford."
.....have never showed up with a 6-inch gash from being sliced with barbed wire after being chased off a neighbor's property by the resident bull.
.....have never sliced their tongue open when getting into the trash/metal can when no one's looking.
.....have never (and will never) have multiple litters of puppies because it's "cheaper for her to have puppies than get fixed." Unfortunately, after four litters of puppies, the female died due to complications that went unnoticed because they let her run free.


The last one was a major turning point when they started listening to Andrew and I and how we care for our dogs. We taught them about good nutrition (and did so in a delicate way so they didn't think we were being arrogant,) helped them with getting their dogs spayed and neutered, helped them with flea/tick/HW preventative, and helped them fence their entire property.

I don't think we're overprotective of our dogs, but we are responsible.

Our dogs have their own room that contains their crates. They know what "bed!" or "house!" mean and take off running for them. We don't let them outside without us being home, and we check on them sporadically when they're outside, too. We still have our house "puppy-proofed" even though they're not puppies, etc.

[gWhya5ct]

One could also say that those same people don't know enough about dogs to properly care for one so they don't recognize it for what it is when they see it.

[gDGwm8BC]

I am super careful with mine... everyone thinks I'm overly cautious... however, most "accidents" happen when you let your guard down, whether it's between animals, vehicles, or whatever. Once you let your guard down, you leave the door open for something to happen. Like I always say, it may not happen today, tomorrow or next month, but it may happen and it's better to be like the Boy Scouts, "be prepared", prepare for the worst, but expect the best".

[flopay]

I feel better now.

[SarkisPioute]

I'm paranoid. I don't like leaving them with anyone really besides my parents and my bf parents and really thats a hard thing for me to do. I had a friend who lived with me and her mom came to visit and she insisted on taking the dogs for a walk, together. She had a boxer and a st bernard but I don't know what kind of owner she is (and now I do as she wants to breed her boxer because she'd make beautiful puppies). I almost felt bad for saying no but at the same time I'm just trying to be a responsible owner.

[anconueys]

Everything thinks I care too much about my dog. Everyone is like She is just a dog. She is not just a dog, she is my dog.

They think I'm crazy to go to a specialty store to buy her food. They don't get why I don't go to wal mart and get it like they do. Even though I've tried to explain a million times.

They ask why I won't let her outside offleash, well we have a leash law in our county and in our apartment complex and if our dog is running loose we get fined.

Why I take my dog with me when I travel, well I enjoy being around her.

Why I insisted she go through training classes when she was a pup

But for all the precautions I take I can say that unlike the people who ask this:

My dog has never gotten loose and ran off
My dog has never been in a dog fight
My dog has never been hit by a car
My dog is healthy and at a decent weight
My dog is well trained and minds and doesn't bite


The list goes on


At the end of the day I consider my dog a very important part of my family so ofcourse I'm cautious. And I would never put her in a position that would set her up to fail

[CedssypeEdids]

I believe in exercising caution.. or I call it common sense...
I have fire extinguishers in my home, but I am not expecting a fire...

^^^^That.

[anconueys]

I believe in exercising caution.. or I call it common sense...
I have fire extinguishers in my home, but I am not expecting a fire...

Very well put