Art talk/Dog talk

It is not only the allergies to be honest. We have tried to have a dog here before and it's not feasible.

The dog we moved here with died a tragic death because of predators, and even getting a larger dog, as to not be messed with by these wild animals, there are just too many other factors that keep us from having one here. There's no yard and about a billion chollas anyway. The dog could never be off leash, so there'd be constant walking up steep hills (and I am somewhat disabled).

A bigger dog requires much more exercise. It's about a fifteen-minute drive to the dog park where they could finally be off-leash. The dog would have to like car rides and that was hard to find so far. Even our little dog who died hated to ride in the car. She hated the dog park too, but she didn't "need" so much exercise. She rean around the house and wore herself out and we played games.

A little dog, even being walked on a leash is still a danger. If a coyote wants it, they will take it out of your arms if they are hungry enough. If they come in twos, which they often do, your person would be in danger too. They don't mess around. Bobcats are possibly worse, but they don't come around as often as coyotes.

Coyotes can jump a six-foot fence. Even if we had one, the fence would have to be eight feet or have a closed top, but we rent and cannot put in a fence, nor could we afford to do that and cut down every cholla. The chollas outside of a fence would only blow onto the property from the wilderness around us. (Those are called "jumping chollas.") Most people walk their dogs carrying tweezers for their dog's feet--no joke!

Hannah has more concerns about all these things more than I do, plus allergies, paranoid to take any dog outside to go to the bathroom at night in the pitch black. I am not as freaked out about that if it's a bigger dog.

Bottom line, she really didn't want a dog. She was trying to make me happy. Now she just feels guilty all around. I don't want her to feel that way. I am just trying to get over not having a dog in my life anymore. It's hard because I've always had one. The last two and a half years has felt empty. I love dogs more than I can really express. I will have to volunteer at the shelter or something. Maybe once this last scenario passes, I'll be up for something like that.

Sorry this was long.
 
Thank you for expanding on the situation. Lots of issues, and not a single one could be waved off as insignificant. Simply seems that the cons for having a dog far outweigh the pros. And that's just a damn shame, dog lover that you are. ❤️
 
Yeah, those are pretty harsh circumstances to try and keep a dog. Looking in from the outside one would say the only rational decision is not keeping one. But I have a lot of understanding for the emotional desire to get one...
I am very lucky in that the biggest land predator around here is the arctic fox , and they are tiny, the biggest ones are about housecat sized, no threat for any dog. (though very VERY seldom a polar bear gets in trouble, and makes its way to Iceland. A friend of mine actually shot one).
Have you considered other pets? I mean, tbh dogs are very much my favourite too, but there are of course other options.
 
As someone who lives around coyotes and have had encounters with them I just have to say. In my experience the rest of the pack tends to back off pretty quickly once the first one takes a bullet.
 
Thanks everyone for understanding. I appreciate it. Maybe one day if we ever move and have a fenced yard. That would be more ideal.

16ga, it is illegal to shoot or kill a coyote, or any wildlife here. They are highly protected. The day after they killed my dog, it certainly crossed my mind, but they are just being what they are. Unless you were fighting for your own life, I think it could be justified. I heard of a guy hitting one coyote over the head with his coffee mug once to get him away from his small dog near his house in a denser neighborhood area that's located a few miles from my place, as he described it at the dog park one day. Hopefully he had a hard head, but at least it kept him from eating his dog.
 
Oh…. Where I am coyotes are the only thing that can legally be hunted 24/7.
 
It sounds like the allergic reaction was a "blessing in disguise." I used to find walking my Shih tzu dog in Bull terrier country traumatic enough, and grass seeds were a potential risk, but nowhere on a par to Jumping Chollas, which must be horrendous for the wildlife that are unable to remove them. Volunteering elsewhere and appreciating the wildlife, and ecosystem, there, is probably for the best. Meep. Meep. I would have liked a pet tortoise.
 
We have desert tortoises here that are rare to see, but they come around once in a blue moon. Also highly protected, so you can't keep them as pets. I'm sure someone tries to somewhere. They live like 100+ years!
 
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