Artyczar
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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.
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.
