Dog Love is Easy, Dog Duty is Not. Think Hard Before You Adopt One

People adopt pets for three reasons — for love, as a toy, or for social prestige.

The good news is that the number of pets adopted for love is increasing rapidly. But unfortunately, the adoption without real attachment is still substantial. These people are in most cases letting their pets go when they become old. To have a life of a virtual destitute, running scared on the roads, being chased by the strays while looking for food, and often dying a tragic death,

We can only feel unmitigated frustration and anger about people who don’t care about pets in their advanced years. If there is a place called hell, there should be a special place for these people. But often, we don’t look at the issues faced by genuine pet owners, especially the high medical costs that pets incur as they age.

We have two dogs. Holly, who is now approaching 9 years is an Indie and came to our home when she was 40 days old. Rescued from a roadside dustbin along with her mother, she made an entry in our life when our daughter turned 11, and started a “non-cooperation movement” unless we have a pup.

Bolt, who is now around 12 is a labrador, became family when he was six and a half years old. His previous parents had some challenges keeping him but were keen that he come to a home where he would be cared for.

We have brought up the dogs with a philosophy of providing them as much freedom as possible while being pets. Beyond the basics, we never trained them, as we believe that we have already taken up a lot of their freedom by making them domesticated. We always focused on their health as a top priority, both for nutrition as well medical care.

Caring for our two dogs over the years, I found the two challenges that every genuine dog owner faces — space and cost.

Recently I was talking to our apartment security guard, who saw me walking with our dogs. He said he had taken a puppy around a year back, and it has now grown so big that there is not enough space at home.

He could not tell me the breed, but the way he described it looked like Great Dane to me. The guard said someone gifted him the puppy, it was small and cuddly, and he took it home for his children. But he never imagined it would grow so much.

Dogs grow very fast, unlike humans. And in about 18 months, they reach their full body. Why so? Well because they live long.

Popular mid-size dogs like Labrador and Golden Retrievers can reach 35–45 kg and need space. And food too. Add to that they want non-vegetarian by nature (and if we adopt them, we need to feed them their food, can’t make them vegetarian based on our beliefs).

So simple rule of thumb, don’t adopt large breeds if you do not have adequate space, and readiness to spend INR 5 -6 K per month for the next 12 to 15 years. Dogs are family, and love is not enough. Duty of more important in the long run, like any relationship.

The other area one should think through is the medical costs, especially when the dogs grow old. This is more true for the foreign breeds, many of whom fall seriously sick when they grow old. I suspect much of this is congenital, given the abusive environment most breeders maintain for higher “produce”. Indies however are much more robust, thankfully they are complete anathema to the non-serious dog owners, and hence pariah (pun unintended) for the breeders. And generations of street exposure have made them hardened.

Pet health care in India is underdeveloped. Yes, now we find many young veterinary doctors, and the good news is many are choosing the profession out of passion. But pet healthcare facilities, mainly the good ones, are few and far between. And to top that, except for a few (like Metrogyl for stomach upset or Gabapentin for joint pains), human medicines are not prescribed for pets. Most pet medicines are either imported or manufactured in India with a license. This makes them utterly expensive.

For example, if your dog has cardiac issues, Cardio Support is the most recommended medicine. But the cost is INR 600 for 30 tabs, and it is one tab a day for the life.

Or is this an arthritis challenge (a very common problem with the breed dogs )given their heavy back weight), Condrovet is the standard supplement, but it will cost INR 100 a day. And that is too often for a lifetime.

So here is what your Puppy will soon grow into, big and expensive. And love only may not be enough, because love is easy, duty is not.

So what can one do? Owning a pet is a life-changing experience, for the entire family. And so many genuinely want to commit to a lifetime of relationships. What can they do to a fulfilling and ethical relationship with a pet dog? Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Adopt dogs who need you. Believe me, they are equally loving and cute however they look, it does not make a difference. I am however not talking of ones who only want a toy for their young kids, and get the convoluted social prestige of brandishing a dog of pedigree. I am talking to the genuine dog lovers.

2. That automatically brings me to be breeds of choice. If your house is small, go for the small breeds. Indies are a good choice, and if not there are enough foreign breeds that will well fit into a small place.

3. Don’t buy the dogs, but adopt them. There is always an oversupply of Indies to enter our homes, but if we wait some time and reach out to the right people, we can well adopt other breeds too. Well we may not always get the Labrador we want but rather get the Shih Tzu, but what the heck — can we even choose our children? And does it even matter?

And yes, there are always the ones abandoned by the heartless so that they can enrich their own decadent existence, they are waiting for us at the shelters.

4. If you want to have a dog, but both time and money. Yes, they are not toys but living beings, who can’t speak. And you and I are their world. Let’s not cheat them with what they need. That means we should be ready to spend time and money all through their life, especially when they are old. They need a commitment, and if we can’t let us not adopt. There are enough of them already who we can adore in the park or the café or in the friend’s home.

5. And this is most important — help the ones who are already there, and do not encourage the breeders to bring in the new ones. This is a dirty business. And remember, for the dog you love today, there is a mother who might have suffered immensely being used as a breeding machine, to be abandoned when their value was over.

So here we are — love is easy, duty is not. And commitment to a lifetime of care is more duty than love, which can be transient.

So just don’t feel you can make a good parent because some puppy makes your heart melt. Ask some tough questions to your head before committing.