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Health and Behavioral Problem Discussions |
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In this section, Dr. Dare Miller answers our customers' letters.
LETTER# 6:
HUSBAND AND WIFE WANT TO GET THEIR FIRST DOG
Dear Dr. Dare:
My husband and I are going to get our first dog. We live in an adults only apartment house that takes dogs. That part is fine but he wants a Bernese Mountain dog while I think we ought to settle for a Pomeranian. Everybody tells us that an apartment is no place for a big dog and that we'll have nothing but trouble and that's not fair to the dog. Yet a working girl here has a Great Dane and he's a model of decorum— probably the best in the place. What should we do?
Bern or Pom in Tucson
Dear Bern or Pom:
This one may surprise everybody, but any breed is okay. The size makes little difference. Everywhere I go and from everywhere my mail comes I find tiny dogs in big apartments and big dogs in tiny apartments. Many doing fine thank you. We must remember that even big people— football stars for instance— adjust well to confined lives or even spent behind a desk. But, we say, dogs are different. Why? Most often I find it's not the size of the dog's body but the size of the dog's self-control that counts. And self-control gets its start from the owner's control. I always find that dogs act very much like the people with whom they live. If you decide on the Bernese Mountain dog recognize from the start that he'll be small only for a terribly short time. Prepare from the start a consistently moderate routine of recognition, food and exercise commensurate with your apartment life. Avoid inconsistent wild bursts of "letting off steam" or rough housing "exercise." It's not good. Plenty of exercise can be given together with recognition by regularly rolling a favorite ball which he brings to you. Learned self-control is the key and adopt him for life.
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