Throw me to the Dogs.

As promised, the lowdown on my animal visiting.

We got to the shelter (which is in the middle of NOWHERE) and told the girl at the desk that we were there to play with the animals, etc.
she gave us the scoop, you tell her which dogs you want to take out, and play with any and all of the cats that you want.
We went and I got morgan to actually touch a cat or two (this is huge because Morgan thinks cats are the creepiest animals ever. --might be an exaggeration) The thing was, all of these cats were so fat. I'm not sure why, but they were all obese. Now I guess I'm just used to seeing skinny shelter cats, so it was a weird shock for me. There weren't even very many cute ones- and not a lot of kittens- I must have missed that section.
So we decided- Onward! to the dogs! First we visited the small dogs/puppies section. and there were two puppies total- little beagles that were ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE. (that's right, all caps.)
We then went to walk some dogs. The first dog I walked "Beaufort" was adorable. Now normally, I love fluffy, slobbery, big dogs. But Beau, as I called him, was a big-ish hound mix thing. not hound enough for me to think him ugly, but not my normal cute. He was fun and playful, and loved to jump and play. he didn't know any directions, like "sit", "heel", or "down", but he was so sweet and energetic. I probably would have got him if I could have. I am definitely walking him again when I go back.

The next dog I walked was "Maggie". She looked all cute and adorable (like a certain flat coated retriever I used to know- except 45 pounds lighter) But she was really all muscle. That dog was crazy- as soon as we got out into the walked area, she grabbed the leash and started growling something serious- at first I was totally scared. I was thinking, "Shit. I took out the dog from hell."
It took me a second to realize she was playing, but I did not want to play that game. So she pulled me all over the yard- being mean and obnoxious. At one point, we did actually play tug of war, and she was pulling at the bottom of the leash, when the chain slipped right off her head. Another Shit. My life flashed before my eyes in the form of visions of Maggie taking off all over the Christiansburg countryside, attacking small children and peeing on rose bushes.
Noticing Maggie was waay to into our game of tug-a-war to care about taking off- I slipped the collar back on and grabbed the base to make it tighter. Maggie then proceeded to try and tug-a-war with my hand. The hellion was trying to rip me apart!
Luckily, Maggie understood two words: her name. and the command "down" at which point she would sit. and then proceed to lay down to have her belly rubbed. Which I did. Several times.
Overall, she was sweet, but so messed up.

It made me think about the kind of people who raise these dogs, and then give them up. People train dogs to be a certain way, then blame the dog when they get a little rambunctious and want to play. Do they not realize that a lot goes into training animals? buy a book! do it right! If you can't afford a book at the bookstore- go to the public library! On second thought- if you can't afford a puppy training book, don't get the damn puppy!!

Animal responsibility is so important. I always have and always will stress this point: When adopting, buying or keeping an animal, you are responsible for it's life.
It's really just like a child. If you raise a child and don't teach the child manners, rules, or morals- the child will most likely grow up without them, unless there are other influences in their life that teach him or her those things.
Animals are exactly like this- they are your children, only they have no other place to learn manners, etc.. They don't have a school, teachers, friends, or other environmental influences.
They. Have. You.

You are an animal's world! If you don't feed it- it starves. If you don't love it- it gets mean. If you beat it- it will defend itself.

So please: Love your animals. Feed them. Keep them Warm. Teach them manners. Give them a healthy home.