I feel exactly the same. A woman with a dog is a plus because I get to play with her dog - as long as it's a fun dog. Which means a large or working dog like a german shepard or labrador retriever or something like that. My grandmother had little dogs that just made noise and didn't like to do anything else.
My roommate my senior year of college got a tortoise on a whim cause of a conversation he had with a girl over the summer. We were skeptical and kind of thought WTF, but totally agree. That little guy was hilarious, quirky, and dare i say loving? We would be sitting and watching TV and you'd see him slowly making his way around the corner and would come and sit next to your foot, or even try to climb on your leg and rest there. If I had kids and they wanted a pet when they were young, I'd seriously consider getting them a tortoise, assuming we likely would have a dog and/or cat before they were born.
Yea, I considered listing turtle as a stupid pet, but if they're easy to keep, can be personable, and little kids will have a hard time killing it. My young nieces like to torture my parents dog. He's an amazing patient dog so he puts up with it, but really small kids and dogs just don't work well together. I also feel like there's this misconception that big dogs are hard to handle, they're not. Last year I saw a woman walking two Newfs while carrying her infant child on her chest.
Tortoise, not turtles. Turtles are super cool in aquariums and zoos, but they smell, they are incredibly dirty and thus hard to keep their tank clean, and can't really touch them cause, ya know, salmonella. Tortoises, none of those issues.
You can get salmonella just from touching them? Good to know, tortoises win. I understand the tank thing, I used to have fish and cleaning tanks gets annoying and if you don't they really do start to smell bad in a hurry.
Yes! They know what's up. One time he took revenge on my cat by pushing two of his mice toys together and sitting on them. Savage.
Which means you saw this happen, and I picture all that happening at a really slow speed, which made me think of this:
Newfies look like the ultimate snuggle buddies, big and soft and docile. I lose it when I see them. I feel very fortunate my dog is super tolerant with little kids and random people, he just feeds on affection and wants to be everyone's friend. Really comes in handy when you have a little kid whose parents haven't taught them to ask before approaching someone's pet. This is accurate:
We have a tabby cat, nearly 11 years old. My wife and I bought it right after moving in together because that's what couples that you hate do. Booya has had the range to herself for a decade, until we bought the world's most hyperactive Basset Hound, Lola. The cat does not touch the floor anymore. If the cat stands up, the dog stands up, wags her tail and tries to kiss the cat. Which cats hate. So, the cat combos the dog's skull like Dan Henderson, but she's declawed at the front so long-eared idiot assumes that it's affection and the cat likes her. We've had the dog for two years. The cat does not like her. Booya will never, EVER like Lola. Because Lola refuses to stop loving the cat, because she's a Basset and they are the Ace Ventura of dogs: loves all animals, selective hearing and WEIRD AS FUCK. Do you you what this dog does to tell you her dish is empty? Every dog I've seen simply swats/flips their empty bowl, yes? This dog jumps in the ceramic tub and stomps her clawed rhino-feet until you make shit happen. We did not train her to do this, she NEVER goes near the tub for any other reason. I only owned bobbed dogs before, this dog has a massive sabre tail that never stops wagging. It turns out she has many reasons to wag her tail, such as: 1) I am happy. 2) I am excited. 3) We are going somewhere. 4) This hound is equipped with a tail. ...clears the goddamn coffee table off with one swing at least once a month. And don't let the dwarfism fool you, these sad-eyed buggers can reach GREAT heights with their anaconda bodies. She ate my whole goddamn blade steak when I let my guard down a few weeks ago. Train them all you want, but they take their orders from Planet Nose. I didn't know how lovable and cuddly Bassets were until we bought one. I thought I was buying a throw rug with lips. Instead, I find out that they are non-consentual teddy bears. When she's not fired up she has to be near someone, napping on someone, or laying over your feet. Good lord, hounds don't like sleeping alone.
Dogs are the greatest companion animals that could ever be devised. That said, I'm also a fan of cats, and am down to chill with a kitten from time to time.
Oh, you can just fuck right off. I have two ball pythons. ...But with that said, I'm getting pretty tired of them these days. I only have them because some friends of mine were moving and couldn't take them, and they gave them to me because I was very knowledgeable about snakes. They were fun at first, but I really don't have time for them now. The main reason I keep them around is purely out of sense of duty (these people ask me about the snakes periodically; maybe they're laughing at me behind my back.). They're really low maintenance, but buying mice every week is still a pain in the ass. And they've escaped on me a couple of times. However, I can understand why people would want to own snakes. Cats, on the other hand... My view is that the only good cat is a dead one. I don't like them, and they don't like me.
Focus: I live alone and have three cats. Alt-Focus: No stupid pets, as long as you can care for them. I'd like a dog, but they're more responsibility/less self-sufficient. Anti-Focus: Only if someone else killed them for me. Am I a real man, or what?
My aunt and uncle had a Bassett for a number of years. And it was simultaneously clever and brain dead, and a NEVER ENDING bucket of drool, which was a bit uncomfortable when he'd flop all 60 lbs of himself on you, drenching your shirt. But he was a great dog. He was sadly put down cause Bassets dont live all the long, and shortly after they got a new dog...a fucking hyperactive Yorkie my dumbass aunt calls "Shnappy". This piece of shit is allowed to do whatever he wants and is the most misbehaved dog ever. I'm not an ardent hater of small dogs, but this dog needs to be a Doberman's snack. He recently had to go to the hospital cause he was taunting and being a little douche to the neighbor's German Shepard that was tied up...and he was too stupid to make note of the length of the rope and nearly was swallowed.
Dogs can be assholes. My sister took her dog to the dog park, while there he went up to and pissed on a 5 year old kid.
Y Yorkshires and chihuahuas are wonderful for testing your garbage disposal or breaking in new field goal-kicking cleats. As a dog they have no use. Same goes for Pugs, a "dog" that apparently does not have knees.
I had a Newf as a kid. I've posted this photo before; me with her about a year after we got her. I'll trust a Newf with small children long before I'll trust a stranger. She was also great at chasing away traveling salespeople...they'd pull into the driveway, but wouldn't get out of the car or even roll the window down more than a few inches. Little did they know they were only in danger of drowning in slobber. We had several outdoor cats & they kept the rodent population in check. They weren't anti-social, definitely kept their own space, but the only problem was they did not like getting caged, or riding in a vehicle which made taking them to the vet entertaining.
If I get the space and the time for one, I'm definitely getting a Newf. And I've rethought my position on cats. I think outdoor cats are fine. Barn cats, are cool, they co-habitat and there's no expectation that they're personable like a dog. One big caveat though
I grew up with cats. If you actually pay some attention to them they aren't aloof or (as) disdainful. We had our cat of 14 years die last September, and wihtin 3 weeks of bringing home an ornately carved box full of cat ashes, we adopted not one but two more. The female is a sweetheart who plays fetch and jumps farther than any cat I've ever seen. The male is a bruiser, easily the biggest cat I've ever owned, and likes to roughhouse and be carried around. I love dogs, particularly Rottweilers and yellow labs, but growing up we couldn't have one due to the irresponsibility of my batshit crazy mother, and with both my wife and I working, the poor puppy would be alone way too long. Someday though.
One of our dogs, Rudy, was half Rotti,half lab. He had the protective instincts of a rotti but looked like a lab. I really loved how loyal and personable he was with my family, but at the same time defended the house and protected our other dog. I love labs, they are goofballs, but there's something nice about a dog who will protect the casa and be gentle at the same time that really draws me to Rotti's