Women Working Harms Dogs?

jbbonce

On BBC News 24 yesterday morning there was an segment about obesity in dogs. The expert (I don't recall his name) said the major reason was because with both partners working, there was no-one to spend quality time with the dog and he would seek comfort in food. Although they did not explicitly blame women for this, it seemed to be another stick to beat women with.

As if we weren't bombarded with enough 'facts' of the evils of women daring to leave the house.

mistyarthur

Just a fact of life I'd hardly say a stick to beat women with! Just pointing out to people cause some may not actually realise. Men are just as responsible for looking after a dog as they are for looking after a kid its the way society is now.

Morglin

As working mums generally have to take responsibility for every aspect of domestic life as well as their paid employment, is it too much to ask that men at least take responsibility for Fido?

Lin :huh:

catkins

It makes me laugh that they say the dog may seek comfort in food - since when do dogs get their own food? My dog is intelligent but I have never yet seen him opening the fridge in order to binge or making a sandwich!!

Joking aside, I do think it's sad that so many people have dogs that are left all day while they are out at work although this is obviously preferable to the dog having no home at all. I actually work part time because I have a dog and this enables me to spend all morning with him, mainly walking him, and then he sleeps for the 4 hours I am out of the house.

Quite a few of my neighbours have dogs that are never walked and most of them do not even work. The woman across the road from me has a roittweiller (sp) which in the 2 years I have lived in my house I don't think has ever been walked. She only has a small garden so it is no wonder the poor thing barks almost all the time. She drives every morning to the paper shop which is about a 5 minute walk away - why she cannot at least walk the dog there I just don't know. So a lot of it is probably lack of exercise more than anything. Even people I know that do walk their dogs it is often only for 10 minutes or so and that is not enough especially if they are on the lead.

JennyW_2

catkins wrote:

It makes me laugh that they say the dog may seek comfort in food - since when do dogs get their own food? My dog is intelligent but I have never yet seen him opening the fridge in order to binge or making a sandwich!!

Joking aside, I do think it's sad that so many people have dogs that are left all day while they are out at work although this is obviously preferable to the dog having no home at all. I actually work part time because I have a dog and this enables me to spend all morning with him, mainly walking him, and then he sleeps for the 4 hours I am out of the house.

Quite a few of my neighbours have dogs that are never walked and most of them do not even work. The woman across the road from me has a roittweiller (sp) which in the 2 years I have lived in my house I don't think has ever been walked. She only has a small garden so it is no wonder the poor thing barks almost all the time. She drives every morning to the paper shop which is about a 5 minute walk away - why she cannot at least walk the dog there I just don't know. So a lot of it is probably lack of exercise more than anything. Even people I know that do walk their dogs it is often only for 10 minutes or so and that is not enough especially if they are on the lead.

I agree, I'm not sure why people take on dogs when they just get left in the house

I have two dogs and they are walked every day, whatever weather, 3 times.
The couple next door to us have 2 large dogs and in the 6 months we've been there I've only seen them walked once :eek: most of the time they are chucked out into the garden. I often hear them bark at 10.00pm coz they want to come in

Justie

catkins wrote:

It makes me laugh that they say the dog may seek comfort in food - since when do dogs get their own food? My dog is intelligent but I have never yet seen him opening the fridge in order to binge or making a sandwich!!

yes quite :rotfl:

I think owners working (whether they're in a couple or not) may mean there is some guilt there and they spoil the dog cos they feel it's being ignored, or that they're too tired to work at boundaries, but it's about how you train your dog that counts and making sure that it has enough exercise. We have a Lab and they're notorious for being food orientated but he's not encouraged to beg for food. He's never fed tit bits from out plate and he has to work for his treats (just by doing simple commands, 'find it' etc) and he's a very well balanced fit dog.

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Well to be honest - alot of people feed their dogs the amount stated for recommended daily intake for doggies on the packet and this is actually a bit too much for them, so i was told by a vet.

Also many people just feed their dogs 'dog food' but actually they need veg too, fresh that is. My dog goes crazy for fruit, also her favourite treat is chopped up sweet pepper! I prefer it than giveing her doggy treats from a packet. She has her Ceasers (2-3 a day, once with biscuits) and then treats/snacks consist of fruit or veg. Sometimes we replace one of the ceasers with extras from what we make for dinner.

Like humans, dogs need a balanced varried diet too!

Our Skye is a westie but she doesnt look as round as alot i have seen, vet says she is perfect! Bouncy, slim but firm body (compared to many other westies), gorgeous, intelligent, and crafty 3 yr old!

Ooooh, i love her!

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

And adding to all of that - i am in most of the day now due to having bubba, but before when i used to work she was fine, so its more about how you look after them. I mean she has one bed in our bedroom for night time and one in the kitchen for the rest of the time she wants to sleep (even though she barely rests in the day) so she is never couped in one place for too long!

Eels100

This is ridiculous. If a dog is obese its because of a combination of two factors - it's eating too much and it's not getting enough exercise. Dogs do not 'comfort eat', and even if they did dogs should not be fed ad lib. Unlike cats, eventually they will always overeat if their intake is not controlled. It's not like they're sitting home all day watching LK Today and eating Ben and Jerry's to stave off boredom. They're more likely to be eating furniture and swearing at the postman.

It's perfectly possible to work and have a slim dog. You walk the dog before work, let it out at lunchtime, and walk it after work. You don't overfeed it. When the packet says 'feed X amount', ignore it. Feed what you like, and if the dog gets fat, reduce the size of the meals. If it gets thin, increase the size of the meals. If it starts to eat your furniture it's not because it's A) hungry or comfort eating, it's because it's bored witless and you're not getting up early enough to walk it properly. Either that or it's got its eye on one of those posh velour corner suites modelled by Philip Schofield and that fat bird off the Ryvita ads.

We both work full time and have two fit, healthy dogs. We'd never have a puppy because we're not around enough to train and entertain a young dog, but our lazy middle-aged mongrels are delighted with their slothful life and modest servings of Chappie. I can live with the fact that dogs are not small human beings in fur coats. Why should I feel guilty?

Justie

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: ph eels what a class post! And spot on a bored dog is a dog that's not tired enough - our boy sleeps all day and all night cos he's knackered - as long as he gets his daily walk gets let out in the garden a couple of times a day and has half an hour of play in the evenings he's fine. In fact half the time he prods us to go to bed so he can get proper uninterrupted sleep :rotfl: