chapotraphouse

I had a very dogcentric childhood. My mother and dad (divorced) both had no less than 6 dogs at any point in my childhood. Most of my childhood at my moms she had 2 weinerdogs, 1 lab, 1 pitbull, 1 german shephard, and 1 outside beagle. Every day I'd spend 30min every 2hours taking them all outside so they didn't piss and shit on the floor.

Last I knew, in addition to having 4 dogs that she actually cared about, my mom had ~4 pitbulls in her basement that just lived in cages unless she was taking them out to piss and shit. These dogs are rescues from kill shelters, bait dogs for dog fighting or breeders for the same reason. They end up in her care because one of her "pitbull activist" friends will call her saying they are going to be euthanized, and she'll come adopt them on the spot. These shelters know my mom well, and to her credit, she does manage to get some of these animals into homes that probably treat them atleast a lil better than she does. I don't think she realizes how neglectful she is but she gets INCREDIBLY defensive when anyone brings it up. They'd be dead without her, but I can't imagine the life she gives them is one much worth living.

My dads dogs all came in at night, but they were all outside dogs living out in the countryside. My mother would always criticize the way my dad took care of his animals because he didn't keep them wormed but in comparison to my mother, I do feel like they had a far better quality of life. They did constantly terrorize the neighbors cows though, and there were a couple different occasions where my dad and I had to spend an afternoon picking birdshot out of them because a farmer shot at them. Eventually they ended up killing one of the neighbors cows and my dad had to pay, and that was a reason enough for him to stop getting new pets. His behavior was simply a different kind of neglect and I don't think it was good ownership at all, but I do think his dogs lived a better life than any of the dogs my mom had (including the indoor dogs I took care of growing up).

I don't really like the idea of owning pets in general because of my childhood experiences, but if you must own dogs, I think you need far more space for them than most people would consider necessary so they can experience some semblance of freedom, and I definitely think atleast 1/3 of their time should be spent out in the wilderness having fun doing dog things (I don't know if there are environmental reasons not to do this so input would be welcomed).