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Message: [QUOTE="storrsroars, post: 3994139, member: 2500"] The "problem" with dogs isn't that they're a lifelong project, it's the owners that think it isn't a lifetime project and don't take responsibility for their "purchase". I had pound dogs as a kid and we really didn't know what to do with them, my mother simply got us a couple dogs after my dad died for her own reasons. Neither dog amounted to much, which was our fault. As an adult, I'm on my third. First was from a reputable breeder and we trained him on agility, second was a 12-year old who was being abandoned and just needed a place to live out his final couple years, current one was being fostered, but ostensibly on "death row" as if he wasn't placed shortly, he would be euthanized. He is an ill-conceived mix of a golden and a great pyrenees, a mix that should shouldn't exist and certainly should not be bred as a "designer" dog. Great pyrenees are territorial, work alone, don't take direction well, and don't play much, especially not with other dogs. We got him at three after he'd been dumped by previous owner for barking incessantly (which is their job) and spent most of two years either in shelters or fosters. He looks like a big golden and most people assume he is. He isn't and can be absolutely terrifying if one is expecting a dumb, friendly golden. Four years later, he's been the most rewarding experience of any dog I've had. It took a long time to understand him and gain his trust, and truthfully I was almost ready to give up a couple times because it seemed hopeless. But sometime in the third year with us, things clicked and it's been amazing - and not GenZ hyperbolic "amazing". He still patrols the perimeter fence and barks more than other dogs, but we can now mitigate that. He's learned to play a bit (he has no retriever instincts). He's the perfect trail dog and I trust him implicitly off leash in the woods. We work as a team out there and it's often my favorite part of the day just watching him in the woods or swimming in a pond. Cats are fine, but I've never really had a "rewarding" experience with any of the cats I've had. Sure, having them paw your chest is cute and all, but a cat is a cat and pretty much a finished product when you get it. The reward of a dog is the payoff of all the work. [/QUOTE]

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