Juggling Canines

 After twelve-ish hours of dog sitting over the weekend, I'm thoroughly reminded of reasons I don't have dogs. Or kids for that matter. Sure, dogs aren't allowed at my home, but I could have lived elsewhere if that was a priority. 

There's the big overarching reason that I dislike being responsible for others. I am, in some ways, deeply selfish. Being hemmed in by things I "must" do is acceptable on a work basis as that provides money which is necessary for everything else, but beyond that... I'm pretty notably resistant. I mean, I am fully capable of coordinating with other people or taking care of pets. I just don't like it. I can enjoy situations in which I am in some way responsible for other beings, but it's in spite of that rather than because of it.

Then there's the issue of communication. Watching over dogs, I find myself very much wanting to understand what they want. Not unlike babies, though, they have a fairly limited ability to communicate and failures there frustrate me even if I try very hard not to cast blame for that. It's not their fault. And that the pup could ring some hanging bells on the door to signal wanting to go out to avoid accidents inside was useful - but when he's ringing the bells every 20 minutes or so, one gets the feeling he's using it more for attention.

Juggling an older dog who has grown mellow and a still-eager and energetic few-month-old puppy was... interesting. I spent a non-trivial amount of time trying to run interference with the latter when the former shirked away from play-biting and such, displaying no real desire to push back. 

That pup's definitely got some vision-based hunter instincts. Movement draws his attention. And while distracting with some tug-of-war-ish play with a blanket, he would lunge near where my hand was holding and shake - something that made me think of pouncing to bite at the neck of prey. Also he very much likes to interact with everything by biting/chewing, but that's pretty widely normal from what I understand. I'm no canine behavioral specialist by a long shot, but that's what I saw in his actions.

It's hard to keep a young, active mind like that entertained for hours on end. And even if keeping up physically wasn't too bad, it was mentally tiring too. I think I probably should try to stress about it less, but that seems to be a difficult thing for me to do.

I kind of think I consider a fenced yard they can reasonably access is minimum in my mind for owning a dog, much less more than one. Even if they were allowed where I live, I don't think it's a particularly good place for them without private yards and such. I'm certainly no fan of barking or poop left around by owners not picking up, but I'm loosely on the side of maintaining the no-dog policy more for the sake of the dogs because I feel they deserve better than the complex offers.

But hey, that's just my not-a-dog-owner-anyway opinion.