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Originally Posted by livingdustmops  And this is the problem with this kind of thread. The fact of the matter is many college (age) students give up pets or have them for the wrong reason and don't have the $$$ to pay for them. Are you ladies the exception, I am going to assume yes (I don't know you) but why would you let your temper get in the way of your thinking on this subject. Look at statistic's or live in a college town and work in shelters...that tells the real story. You know in your heart not everyone should have a pet and sadly the younger the age the more inclined the animals will be given up...weather it is to their parents, friends, shelters, rescues..you name it.
The bigger problem to me is after college. Owning a pet is a privilege and not a right as my friend Alison would say.
P.S. If you are not comfortable with the word college then okay young people should not own pets until they have settled down. This thread will come up and people will say...see they took care of their pets in college...
Frankly I am just as disgusted with the ad for the college dorm where you can have a pet...it just screamed Paris Hilton to me... |
Cindy,
I think again it comes down to the person, not their age.
How can you plan your life? Could my boyfriend's parents plan that their college age daughter was going to get pregnant, move in with her boyfriend and child, and now they have to support a whole other family and the two dogs they own.
I have lived in two college towns. Due to my line of work I have known many college kids who have owned dogs. Are some great? Yes. Are some horrible? Yes. But this is no different than the 40 year olds I meet.
Money issues can come at any age. I would almost be confident to say that there is a larger risk of having a money crisis as an adult than a student because you have a family, more payments, etc.
Many reasons that people give up dogs- moving, children, allergies, time can happen at any age.
I think it comes down to are you willing to do anything you can to keep your dog once you have it at any age.
The fact may not be that they are college students, but rather like any person who owns a dog that they have to give up, they haven't thought things through or an emergency happened. I would be willing to guess most of these dogs have been bought from pet stores or byb breeders on a impulse because they are cute.
I'm not saying that all college kids should own dogs, because they shouldn't. Just as there are adults that shouldn't own dogs.
It comes down to at any age- if you are responsible and willing to do what needs to be done to own a dog. Then you should own a dog, if not, then don't.