On the First Day of Christmas

Posted on Dec 20 in The Right Small Dog for Youby Jeff K.Print

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,

A puppy.

A puppy for Christmas. Simply irresistable.

It’s Christmas morning. The kids jump out of bed and rush to the Christmas tree. Immediately, Sally grabs the biggest gift box with the brightest ribbon and begins to tear into it. She has learned that good things come in large packages. Joshua grabs the long box that probably holds the new A-Rod signature baseball bat he has been hoping for. He gets about halfway through the unwrapping when he notices another box under the tree that is gyrating on its own.

“Hey look!” he says. Sally is too absorbed with the shiny new tricycle she finds inside her unwrapped box to pay any attention to Joshua. Her brother abandons his own half-opened gift to investigate the movement under the tree. About this time, the kids’ parents enter the room, sleepy-eyed but smiling. They know what is coming next . . . or think they do.

Every year people give puppies as gifts for the holidays. What could be more delightful than a fluffy, pudgy little bundle of fun that comes right out of the box ready to play and love? Puppies seem to embody all that we love about this time of year.

Those of you who have followed this space know how I feel about buying a dog as though it were just another toy or doo-dad for the house. (See my article, Trinket Dogs.) You also know how I feel about getting a dog on impulse. (See, Read Before Opening.) While some people do careful research and think long and hard about what it means to buy a dog as a gift, many do not. The urge to buy a puppy as a Christmas gift for someone else can be overwhelming, sometimes overriding rational thinking.

Let’s rationalize for a moment. Would you ever consider buying someone else a pair of shoes? Probably not, and why? Because shoes almost never run true to size. It’s likely the shoes you buy for someone else will not fit. That is the way it is with buying someone else a dog. The gift rarely fits. If shoes don’t fit, the person who received them can always return them for a refund. The person who receives a dog as a gift may not have that option.

If you want to buy a puppy for the kids, it is important to realize in most cases, you will become completely responsible for the maintenance of the dog. True, there are some children who are preternaturally responsible beings, and may actually take care of the dog after the novelty wears off, but this is extremely rare.

Let me summarize by saying this. Most animal shelters are already full of unwanted dogs. This holiday season, please think long and hard about the consequences of giving a dog as a gift to someone else. If you know the intended gift receiver extremely well; and the two of you have previously discussed exactly what type of dog would fit in his/her home, or that person already has a proven track record with a particular type of dog; and that person has indicated that now is the perfect time to own a dog; and you have an excellent connection to a top level dog breeder; and you are prepared to care for the dog on your own should the experiment fail, then go for it! Otherwise, well, can I interest you in a nice wristwatch, or perhaps you would like to look at this year’s amazing collection of digital music players?

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