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You
have pot-holders, t-shirts, key chains, checkbook covers,
refrigerator magnets, artwork, greeting cards, garden sculpture,
etc. with your breed represented on it (Bonus points granted
for rare or large breeds and for commissioned work). |
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You
save up for months before a specialty show in order to round
out your collection. |
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You
buy premium quality dog kibble for your dog, but live on take-out,
frozen pizza, and blue-box macaroni and cheese yourself. |
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You
buy vitamin supplements for your dog and administer them daily
(wrapped in cheese if necessary), but consider yourself fortunate
if you remember to take your own more than twice a week. |
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You
have more dog beds, chew toys, collars, leashes, harnesses,
and dog crates than you have dogs (Bonus points if you've
kept puppy collars, toys, and crates for "the next one").
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You've
memorized you dog's pedigree at least 5 generations back (including
coat colors, kennels, and personality descriptions)--but know
next to nothing about your own parentage. |
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You
meet someone when out walking your dogs and you introduce
your dogs first. |
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You
meet other people with dogs, and remember their dog's call
name after 30 seconds, but don't get the owner/handler's name
until you've met them 2 or 3 times. (At which point you know
the dog's registered name, lineage, show history, and probably
only the first name of the owner/handler. Last names take
3-4 meetings unless you've heard about the people from other
dog people first.) |
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Your
dog gets a deep cut on the pad of his foot and gets emergency
medical attention at the vet; but you break your toes and
settle for taping them together with duct tape and taking
some aspirin to kill the pain. |
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Your
dog gets regular checkups every 6 months, but you've lived
in the state for five years and don't have a doctor yourself.
(Score double points on this one if you have a reserve vet
lined up for your dogs as well.) |
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The
word "bitch" becomes non-derogatory and flows naturally in
most conversations. |
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You
have a plastic kiddie wading pool in the back yard, but no
kids. (Double points if you have a pool for each dog.) |
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The
dog's kibble is stored in 45 gallon garbage cans, and the
water is kept in a bucket with it's own drip tray under it.
(Score extra if you have had a water tap installed over the
bucket to save time, or [for longhaired breeds] if you keep
a towel lying permanently on the floor to soak up drips and
squeegee around with your foot.) |
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You
slipcover all the furniture in a complementary color to your
dog to make it easier to hide/remove the dog hair. |
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You
use kennel disinfectant in the house. |
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You
have a case of Summer's Eve disposable douche in the house
for emergency treatment of a skunk attack. (Extra points given
if a male significant other picked this up for you at the
store.) |
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You
don't think twice about trading licks of an ice cream cone
with your dog. |
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Your
family has resigned themselves to the fact that you're bringing
your dog to all holiday gatherings (or you don't bother coming
at all). |
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Vaccination
and licensing records for all your dogs are in perfect order,
but your checkbook hasn't been balanced in months, and last
year's tax records are nowhere to be found. |
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You
keep license tags from dogs long gone to the rainbow bridge. |
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You
justify the purchase of a larger vehicle or house because
of the dogs. |
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You
change jobs so you can spend more time with the dogs. |
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You
justify the addition of a significant other in your life so
you can have someone around to pet sit when you go away on
business travel. |
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You
justify the addition of a significant other in your life so
you can have someone to hold the dogs when you're out walking
in town and want to run into a store to buy coffee or ice
cream. |
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You
plan all vacations around dog activities/events. ("Well, our
breed specialty is in upstate New York this year, let's get
out the map and see what else is interesting in that area..."
or "Let's go on a walking tour or Savannah so we can bring
the dogs along--now what hotel chains allow dogs?") |
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Your
dog gets his teeth brushed daily, scaled weekly, and dental
cleaning at the vet's every 6-12 months--and you can't remember
your dentist's name. |
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You've
memorized the vet's phone number. (Bonus points if you have
his home phone memorized as well.) |
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You
become paranoid about keeping ID on your dog at all times
(collar, tags, microchip, tattoo), but don't bother to carry
any ID yourself. |
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Your
parents give up on grandchildren and start to refer to your
dogs as "your kids" or your children." (Bonus: they start
to call them "our granddogs.") |
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90
percent of your Internet connection time goes to the dogs
(seeing what's new when you enter your breed into the browser,
reading up on multiple lists, checking out photos, sounds
and FAQs, etc.). |
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You
have kiddie gates permanently installed at strategic locations
in the house--but no kids. |
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You
have nose prints on all glass surfaces--windows, doors, inside
the car, etc.--and you leave them there because cleaning them
seems so futile at this point. |
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Your
dog gets sick and you sleep next to him in a sleeping bag
in the kitchen in case he needs to go out. |
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You
take a sick day from work to take care of your dog. |
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You
take bereavement leave when you dog dies. |
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Relative
solidity of dog excrement is a suitable topic for discussion
in mixed company. |
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You
carry plastic "pick-up" bags and an extra kennel lead in your
purse, pocket, and car at all times. |
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You
talk about your dogs the way most people talk about their
children. |
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You
go to pet supply stores on weekends because it's one of the
few places you can take your dog. |
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You
take your dog for rides in the car; and treat him to a drive-thru
window burger at McDonalds on special occasions. |
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You
celebrate dog events (new dog, dog birthday, finished championships,
etc.) by throwing catered parties with lots of people--but
you ignore your own birthday. |
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Your
license plate, license-plate frame, or bumper stickier mentions
your dog or breed. |
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You
lecture people on responsible pet ownership and breed rescue
whenever you can. |
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You
don't work late or socialize after work because you have to
get home to take care of your dog. |
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You
have hundreds of pictures of your dogs on your desk at work,
in your wallet, etc., but none of your family or yourself.
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You
keep 2-liter bottles of water and a water dish in the car
at all times. |
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You
keep the heartworm medication in the refrigerator in the "deli
drawer." |
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You're
willing to drive an hour in a snowstorm to make it to obedience
class, but can't be bothered to drive the 30 minutes to a
friend's house for dinner or to visit. |
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No
one wants to ride in your car because they know they'll get
dog hair on their clothes. |
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You
don't mind it when you find dog hair in the sink, tub, embedded
in the carpet or your clothes, or mixed in your food. (Take
an extra point if you don't bother trying to remove the hair
from your food--extra protein right?) |
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Half
your laundry is dog blankets, sheets, and beds. (Bonus: Your
dog was sick on them and you have to sneak into the local
laundromat at midnight to do the wash.) |
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You
never think about how much money you spend on the dogs (or
how much debt you could reduce by not having them around).
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You
reach into your pockets for change, and liver treats, dog
kibble, and pick-up bags fall all over. (Bonus: You've done
this in a classy establishment.) |
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You pick up other dogs' excrement when you go on walks in
your neighborhood. |
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All
of your charitable donations go to dog-related and humane
society groups. |
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You've
conducted a taste test for dog kibble by buying multiple brands
of food and evaluating your dog's interest in each one. (Extra
points if you made a party out of it and invited other friends
and their dogs over. Or tasted it yourself.) |
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You've
had long meaningful discussions with your friends on the best
way to trim your dog's nails, but have never had a manicure
or pedicure in your lifetime. |
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Your
personal calendar has notations in it for heartworm medication,
vaccine and license renewals, obedience class, breed club
meetings, local shows, sale days at Cherrybrook, etc.--but
few or no family events. |
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Tax
rebates go to "the dog fund" or a spending spree through the
supply catalogs. |
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You
get birthday cards for each of your dogs from family, friends,
and the vet. (Bonus if you keep them on the refrigerator for
more than a month.) |
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The
total "poundage" of canines outweighs the total poundage of
humans in the household. |
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Your
dog does something wonderfully cute, and you call your friends
to tell them about it. (Bonus: The call is long distance,
to a non-dog person, and you keep them on the line for more
than 2 hours.) |
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You
are unbelievably pleased to receive a dog item (any dog item)
as a gift--especially from a "non-dog" friend. (They really
cared--even if it's not your breed.) |
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You'll
buy anything with your breed on it--even the mug with the
Malamute on it that looks like an anemic Siberian Husky, or
the Greyhound keychain that looks more like an Italian Greyhound.
(Note: People owned by rare breeds are very susceptible to
this disease.) |
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You
order a tailor-made dog blanket to keep your aging dog warm,
but don't wear anything yourself that didn't come through
a production line. |
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All
of your furniture came to you second hand or via curbside
discard, but your dog crates are top of the line, industry
premium. You consider dog crates to be an inspired form of
interior decorating. (Bonus: you use them as end tables in
your living room.) |
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You
spend more time and effort grooming your dog than yourself.
(And it shows--your dog gets more compliments than you do.)
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Books
and movies are ruined for you if the dog references are incorrect.
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You've
considered moving into the kennel since it's cleaner than
your house. |
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You
have a bad day and decide that your dog is the best "person"
to talk it over with. |
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The
sound of any liquid hitting the floor two rooms away at 3
a.m. is enough to launch you out of bed; but otherwise you
can sleep through a ringing telephone, the alarm clock, earthquake
tremors, etc. |
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Your
mood today depends on how yesterday's training session went.
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The
highlight of your day is spending time with your dog. |
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You
spend a fortune to visit another country, and spend all your
time visiting kennels. |
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You
spend a fortune to visit another country, and spend all your
time visiting kennels. |
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You
chirp, cluck, whistle, make kissy noises, and give "stay"
and "heel" commands to your car. (Bonus: if you do this and
give the "beg" command to your significant other.) |
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Most
of your social life is with other dog people. |
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You
run out of books to read on your breed/interest and hear about
a new book being released in another country. You call every
person you know and start to figure out exchange rates, query
the Internet, etc. to obtain it. |
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Susan
Conant's "Dog Lover Mysteries," however humorously told, sound
like real life. |
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You
watch simply awful movies because your breed is either featured
in a cameo scene or there's a 3-second camera shot during
a crowd scene. (Bonus points awarded if you move through the
scene frame by frame or in slow motion, or if you watch the
rest of the movie.) |
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You
get so frustrated about the lack of cable TV in your area
that you get a satellite dish or direct feed so you can watch
the Westminster Kennel Club Show on the Madison Square Garden
network. |
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You
know more about canine nutrition than human nutrition
(and it shows). |
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All
of your clothes have dog hair on them, even when they come
back from the laundromat or dry cleaners. |
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You're
willing to pet sit, but not baby sit for friends. |
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The
only thing your friends, colleagues, and passing acquaintances
say to you when they see you is, "How are the dogs?" or "How
many dogs do you have now?" |
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Your
dog gets his coat stripped/trimmed more often than you get
a hair cut. |
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You
save every dog magazine you've ever bought. |
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If
a conversation with your family includes: "Are dogs all you
*ever* think about? They are running your life--all your money,
time, friends, vacation, and holidays are spent with the dogs.
Even your house and car!!..." and you can still smile. |
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Your
vet, back-up vet, emergency vet clinic, and obedience instructor
are all programmed speed dials on your telephone. |
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Your
photo Christmas cards feature your dogs (humans optional). |
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You
have memorized the addresses of your breed association, local
clubs, and the AKC. |
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You
think about saving all the fur from your dog's spring shed
to have it made into a sweater. |
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You
have extra dog collars and leashes on the walls, grooming
tools on the TV and sofa, dog beds strewn across all flat
surfaces, kibble crud around the base of your cabinets, chew
toys everywhere, dog-fur dust rhinos skidding across the carpet,
and a long line of drips from the water bucket to the living
room across the hardwood floors--and you don't care. (Bonus
and automatic win if you have important company coming and
you ignore all the housekeeping in order to groom the dogs
before company arrives.) |