Worrying too much?

[Nicola]

Something I've been thinking about and I just responded on another thread here which was on a similar vein... do any of you think that people nowadays worry a bit too much about their dogs?

We were talking about this in our office actually about children and how sometimes a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing but it got me thinking and I think it could apply to dogs too.

Things like not feeding dogs chocolate or grapes etc... I'm not saying that that they are not toxic to dogs and I never give them to Alfie but when I had my first dog he ate chocolate regularly because we didn't know that it was harmful and he never suffered any ill effects at all. He passed away at the age of 14 and I know for a fact that most dogs belonging to various friends/family have been fed chocolate and things like grapes etc. over the years.

My family were farmers years back (1930s/1940s) and I have seen old b&w photos of some of the sheepdogs they used to have which lived outside, were never wormed or treated for fleas etc., were certainly never crate trained or had methods such as clickers or time outs used etc.. They ate whatever the family ate, never had any vaccinations and if they got a cut or scratch it was maybe dunked in water if they were lucky yet they all look supremely fit and in superb condition and my granny vividly remembers them as beautiful, healthy dogs.

I'm not saying that things we do nowadays like vaccinations etc. aren't the right thing to do but it just got me thinking about how different things are now compared to in the past and how perhaps sometimes it can be taken too far.

[Lumi]

Know what you mean. Difficult to know what to believe/do etc when we live in a world of fear and consumption, fear and consumption...fear and bloomin consumption

We fed our Yorkies chocolate without knowing of the dangers when I was growing up and our cat had milk for years and lived till she was 20 and she was the healthiest, trimmest, happiest madam of a cat EVER! 

in a similar vein, all that ridiculous advertising to make you afraid of bacteria etc in the home and get you to spray everything, squirt everything, wipe with a cloth once and throw away, bleach your loo everyday etc etc nonsense. Isn't there something about homes being so clinical now that incidences of allergies etc are rising? Not very helpful or informative comment from me, I know but there's something in there somewhere!

[Deb H]

Yes. I'm terrible OH thinks i'm a fruit loop where the boys are concerned. It's true what you say about years ago when people were less informed dogs lived on table scaps andthe like. I've mentioned it before but my parents dog has only recently died at the grand old age of 20!! She was never vaccinated flead or wormed and ate tinned dog food and mixer. She was only ever ill late in her life and Vivitonin soon sorted that out. My mum did ask the vet for some for my dad but they said no.

[SARAHLP]

 and our cat had milk for years and lived till she was 20 and she was the healthiest, trimmest, happiest madam of a cat EVER! 

Now hold on a second.....Cat's can't have milk?  I need a crash course in pet management!!!!   My 13 year old cat Holly drinks this everyday so I agree with the therory we must be a bit overcautious as she has nothing wrong with her?  She's a very trim skinny minny!     Also my OH Matt, his mum has a black lab & her neighbour often insists on giving him a treat sized dairy milk bar as a treat through the gate.  Mind you....He's the size of a house so this could be a choccy overload side effect 

[MrsMac]

Yep my whole family think I'm bonkers  

My parents in law say we'd have been easier to have another baby and they've never seen an animal fussed over so much as Melody.  I don't think I fuss her but they mean grooming every day and only walking 5 mins per month of age etc.  Their dogs were never 'fussed' like that.

[Joelf]

As a child we had a dog (heinz 57 type); he was a good tempered dog but I never remember taking him to the vet; certainly not every 5 minutes like we do with our dogs now!

Also my mother would just open the front door in the morning & let him out on his own for a couple of hours!!! One morning an irate neighbour came round & said he'd killed one of her chickens. The awful thing was it never occured to us that we were doing anything wrong; nowadays I never like the dogs to be out of sight even on a walk!!!

[Cob-Web]

Its like many things in life - its to do with risk  There were more dogs that DID die prematurely in the past, due to illness, poisoning, exposure and sometimes farm/working dogs were shot if they developed arthritis, or became agressive 

Similarly, the level of infant death was higher in previous generations; and babies born prematurely, or with special needs, often didn't survive

I agree things can be taken too far; I have to admit our house is nowhere close to sterile (and I let Molo lick my face, and he has been known to lick my daughters face too  ), but I do think that if fewer children and pets die as a result of improved knowledge about their biology/psychology, then its a good thing

[Annette]

Funny, I was mulling over a similar topic this morning. I was recalling long days spent with friends (all of us 9-10 years old) wandering around the countryside near Chipping Norton. We would be gone all day, jumping into rivers, walking over narrow ledges etc. Not everything was shared with our parents though

I could never rest easy letting Ben go off all day. It's such a shame for him.

When we first moved here I let him run accross the field to a local playground (just out of sight of the house), but I was a bit worried. Now I find that none of his nearby friends are allowed to play out unsupervised yet, and so there is no point letting him go on his own. I think the fact that we moved over from Ireland may have coloured my attitude a bit, it seemed safer there.

I do agree that there has to be a balance, but it's hard to know where.

[PennyB]

I do think so to a certain extent but we also expect a our dogs to deal with a lot more these days! Also my grandparents era was one where you trained a dog using harsher methods that probably made a dog more submissive, and wasn't actually training but a bit like the sort of discipline they were handing out at schools then (more punishment really)

[Wendy G]

I was born on a pig farm! in the 1950's. There were farm cats that were never fed,they lived on what they caught. We always had 2 terriers that lived on table scraps and slept in the workshop, they were out with my Dad all day every day,never dried or bathed, they were great ratters. I remember when Trixie had pups (planned I think as they all had homes waiting) and the Pups 1st meal was left over egg & fried bread!
We had an outside dry toilet,and no running hot water but we were hardly ever ill

Yet I am as paranoid about my dogs now as everyone else.

[Ben's mum]

My parents dogs when I grew up never had any innoculations, lived off leftovers with a handful of winalot, and without exception lived until they were at least 16 yrs with no health problems......?

Ben is on the best food I can afford (organic of course!), is pampered, cosseted and generally lives like a king, I'm paranoid about what he eats and what jabs he should and shouldn't have, one cough and he's down the vets.......

Bens mum

[miche]

I had a cat that I adored when I was a child, he was a tabby called Timmy - didn't eveyone have cat called Timmy .

He was only fed everyother day as he went out for a take-away the other nights

With my cocker boys - I worry about every little thing to do with their mental and physical health, I suppose I should lighten up really.

Also when it comes to the kids, I have lost count of the number of times one of them has had a headache and I make myself sick with worry as I am sure they have got meningitis.  We have a lot more information these days and this is a good thing as as Rachel says, a lot more lives are being saved.

[Penel]

I don't worry much at all any more.  I'm not trying to dismiss other people's worries - but when you have had a dog as ill as Saffy was for two years, "little" things that I would worry about before tend to fade into the background now....
I suppose we all have different "comfort levels".... mine have changed dramatically to what they used to be.