You’re barking up the wrong tree if you get a dog for Christmas

It’s a regular complaint in our house. “You’re much better off being a dog than a husband here,” my spouse will grumble at least once a week, writes Alison O’Connor.

It’s a regular complaint in our house. “You’re much better off being a dog than a husband here,” my spouse will grumble at least once a week. The children’s take is slightly different, but along similar lines: “You know, he’s only a dog, Mum.”

The truth is that we all adore our dog Max. It’s just that I adore him the most and he returns that adoration in spades. As I type he is dozing on his bed in my home office keeping me company.

He’ll probably jump up on the windowsill shortly, without any warning, and start barking madly at any passing dogs, especially, for some reason, Alsatians. The bark fest will usually occur just when I’m on a phone call.

Shortly I have to go out for a while. But I know that when I return an hour or so later Max will greet me as if I have just come back from six months in the Antarctic, and that he feared he would never see me again, just as he does whenever I come in the front door.

If I’m having a bad day it is the equivalent of being hooked up to a drip of liquid oxytocin to lie on the bed and give him a cuddle, stroking his tummy and feeling the stress seep out of my muscles.

He’s 11 years old now, my Max, and in fine fettle. If I was someone who prayed, there would be a decade of the rosary every night to keep him in that good health.

Despite them reminding me that Max, a terrier rescue dog, is not human, my kids also adore him, and in truth so does my husband.

It’s fascinating to see, when they’re upset, how they will actually ask for him if he is not in the room, and how rubbing him helps them to regulate those angry emotions.

So our household was an obvious one when it came to my sister-in-law wondering who might mind her puppy during her summer holidays.

When she asked, we were delighted. The then three-month-old cockapoo is an utterly adorable ball of fluff.

She barrelled into the house, much to the non-amusement of Max, and within the hour I was remembering that having a puppy is great fun, but also incredibly hard work.

After around a week Max, who was obviously jealous, and in dog years is an old man deserving of peace and quiet, thawed to her.

Although that “thawing” also manifested itself to the point where I was very glad he had been neutered a decade ago. In fact I was given to wonder at some points if I should be asking the vet for a refund from that long ago surgery!

Anyway the puppy stole our hearts, but there was hard work involved. She was largely toilet trained but still did some business overnight, and whenever we went out she would get so excited that when we returned she would leave a puddle on the ground.

We dubbed it “the wee of welcome”. Unlike Max who’ll look for a rub when you’re on the sofa watching the TV but then fall asleep, she jumped around full of beans constantly looking for fun and entertainment. It was charming to watch, but again, took energy.

Then there was the remembering to take everything off the ground in a room if you were going to leave it in case it got chewed, or the prolonged whimpering, having puppy proofed said room, if you left her in it.

It was the way she jumped around the car like an absolute lunatic when you were driving to the park for a walk, and you were in the driving seat wondering would there be a pool of wee on the back seat.

Last but not least there was the time she ran out the back door of our garage. One of our neighbours, unbeknownst to us, immediately spotted her on the road, and thankfully grabbed her.

Not realising who she was, she called the mobile number on her collar alerting my sister-in-law in Spain to the fact that we had failed epically in minding her very precious puppy!

After two weeks the day came to say goodbye and we were all, including Max, I think, very sad to see her go. But for my part there was also considerable relief because puppies are hard work.

This is why, as a confirmed and proud dog lover, who has been surrounded by dogs all my life, I would not just advise people not to get a puppy for Christmas, I would almost ban the idea.

It’s far more sensible to do it at a quieter time of year. The puppy I mentioned arrived in her new home in May, just before the school summer holidays, which meant there were people around and it was lovely weather for walks, with long days.

Not totally unlike a puppy’s first few months, and how they are treated and cared for really does make a difference to how they turn out, and how well trained and socialised they become.

Our Max may be one of the most spoilt dogs in Ireland, given the run of the house, but he has never once bitten anyone, and that is having endured two marauding toddlers!

It is also worth taking on board that over its lifetime, it is estimated that a dog can cost up to €10,000 in food, vet fees, neutering, microchipping, and kennels.

I was delighted to see that Dogs Trust has a Paws for Thought campaign on this very subject.

It was shocking to read that 756 people contacted the organisation within the first three months after Christmas last year to relinquish their dogs.

That compared with 479 in the same period the previous year. Do the sums and that equated to an incredible 58% increase, for that organisation alone.

The most common reason for people wanting to give up their dog was that they didn’t have the time anymore.

However, Dogs Trust cannot take the dogs because they are already full, mostly with dogs who have been abandoned and come from pounds around the country who are at risk of being destroyed.

Last year 12,549 dogs entered Irish pounds, and 1,522 of those were destroyed. On the plus side, Dogs Trust had over 900 dogs adopted this year.

Needless to say if you are absolutely intent on getting a puppy make sure you don’t do buy it online which increases hugely the chances of it coming from a dreaded puppy farm.

Just a few weeks ago seven Irish puppies were rescued at Fishguard Port as part of a multi-agency operation tackling the illegal trade in puppies involving the Irish Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA), its UK counterparts, and An Garda Síochána.

Christmas approaching means that demand increases in this illegal cruel trade with puppies being taken from their mother at a too young age and sent to the UK.

So remember that a dog is not just for Christmas, and that if you already have one make sure there is a present under the tree. Santa never forgets my Max.