Meet Maxine - the newest member of our family !A few weeks before Christmas, my husband gave me a German Shepherd puppy as an early Christmas present.
Now, first off just let me say that I am against buying dogs or cats because I think that there are enough unwanted animals in this world & that by paying for a pet you are creating a market for them, when it is far better to just go to a shelter & give a home to an animal in need. Yet on the other hand, I also understand that for some people this is not possible (for example, if your local shelter only has adult dogs and you need a puppy who can grow up with your children, or get used to your other dogs/cats & there are none available).
If the buying/selling of pets is properly controlled, and people are responsible pet owners (having their pets spayed/neutered as soon as they become of age) and love and care for their pets properly, then in itself it is not a problem. Unfortunately here in Tanzania though, we have many expats who are here on short 2 year contracts who buy animals here, then do not take them home with them when they leave. As a result this creates a problem with lots of unwanted animals, who are simply then given to staff if no suitable home is found for them, and these once cared for animals are – for the most part - then forced to live a life of hunger and neglect.
Anyway, I was reluctant to pay for a pedigree dog (which are very hard to come by here, with German Shepherds being the most widely available – sadly, many are bred just as security dogs for our gold and Tanzanite mines) because of all the above reasons but on the other hand, many local dog breeds here are inbred and have ‘dodgy’ temperaments and I have first hand experience of local dog breeds biting children etc & we just could not take the chance with a young child in the house.
So, to cut a long story short, since the devastating loss of my beloved Zonde, Dibble has been very lonely & as we were to be away quite a bit over the festive season, we decided to get another dog, and my husband found Maxine (Maxi for short) for me !
So, here she is – she was born on the 11th of September this year (a date that no one will ever forget) & was around 10 weeks old when we got her. She has settled into the family well, and romps around in the garden with Dibble all day and gets on with all the cats and human members of the family and the garden and farm staff are quite impressed as they have never seen a dog that looks like her before ! (Justin tells them proudly that she is a ‘police dog’ as of course German Shepherds are associated with police dogs here, and that she is very vicious and very clever and will grow up to be very big !)
I am glad that we have given this sweet little dog a permanent and loving home, and that she did not end up as a guard dog being kept on a chain guarding some mine for the rest of her life, but will grow up as a much loved member of our extended family - watch this space as I post updates on Maxi as she grows up !
Now, first off just let me say that I am against buying dogs or cats because I think that there are enough unwanted animals in this world & that by paying for a pet you are creating a market for them, when it is far better to just go to a shelter & give a home to an animal in need. Yet on the other hand, I also understand that for some people this is not possible (for example, if your local shelter only has adult dogs and you need a puppy who can grow up with your children, or get used to your other dogs/cats & there are none available).
If the buying/selling of pets is properly controlled, and people are responsible pet owners (having their pets spayed/neutered as soon as they become of age) and love and care for their pets properly, then in itself it is not a problem. Unfortunately here in Tanzania though, we have many expats who are here on short 2 year contracts who buy animals here, then do not take them home with them when they leave. As a result this creates a problem with lots of unwanted animals, who are simply then given to staff if no suitable home is found for them, and these once cared for animals are – for the most part - then forced to live a life of hunger and neglect.
Anyway, I was reluctant to pay for a pedigree dog (which are very hard to come by here, with German Shepherds being the most widely available – sadly, many are bred just as security dogs for our gold and Tanzanite mines) because of all the above reasons but on the other hand, many local dog breeds here are inbred and have ‘dodgy’ temperaments and I have first hand experience of local dog breeds biting children etc & we just could not take the chance with a young child in the house.
So, to cut a long story short, since the devastating loss of my beloved Zonde, Dibble has been very lonely & as we were to be away quite a bit over the festive season, we decided to get another dog, and my husband found Maxine (Maxi for short) for me !
So, here she is – she was born on the 11th of September this year (a date that no one will ever forget) & was around 10 weeks old when we got her. She has settled into the family well, and romps around in the garden with Dibble all day and gets on with all the cats and human members of the family and the garden and farm staff are quite impressed as they have never seen a dog that looks like her before ! (Justin tells them proudly that she is a ‘police dog’ as of course German Shepherds are associated with police dogs here, and that she is very vicious and very clever and will grow up to be very big !)
I am glad that we have given this sweet little dog a permanent and loving home, and that she did not end up as a guard dog being kept on a chain guarding some mine for the rest of her life, but will grow up as a much loved member of our extended family - watch this space as I post updates on Maxi as she grows up !
