Terriers, Media, The news and relationships (in other words, a mixed blog post!!!)

Some of you may of heard about the 15 day old baby who was killed by the family Terrier.  Yes it's very sad but there are a few things that bother me about the story.

Please realise I'm not blaming any one.  I was bitten by our family dog when I was 8 so of all people I know a trusted dog can do stupid things!!  To this day I still blame myself for that.  It was a total misunderstanding and in hindsight no one (or dog) was to blame.

HOWEVER!  A family dog does not live in the shed!  Especially one as small as a terrier.  I can get a large dog being shut somewhere at night so they don't do damage etc but a 12 inch high dog can be easily put in a room somewhere if needed.  A dog who spends a lot of time shut away in a shed isn't going to learn to socialise with people and by the sounds of things this dog was only a year old so that would of been the crucial time for it to socialise.

Poor Foxy is squeakless and legless now!

Also, think about what a Terrier was bred for. Believe it or not it wasn't to be a small, handbag dog!  Honestly, dogs used to be bred for a reason and not fashion!!!  A Terrier literally means Earth Dog. They where bred to hunt in tunnels and dens, to work alone and keep themselves safe and to hunt small squeaky animals.  That's why they are such independent dogs who have appalling recall.  They can look after themselves so why bother coming when you call? You have nothing to offer!  It's also why Molly removes the squeaker from every toy she has!  It drives her nuts as it triggers her hunt instinct.   Any one who has seen her with her toys knows she grabs them and shakes them just like she would a rat in the wild.  

That's why no breeder or Dog Sanctuary would ever in their right mind home a terrier with a baby!  Just think of the pitch of a baby's cry.  Now compare it to a squeaking rat.  It's the same tone and no amount of training etc will breed out the natural instinct in a terrier.

This is now going to give Terriers a really bad press and people are going to panic.  Which for the 1000's of terriers in sanctuaries is very sad and in some cases fatal.  Like I said I don't blame any one but as a general rule of thumb you never leave any dog alone with a baby.  No matter how much you trust them you can never tell how they'd react.  I love Molly to pieces and trust her (accept when it comes to walks, she stays on the lead or we'd never get her home!!) but I'd never leave her with a baby as I don't know how she'd cope.  

Terriers aren't dangerous dogs but they have become a bit of a fashion dog.  People get them because they're small and think they're easy.  To be honest the smaller the dog the more work they need.  Compare Molly to a Lab.  The lab would happily just have one quick walk a day and sleep the rest!  Molly on the other hand would go spare if she didn't have 3 good long walks a day at least!  I just hope that this doesn't cause terriers to be victimised.  It's not their fault people get them and don't look into their background.

Ok part two of this blog post!  Totally different to the first part but I didn't want to post two post in one day!!

Last night I was on Facebook for the first time in months and some one I've not seen or heard from in over 15 years popped up on another persons post (I'm not going to say who for obvious reasons).  To start off I was hit with a pain in my heart because I missed this person a lot.  Then I started to think about things and I realised I'd tried to contact this person a few times since then but they chose not to talk to me.  Then the more I thought about it the more I realised that the person I knew and cared about didn't exist any more.  They'd moved on and become some one else and if they decided they didn't want to talk to me then that meant I'd moved on too and getting upset about it wasn't worth it.  Yeah I still miss them but as I said I miss the person I knew, I don't know the person they are now so how can I miss them?

Then at stupid o'clock my mate popped up on my messenger and made me realise that those who choose to be around you are those that make you who you are and make you happy.  Next thing I knew the picture above appeared on my FB page so I took it as a sign to stop dwelling on the past and move on!

And so ended my FB visit for another few months!!  Sorry if I missed you on there (found a friend request that could of been there months! Oops!!) I really only use it for games.  Social media and mental health aren't a good match!  If you want to chat to me it's probably best to message me or post on here.

So to all my NOW friends and family.  I love you all and I'm glad you like me enough to put up with me!!!!

Bye from Molly and Me! xxx