Why Dogs Make the Best Friends

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. My favorite pet is

    • 169
      Dog
    • 35
      Cat
    • 54
      Both
    • 9
      other

267 members have participated

http://men.msn.com/articlemh.aspx?cp-documentid=5558017&page=1

I was just wondering if there was a relationship between pet type, gender and nursing specialty....Post your responses...

Specializes in Psychiatrics.

Right now I have a calico named Tinkerbell, and a German Shephard, Bandit. Since I was little I have always had some kind of animal, cat, dog, reptile, amphibian, bird, horse, sheep, goats, you name it, we've (as in my sisters and I) have probably either owned one, or played with one. So animals in general make good friends, except snapping turtles......they don't make such good pets....they tend to want to bite your fingers off.....literally.

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Specializes in ER/ICU/Dialysis.

Female, critical care/dialysis, a border collie, 3 cats.

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We now have a Whippet who had been a mama dog in a puppy mill, taken in a drug raid. We got her from the shelter and know little about her previous life except what we have put together. This is one sweet and funny dog. She has brightened our lives so much. She sleeps more than any cat I ever had but that is an advantage when you know she can run 35 mph. Unfortunately she is too high strung to take to a LTC but I did try and the residents loved her. She just could not handle that much love, she can only dish it out.

I loved my cats, I loved my dogs and this one is even higher on the love meter than all but our last dog who died almost 2 years ago. I still mourn her as one of the family, gone but not forgotten. Best friends are not easily made but in every animal I have ever had, it is worth the effort as they give back so much for so little.

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I am a nursing student, hoping to work in the ER...I have a male pug who sleeps in my bed...When I have a bad day, I find myself looking forward to going home and curling up on the couch with him...He is a cuddlebug!!

Oh, Yeah, and I am a female....

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it is great having a dog to cuddle with after a bad day. Mine just feels the need to clean my ears. She does not :up: have the need to try to "fix" like my husband does.

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I am a female, starting nursing school in 2 wks and have 2 dogs-Claire 3 1/2yrs. & Lou 1 1/2yrs. (chihuhuas!!) They are my best friends and I love them more then many people I know. :paw:

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Specializes in Acute Mental Health.

Hi all, I have a pitty bull, doby, hamster, fish, and a marginated tortoise.

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Specializes in ER, TRAUMA, MED-SURG.

Hello -- I don't know what I would do if I didn't have them. Now, we have a mini daschund inside named Sissie, and 2 "guard" dogs, Shadow and Bea. The outside dogs came from the shelter.

Two yrs ago, I had to put my cocker spaniel mix to sleep.He would have been 16 yrs. old the month after he died, but he had arthritis in his spine, and within 12 hours of seeing the vet, he was a paraplegic. That almost killed me, because Sam had been here with me through thick and thin, and 2 bad marriages and divorces, and 1 great one (Of course, my current)

Anne, RNC :paw::paw::paw::saint::saint:

And they have never told me my butt looked fat in my jeans!

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Specializes in ER - trauma/cardiac/burns. IV start spec.

ER speciality and I have had dogs around me all my life. When I was youg Mom and Dad always bought purebreeds. When I started picking my own they were or are always rescues. Right now i have 6, a blue tick beagle whos owner was starving him to death because he would not hunt. He came from a good hunting line and should have been AKC but he never bothered to do paperwork. We bred him and took 2 of his pups. Then we adopted a 8 week old puppy dumped at the shelter because he was not pure boston terrier and on the same day we brought home a bassett/black lab mix (she was one day from the long walk). The shelter called my later and they had a beagle mix(border collie) that had been a stray and they were actually going to put him down because he had "issues". Well 6 months later Sam (issues) gets along with all the other dogs. They share food bowls - 2 to a bowl, they share loving and they play together very well. All my babies are 5+ years old and 1 is 1 year old.

When I came home after a long stressful night in the ER Blue (lab/bassett) would come and lay her head in my lap and just the love made my spirit lighter.

Dogs do not judge and they never tell secrets.

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Specializes in ER, TRAUMA, MED-SURG.
ER speciality and I have had dogs around me all my life. When I was youg Mom and Dad always bought purebreeds. When I started picking my own they were or are always rescues. Right now i have 6, a blue tick beagle whos owner was starving him to death because he would not hunt. He came from a good hunting line and should have been AKC but he never bothered to do paperwork. We bred him and took 2 of his pups. Then we adopted a 8 week old puppy dumped at the shelter because he was not pure boston terrier and on the same day we brought home a bassett/black lab mix (she was one day from the long walk). The shelter called my later and they had a beagle mix(border collie) that had been a stray and they were actually going to put him down because he had "issues". Well 6 months later Sam (issues) gets along with all the other dogs. They share food bowls - 2 to a bowl, they share loving and they play together very well. All my babies are 5+ years old and 1 is 1 year old.

When I came home after a long stressful night in the ER Blue (lab/bassett) would come and lay her head in my lap and just the love made my spirit lighter.

Dogs do not judge and they never tell secrets.

You are so right! And it sounds like you are a wonderful "Mom" to those babies. It burns me up to hear or see those poor animals put down because someone else was too lazy or ignorant to have them neutered or spayed.

I am an ER nurse, and it doesnt matter what kind of shift you have, they make you feel better when you see them. I used to even call my apartment when I was at work and talk to Sam, my part cocker spaniel on the machine. I had a friend stay at my apartment for a visit, and I called one day not thinking she was there, and she could not believe it. She said the phone started ringing and he flew off the couch and sat right in front of the phone when he heard the ringing. Too funny!

Anne, RNC

I have 3 babies right now. Sam, my cocker spaniel mix, had to be put to sleep one month before he would have been 16 yrs. old. I still miss him terribly. Now, I have Shadow, a german shep. mix, Bea, a beagle mix, both from a shelter, and Sissie, a 2 yr. mini daschund. And, like you said, they don't judge or tell secrets. And the love they give you from the smallest gesture, a head in your lap to rub, a big puppy kiss on the cheek, can bring a smile to your face, no matter how bad your day.

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I have lived with both dogs and cats, often at the same time. I have come to the conclusion that cats take things seriously because they often live twice as long as dogs. :typing

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Dogs are my favorite but at the moment I can't have one so I have had a Blue Throated Macaw for about 3 years. He's awesome and he can say about as many parts of the body as I can. :chuckle Parrots require more attention than a girlfriend though AND they get jealous!

I am aiming at ICU so not sure how a Parrot fits in to that...

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