Worst Reason To Get a Dog

1. I saw it in the pet-store window and fell in love. Adopting a dog is not a spurt-of-the-moment decision. You need to learn about the particular breed and whatever it compatible with your lifestyle. Then you have to find a healthy, well-socialized, responsibly breed representative of that breed-something a pet-sore puppy almost certainly is not.
2. I saw a particular breed in a movie/TV show/commercial and just had to have it. Whenever a breed gets a lot of high-profile exposure (the Dalmatian 101 Dalmatians; the Brussels griffon in as good as it gets; the Jack Russell terrier on Frasier), the same sad cycle repeats itself. First, the dog becomes wildly popular as lots of people rush to acquire it; and second, usually within six months, animal shelters fill up with that particular animal as its owner lose interest and discard it.
3. I need something to shore up my manhood. Imagine you’re a low-level drone at your job, a 120-pound weakling, a goofball who no one takes seriously, or all the above. Getting a big, scary dog will not change this. It will only make you a weakling with a big, scary dog-a dog that you probably won’t be able to manage any more effectively that your personal or professional lives.
4. Puppies are cute! Yes, they are. Trouble is, they grow up to become adult dogs. So before you start mooning over that baby Newfoundland, you might want to read up on just how big junior will become.
5. I want to get it for my kids, so they can learn responsibility. No matter how many lectures you give about how they need to feed/water/walk the dog, the final responsibility will always be yours. A canine is not a teaching tool-unless you want to teach a young child that pulling on the ears or tail of a dog is an excellent way to get bitten. The best way to teach responsibility is to provide a good example by taking good care of your dog.