Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 13, 1994 TAG: 9409130039
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Allison Blake
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Everyone runs out to the street to see. A truck takes off with an injured Dalmatian in back, presumably headed for the vet.
What happened to the dog? I couldn't say. But curbside talk that evening turned to the inevitable: people who adopt animals when they have neither the time to properly train them, nor the stability to keep them for a lifetime.
Did the Dalmatian owner have the money to fund a vet bill?
Or was he or she trying to get by on a notoriously slim student budget?
What about the leash law?
These are all the considerations that go right out the window with one good glimpse of a cute puppy in the window, and now's the time of year when all the students go looking for those new puppy buddies.
Or kitty buddies. Just ask my parents.
Two aging cats rule their yard - post-college pets that two Blake kids quickly found they could not keep as they state-hopped in search of permanent jobs. I did not add to the animal population at home. Here's why:
Junior year, I had a roommate who kept her horse on a farm in the countryside outside our city campus. She came back to the dorm one day and went on forever about the cute puppies out at the barn. Soon, we had one living covertly with us in our room. We named her Jesse.
Jesse was a stylish addition to the ol' campus persona. If my friends wanted to leave for a party before me, I went alone - and brought the dog. Everyone flocked about. I was the girl with the puppy. Great way to meet guys.
Sure enough, after awhile, somebody in charge got wind of the dog in South Court. So much for our challenge to authoritarian rules; Jess had to go. We gave her to a couple of sophomore guys who lived on the other side of campus, who presumably would have better luck rum-running past the residential keepers of canine prohibition.
Before long, Jesse evolved into a vaguely homeless campus dog, beloved by all and fed by a few. By Christmas break, she'd disappeared.
The same old story's played out around Blacksburg and Radford.
"We need to convince the students this is a lifelong commitment," said Kathy Brown, active with the Humane Society of Montgomery County. "We have some who make excellent dog parents and cat parents, and some who don't."
The ones who don't - like non-student animal parents - forget the practicalities. For instance, if your landlord doesn't allow pets, don't get a pet. If you live in a small apartment, remember that small black pup is going to grow into a big, energetic lab. Figure first-year vet fees at $300, including neutering or spaying costs, Brown said. And, perhaps cramping one's style the most, you can't just leave dog alone and take off for the weekend. Not to mention Florida for spring break.
"A puppy is more of a problem because you have to go through the ordeal of housebreaking," said Julie Ligon, the humane society's vice-president and the mom of 12-year-old Annie, a dog who came to live with Ligon during college.
"It causes problems with roommates. One of my dogs chewed up one of my roommate's expensive shoes and I had to go spend $70 for a new pair of shoes."
Then there were the two steaks that disappeared from the grill the night the roommate cooked a romantic dinner for her boyfriend. Within days, Ligon was in search of a new roomie.
Hindsight, of course, is always 20-20. But sometimes there's good advice to be found in other people's mistakes.
"It really is a hassle. In a lot of ways, we find a lot of good homes for our animals because of students, but I wish they would wait until senior year, or preferably grad school. By that time, they're a little more settled. I think if a student is real unsure about the future, it's not fair to the animal," Ligon said.
That definitely was our mistake.
It's hard to remember just what we were thinking when my roommate and I decided to bring Jesse to the dorm. Did we just think it would be fun to have a dog around?
Whatever it was, it certainly was not the obvious: Jesse would have had a much more certain life if we'd just left her on the farm.
by CNB