Is getting a small dog the new way of "nesting?"

[erub]

Within the past year, 5 of my female friends have bought/rescued small dogs. They are all about the same age, 22-25., post-college, but in different states. None of my male friends have done the same. I personally really like dogs (my parents have a black lab that I gew up around), but at this point I don't feel that I could give a dog the attention that it deserves, and I'd feel bad when it would have to stay in the apt for hours..no matter to these girls, they want a dog and "adjust" for it (although I still think that leaving it in a crate for 6-8 hours is really harsh!)

Are they doing this because subconsciously, as our generation is getting married/having kids later, so they want something that they can take care of NOW? After all, their foremothers back in the day were done having kids by this age, and many of them won't start until they are in their 30s?

 

[George P Burdell]

http://forums.anandtech.com/categories.aspx?catid=61

 

[darkswordsman17]

I think its a fashion thing as much as anything else. There's so many people buying either the small dogs (ankle biters...) or else pit bulls just because its the cool thing right now. I personally find it reprehensible, as I don't feel a lot of people are buying them for the right reason (and as such do not care for them the same way). I'm not saying your friends did that, and hey if you care for the animal then more power to you, but I just think we're going to end up with a lot of neglected dogs because of this.

To add further to my rant, it seems that every girl that buys one of the small dogs has to have it in the car with them (where its yet another distraction as they it jumps all over the place). That and every person that buys a pit bull anymore suddenly wants to become a breeder.

You do have an interesting take on it, and that does seem possible as part of the reason.