I moved a few months ago into a new apartment because they allowed dogs. Now I am ready to get one but there is one thing holding me back.

I will be working as an ALT and be out of the apartment from 7am to 6pm on weekdays. I have been looking for pet sitters or dog walkers or pet daycare but they cost at least 1500 yen. This is something I am going to have to do 5 days a week and don't want to drain my bank account every month.

Are there places where I can get someone to walk my dog in Osaka for under 1000 yen a day? I'm thinking of posting an ad for private lessons in exchange for dog walking on the kansai flea market.

Any other options I might have missed?

I wonder what single people in Japan do with dogs as it seems like there are a heck of a lot of single people around with them and jobs.

Thanks.

Not very many people who work full time and live alone have such high maintenance pets. The only people I ever see walking dogs are old or seem like housewives.

If someone is single, works, and has a dog, they probably live at home.

I think it's questionable if it's a very idea to get a dog in the first place considering how transient ALT jobs are, and how small the apartment you could get on ALT salary would be.

A dog is probably not a good idea. Not to mention how much they COST. Hundreds, or thousands of US dollars from a store. And if you're planning on adopting, I'm not sure they do that in Japan. Or at least I've never seen or heard of an animal shelter.

If you really must have a pet other than fish, I'd suggest a cat. They can be had for free off the street in any major city. I'm sure many of them would love to have an apartment in which they can lay around in all day, or spend time jumping into boxes.

Box Jumping Japanese Cat For Reference:
http://www.youtube.com/user/mugumogu#p/u/0/F2q7fw3PdFA

I have never heard of getting a cat off the street. Isn't that dangerous and I imagine they are flea infested. Maybe ticks too.

Jarvik7 Wrote:Not very many people who work full time and live alone have such high maintenance pets. The only people I ever see walking dogs are old or seem like housewives.

If someone is single, works, and has a dog, they probably live at home.

I think it's questionable if it's a very idea to get a dog in the first place considering how transient ALT jobs are, and how small the apartment you could get on ALT salary would be.

I live in Osaka and work ALT and part time at another job a few days a month. I make pretty decent salary. and my apartment is a new building and 30 meters squared. it was built this year.

My apartment is bigger than that and I still wouldn't subject a dog to it (or subject myself to such a small apartment with a dog tearing about in it).

By not making enough on ALT salary (rare to make anything over 25man/month unless you're JET), I mean you're not getting a 3LDK or house. 1K isn't really enough for a cat let alone a dog.

Japan isn't a good country to have a dog in, but especially bad if you don't live in an 一戸建て and have someone around during the day (wife/parents/kid) for walking.

Plus, yeah, dogs are very expensive here since they are luxury items. There is nothing dangerous about taking a stray cat, especially if it's a kitten. Just wash it off & de-flea it. If you get a dog it'll end up covered in fleas the same as an outdoor cat anyways.

I hope you are vegetarian. It never ceases to amaze me how much people will inconvenience themselves and how much expense they will tolerate (sadly, especially women, to whom I personally feel are more evolved than men) to have a pet, treat them as if they were human, and yet eat another animal seemingly unable to grasp the Hypocrisy.

It's not really hypocrisy - at the most it's a curious juxtaposition. Personally, I think keeping pets is almost always cruel and, for me, completely pointless. But for many people, it's just about companionship. It's not hypocritical to need a friend and choose an animal to act as one, whilst eating other animals you aren't acquainted with. That being said, I urge everyone to be vegetarian.

Why not go vegan? A quick death is preferable to what animals go through for dairy/eggs in the food industry.

Sweet Jesus, six posts from "I wanna dog, anybody have advice?" to "Rargkeepingveganpetsistorture". I mean, I know it's the Lounge, but come on. Do we really need another thread about animal rights and food?

Companionship? Maybe jact29 just needs a dog around to protect his stuff while he's gone.

@Blahah,bodhisamaya: most dogs have purposes, like searching, herding, guarding, etc. You're also going to have to kill animals to feed your pet, because research shows that they're unlikely to survive on their own http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37569783/
So, I don't see how it would be hypocritical for an omnivore to own a dog, but it could be hypocritical for a vegetarian. If they sell vegan dog food, then my apologies.

OP I am sorry that you apparently brought up something so controversial such as owning a dog.

LegionOfDeicide Wrote:OP I am sorry that you apparently brought up something so controversial such as owning a dog.

Expanding to making topics controversial keeps a thread alive!

Get a stray dog. Clean it. Cut it down. Fry it. Eat. Repeat. Free food. Yumm

It tend to over-react when it comes to the subject of pets. My ex used to spend thousands on vet bills and the like for a cat we had. It diverted funds away from projects I used for helping human beings, and so tested my patience a little. I also often found myself on opposite sides of debates with the Kauai Humane Society over political issues I felt caused too much of an hardship on citizens. Tax payers contribute $500,000 per year to house homeless animals, yet the budget for helping homeless people is approximately $0.00

So we should probably eat people instead.

stehr Wrote:Maybe jact29 just needs a dog around to protect his stuff while he's gone.

Protect what stuff from what? His rice cooker from dust? He's in Japan.

Chances are that any dog he'd get would be a little yippy thing that couldn't scare off anyone anyways.

Hey hey, being a vegetarian costs a lot of money too. May not be buying meat, buy you do end up buying a lot of beans, tofu, nuts of all sorts to obtain a similar amount of protein, and protein is still expensive no matter what the source.

OP, I think you should consider a hamster.
Unless you are planning to get an adult dog from a rescue shelter, in which case it.. no... there's no way it would be okay being home alone for that long. :/

Maybe you can get a girl or boyfriend instead? They are similar to pets.

Hmmm, I'm not going to weigh in directly on the whether you should or shouldn't debate, but if you are getting a dog, you'd almost be better having two for companionship. If you don't have a yard for it, keeping a dog alone indoors all day is not really fair on the poor thing.

There's a not-for-profit group in Osaka called ARK (Animal Refuge Kansai) who do dog and cat adoptions. Alternatively, if you just need a pet 'fix', maybe volunteering with them would be an idea...? You get quality dog time without any weight on your conscience.

Their website is here: http://www.arkbark.net/?q=en/

The notion of hypocrisy is just an abstract concept. Our brains like to build models of the world around us in order to direct our behavior, and therefore don't take inconsistency well. But, human beings being flawed are by definition inconsistent. I tend to believe it's more important to work towards lessening the total amount of suffering in the world rather than trying to avoid appearing a hypocrite.

That is why I think raising animals as livestock should inflict as little suffering as possible. I also get quite angry at people who take on pets as a responsibility but neglect them or worse directly abuse them.

Jarvik7 Wrote:

stehr Wrote:Maybe jact29 just needs a dog around to protect his stuff while he's gone.

Protect what stuff from what? His rice cooker from dust? He's in Japan.

Chances are that any dog he'd get would be a little yippy thing that couldn't scare off anyone anyways.

his pot farm?..

Maybe you could find other 外人 that want also want a dog but can't due to time/money restrictions, have everyone pitch in and buy the dog, and then time-share it. You get Mondays + Weds etc etc.

theBryan Wrote:The notion of hypocrisy is just an abstract concept. Our brains like to build models of the world around us in order to direct our behavior, and therefore don't take inconsistency well. But, human beings being flawed are by definition inconsistent. I tend to believe it's more important to work towards lessening the total amount of suffering in the world rather than trying to avoid appearing a hypocrite.

That is why I think raising animals as livestock should inflict as little suffering as possible. I also get quite angry at people who take on pets as a responsibility but neglect them or worse directly abuse them.

The notion of being is an abstract concept, so maybe you aren't real and I can ignore your post? Kidding. Consistency is important for relationships as well as self-perception and esteem, however, I do agree that lessening suffering is more important than whether someone is a hypocrite.

To the vegans in this thread - how did you make the switch? I have tried in the past and failed, but I would like to become vegetarian/vegan.

Cats are independent, they don't listen, they don't come in when you call, they like to stay out all night, and when they're home they like to be left alone and sleep. In other words, every quality that women hate in a man, they love in a cat.

The same could be said for men and dogs. Why do men love dogs? Their loyalty is not real love. It is an instinctual drive based on pack leader absolute submission. If women behaved in this way, we would bore of them in no time.

Why not get a robot and pretend it loves us? ...since human affection too often is found lacking. Even a soccer ball was enough for Tom Hanks. Wiiiiillssssoooooon!

You can always rent a dog for a day.