Cruelty to animals?

So thats me, and my dog, Ares. Named after the Greek god of war, and not the astrological sign. He's a weimaraner. If you've seen William Wegman's pictures you've seen weimaraners. He's a great dog, and a great big goof, at times when he wants off the couch he doesn't actually get up like a normal dog, he'll just kind of edge his way off and let gravity do the work for him.

Wiemaraners are also puppies their whole lives, so we can expect his goofieness to continue. In one housing tract I worked in (I really should explain what I did for work one of these days), there was a homeowner with one, we had just gotten Ares and I had always meant to ask the homeowner what things to expect from the breed. I never did get a chance until I had to do some work in his house. Basically he told me they are forever puppies, forever loyal, and if you leave the house put away your valuables, cause they'll be destroyed. They have a severe seperation anxiety that can lead to destructive behaviour. Now you know why 'Ares' is a perfect name for the dog. :) He's destroyed a fair amount of stuff.

I currently live in a desert town in California, it gets to be about 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46C) at times during the summer, although typically its around 105F (40C). However I'm going to be taking him where 32C (89F) is considered hot and in the winter can get down to -40C (-40F). I have been told that this can be considered cruelty to animals, specially to a weimaraner which has short fur. Fear not though, my mother has a neighbour that has the same breed and he survives the cold. What will be interesting to see is how Ares deals with snow. I don't know if he'll even want to walk on it let alone have to go outside to go relieve himself. lol

In fairness my Californian born and bred wife has never lived in cold either. So it will be a learning experience for both of them. We aren't planning on leaving until next spring, so they'll both have the fall to get used to snow falling and colder weather by the time winter actually hits. Both will be fine I am sure. At least she won't have to go outside to go to the bathroom, well I'm going to discourage her from doing so.