I have recently noticed that my wife and I are the only residents on our block of about 20 homes that do not have a pet. How many forumites own pets?
My parents did not want animals in the house. I grew up terrified of dogs, for a variety of reasons. One of my earliest memories was of a German Shepherd mauling an older boy while his owner was egging the dog on (so was my perception--the owner was probably yelling at his dog to desist, but perceptions are realities).
My best boyhood friend--later my college roommate- family owned an Alaskan Husky. When I visited my friend I was obliged to walk through his yard. After they purchased Buck they kept him on a long leash in the non -fenced -in -yard. Buck would run at me, snarling and fangs glistening, and get within feet of me before his tether would yoke him back. My friend's family pooh poohed the notion that Buck was a danger and would ridicule me when I expressed my fears. Last year my friend was visiting and we were reminiscing. It turned out that the family ultimately had to give Buck to a shelter because of "legal actions".
It turned that Buck had broke free from his tether twice, one time killing a smaller dog and one time mauling a passerby and apparently causing him permanent nerve damage in his arm.
As an adult I finally learned to relax around dogs when my contemporaries owned them. These were usually family friendly dogs such as Golden Retrievers. These dogs would have their foibles--i remember helping my neighbor by driving around for two hours looking for his dog that would routinely bolt the house if a door opened--but were generally harmless, and I found myself wanting one. My ex wife detested dogs, however, and ignored the entreaties of our kids. My current wife grew up with dogs but there were some incidents with dogs in her family and so she hasn't expressed more than a passing desire to own one. We both work long hours and being childless it wouldn't seem fair to a dog to be alone all day in the house.
The aforementioned roommate and I did take in a stray cat at University, a Tabby. To this day it remains the only real pet I have ever taken on. Tiger earned his keep by keeping the mice count in the student apartment to an acceptable level. However, a couple of years later I discovered that any cat exposure would cause me to sneeze, water eyes, and wheeze. I have asthma and I developed a cat allergy. Interestingly, I just saw an Allergist two weeks ago and underwent testing for the first time in more than 20 years that showed I am allergic to dogs but not to cats.
The eccentricity of Pet owners never fails to astound me. I have had Patients that refuse to spend anything for their own health but will pay for dialysis and chemotherapy for their pets--all out of pocket.
I know many dog owners, usually childless, whose whole life and vacation schedule is determined by their pets. My next door neighbor allows their dog to do hit's business anywhere in the house, think it is adorable when he eats his own excrement, and sleep in bed with it. I find it very difficult to spend any time in their house but they are lovely people and close friends. I am always surprised when otherwise sensitive and reasonable people don't realize that not every one adores being around their pets.
So in conclusion, I am not a pet lover. In many people's minds not adoring pets is equivalent to admitting one grew up in the Ku Klux Klan. How about you?
My parents did not want animals in the house. I grew up terrified of dogs, for a variety of reasons. One of my earliest memories was of a German Shepherd mauling an older boy while his owner was egging the dog on (so was my perception--the owner was probably yelling at his dog to desist, but perceptions are realities).
My best boyhood friend--later my college roommate- family owned an Alaskan Husky. When I visited my friend I was obliged to walk through his yard. After they purchased Buck they kept him on a long leash in the non -fenced -in -yard. Buck would run at me, snarling and fangs glistening, and get within feet of me before his tether would yoke him back. My friend's family pooh poohed the notion that Buck was a danger and would ridicule me when I expressed my fears. Last year my friend was visiting and we were reminiscing. It turned out that the family ultimately had to give Buck to a shelter because of "legal actions".
It turned that Buck had broke free from his tether twice, one time killing a smaller dog and one time mauling a passerby and apparently causing him permanent nerve damage in his arm.
As an adult I finally learned to relax around dogs when my contemporaries owned them. These were usually family friendly dogs such as Golden Retrievers. These dogs would have their foibles--i remember helping my neighbor by driving around for two hours looking for his dog that would routinely bolt the house if a door opened--but were generally harmless, and I found myself wanting one. My ex wife detested dogs, however, and ignored the entreaties of our kids. My current wife grew up with dogs but there were some incidents with dogs in her family and so she hasn't expressed more than a passing desire to own one. We both work long hours and being childless it wouldn't seem fair to a dog to be alone all day in the house.
The aforementioned roommate and I did take in a stray cat at University, a Tabby. To this day it remains the only real pet I have ever taken on. Tiger earned his keep by keeping the mice count in the student apartment to an acceptable level. However, a couple of years later I discovered that any cat exposure would cause me to sneeze, water eyes, and wheeze. I have asthma and I developed a cat allergy. Interestingly, I just saw an Allergist two weeks ago and underwent testing for the first time in more than 20 years that showed I am allergic to dogs but not to cats.
The eccentricity of Pet owners never fails to astound me. I have had Patients that refuse to spend anything for their own health but will pay for dialysis and chemotherapy for their pets--all out of pocket.
I know many dog owners, usually childless, whose whole life and vacation schedule is determined by their pets. My next door neighbor allows their dog to do hit's business anywhere in the house, think it is adorable when he eats his own excrement, and sleep in bed with it. I find it very difficult to spend any time in their house but they are lovely people and close friends. I am always surprised when otherwise sensitive and reasonable people don't realize that not every one adores being around their pets.
So in conclusion, I am not a pet lover. In many people's minds not adoring pets is equivalent to admitting one grew up in the Ku Klux Klan. How about you?
bequeathed to us with the C-C. Fortunately the current collie also lived with the cat before she (the collie) came to us, so reasonable calm reigns, even though the collie seems still to resent the new arrivals and was probably 'beaten up' by the cat when they last shared a home! But now the cat is a bit too old to be mixing it much...
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