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I call my animals "the kids" tongue in cheek and know a lot of other people who do too. My guys don't get pampered like some pets, but they are my constant companions, since I work from home.
But they are animals, and I don't feel about them the same way I feel about the people in my life. The feelings are intense though. I don't think you can understand it unless you've worked with an animal to the extent that the expression on your face or a flick of your hand can set off a chain reaction of trained behaviors.
I have a friend who trained her own service dog, who basically takes care of her whenever she is disabled by her illness (a birth defect that can be very debilitating). The bond between them is very, very strong, and my friend's quality of life is very dependent on this dog. I wouldn't recommend telling her "Well, it's not a person." - that dog isn't a person, but it IS a lifeline, a highly trained and very loyal creature who would cheerfully lay down its life for its human. It helps my friend out when she's in agony, bringing her items she needs, retrieving things that she dropped, waking her up when her alarm goes off and her hearing aids are out, etc.
The other thing about pets is that it is a deeply personal relationship. No one else will have the same "intimacy" that you have with your animal. So when they die, you mourn alone.
I lost my best friend when I was 23, and I still mourn her. But I didn't come unglued at her death the way I did when my first dog that I had trained on my own died. When my dog died, I was mourning alone and no one really could understand what exactly I had lost. They saw only the death of a very odd and sometimes annoying animal. When my best friend died I mourned with hundreds of other people who shared similar memories and knew exactly who she was. She wasn't lost to me entirely, you know?
I call my animals "the kids" tongue in cheek and know a lot of other people who do too. My guys don't get pampered like some pets, but they are my constant companions, since I work from home.
But they are animals, and I don't feel about them the same way I feel about the people in my life. The feelings are intense though. I don't think you can understand it unless you've worked with an animal to the extent that the expression on your face or a flick of your hand can set off a chain reaction of trained behaviors.
I have a friend who trained her own service dog, who basically takes care of her whenever she is disabled by her illness (a birth defect that can be very debilitating). The bond between them is very, very strong, and my friend's quality of life is very dependent on this dog. I wouldn't recommend telling her "Well, it's not a person." - that dog isn't a person, but it IS a lifeline, a highly trained and very loyal creature who would cheerfully lay down its life for its human. It helps my friend out when she's in agony, bringing her items she needs, retrieving things that she dropped, waking her up when her alarm goes off and her hearing aids are out, etc.
The other thing about pets is that it is a deeply personal relationship. No one else will have the same "intimacy" that you have with your animal. So when they die, you mourn alone.
I lost my best friend when I was 23, and I still mourn her. But I didn't come unglued at her death the way I did when my first dog that I had trained on my own died. When my dog died, I was mourning alone and no one really could understand what exactly I had lost. They saw only the death of a very odd and sometimes annoying animal. When my best friend died I mourned with hundreds of other people who shared similar memories and knew exactly who she was. She wasn't lost to me entirely, you know?
My parents grew up very poor in India, they lost relatives because people couldn't afford medicine. I'd rather people spent money helping humans than pets.
A friend of mine said her cousin spent a couple of hundred dollars on a birthday party for dog - I thought that was obscene. She went but her father refused to go because he thought that it was ridiculous.
My old Husky who died last Christmas Eve..was a disloyal fellow..He always preferred the company of females more than mine...The dogs birthday was exactly the same as mine...Every time my birthday popped up the family would rib me and say "It's Toby's birthday you know" - It irked me..now that Toby is dead and gone- I don't have to share a cake with the stupid mutt....It really bugged me...finally I can have birthday parties without his stupid face getting all the attention....lol..
I am worried how my eldest daughter will deal with her two old dogs passing away...They are so connected and dependent on her and she on them...It seems that when I was younger...dogs dying was not that big a deal- At my old home we have a few of them buried along the fence line...BUT - I guess I have become more vulnerable...I really don't like dealing with death at all..human or animal...Not as tough as I used to be...On the outside I appear tough and hard...little do people know...I have grown so soft of heart..that I can't show it...must be maturity.
I love my dog more than most people, that's certain. Big deal, she doesn't speak English. She has much better intentions at heart than much of the human population. For her its loyalty, selflessness, love, affection.
.They understand...and when I say "Who wants food?" They understand.....They have more intelligence than most give them credit for...
I got quite a surprise one day when I exasperatingly told one of mine to go "get a drink in the kitchen" and he did-makes me wonder what else he understands! It's happened several times so I know it wasn't a fluke. Yet he doesn't understand "fetch."
I do think the birthday parties for pets is extreme. I also feel that way about having a birthday party for a one year old, so if I had a child that probably would have scarred it for life.
I love my dog more than most people, that's certain. Big deal, she doesn't speak English. She has much better intentions at heart than much of the human population. For her its loyalty, selflessness, love, affection.
************************************************** ************************ So very true!
My parents grew up very poor in India, they lost relatives because people couldn't afford medicine. I'd rather people spent money helping humans than pets.
A friend of mine said her cousin spent a couple of hundred dollars on a birthday party for dog - I thought that was obscene. She went but her father refused to go because he thought that it was ridiculous.
But at least pets are LIVING THINGS. People spend ridiculous amounts of money on stupid frivolous stuff in this country. I'd much rather someone donate to a pet charity or pay for a lifesaving procedure for their dog rather than buy a new Mercedes, ya know? At least those things are acts of love rather than acquisitiveness.
A pet birthday party is stupid to a degree, but my friends and I have "dog parties" all the time. Parties where you get to bring your dog. We all have dogs we've trained, sometimes for sports sometimes just as companions. When I entertain my friends in my home, a couple hundred bucks is the minimum of what I spend, whether the pets come or not. Obviously I don't do this very often. But I think at the last party I threw, there were 6 dogs running around my place and 9 humans. It was a total blast. So maybe the birthday was really a birthday party for the dog, or maybe it was just an excuse for some friends to get together.
Do you really think that if Americans didn't spend money on pets they'd be donating that cash to charities helping the third world? Get real. They'd just be buying more iPods, dinners out, cruises, video games, cell phones, whatever. The money spent on pets in this country is just a symptom of the nation's tendency towards conspicuous consumption in general.
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Hurricane, I totally agree.
