To a pet owner, this headline would seem ridiculous. To them – and there are millions of them – having a pet is the same as having a child. A child that doesn’t talk back to you and gives unconditional love. And that is the first reason we have pets – unconditional love.
But let’s look at one man’s history with pets, starting with childhood.
In my childhood – the 1950’s and 1960’s – having pets was a natural thing. Every kid seemed to have a pet, sometimes more than one. Parents didn’t usually go through the questions and answers with a kid like, “Who is going to take care of the pet?” “Who is going to feed the pet?” “Who is going to walk the pet?” They just bought you a pet, usually a dog or two. I don’t know of any family in any of the neighborhoods I live in that had a cat. Hamster, fish, horned toad, – yes. But no cat.
We normally had two dogs. This was a lot for my parents to undertake as there were five kids in the family, so what person in their right mind would add one or two pets to the chaos? The answer is most parents during my childhood. And, not just normal pets, we had a beagle dog and a St. Bernard dog.
But again, in my childhood, dogs stayed outside. They were fed outside, they had dog houses outside, and they were always outside. This made for a great symbiotic relationship as the parents controlled the chaos inside, and when they couldn’t stand it anymore, they sent the kids outside, to play with the dogs.
Our dogs, and it seemed like most dogs in our era, were the playmates and baby-sitters for the children. I never remember my mother being concerned that we were outside as the dogs were always with us. They chased after our ball in kickball, served as bases in softball – often moving bases – and gave us away in hide-and-seek. If the dogs were around, the kids were around, and the mothers were ok with this arrangement.
Dogs were thought of as part of our family – even though they were the ‘outside’ family. This was true in our family, and with the other families in our neighborhood. Maybe because of this the relationship became more than an outside presence. They became part of our family. And when someone – or something – is part of your family, you love it completely.
Today, dogs – and other pets – are almost mythical. You see signs in Hobby Lobby and merchandise in the Signals catalogue, that extol the virtues of pets. “A dog wags his tail with his heart.” “All you need is love – and a dog.” “Time spent with a cat is never wasted.” Many people live their lives around their pets instead of the other way around. They keep a lot of single, and older people company where there might not be any.
The bottom line is that pets make great companions. They ask very little from us. Feed me, walk me, pet me, let me out, clean my cage, give me a treat. And in exchange, they give us everything they have. Love, affection, attention, companionship. All of it without hesitation or conditions. Therefore, unconditionally. And where today, do we get unconditional anything? Nowhere except for our pets.
So, whether your pet is a dog, a cat, a hamster, a squirrel, a snake, a toad, a worm, a bird, or anything that walks on 4-legs, hops, squirms, slithers, flies, swims, crawls, or just stares at you, it is YOUR pet. And if it is your pet, it gives you what you need. And most of the time it is that unconditional love – or attention – that I mentioned at the beginning. And that is something special.
That’s why we have pets!
