Sunday, February 11, 2007

Are Pets Replacing Children?

I’ve never really liked animals. I think unicorns were my favorite animal as a kid. This was my first clue, but I didn't see it at the time. Think about it, unicorns aren't cute and cuddly animals that you have to touch or take care of. They don’t even exist. Oops. I hope this wasn’t a “there’s no Santa Claus” moment for anyone.

When I was younger my family had a dog, Daisy, and although I probably wasn’t the best at taking care of her, I loved her. I was very sad when she died my senior year of high school. One of our dogs after Daisy chewed my retainer and my teeth got crooked. I had to get braces again when I was 27. Another dog chewed through my bedroom door and trashed my room (more than once). I’m just not a huge fan of that kind of behavior.

Sometimes I think I want a mini dog, one that will sleep curled up under my armpit at night and keep me warm. I’m allergic to dogs, though, and I’m not too keen on picking up miniature poopies and letting a dog pee in my house. And, the hair. The hair.

This brings me to the point of this post: more and more people are obsessed with their pets and they’re adopting pets instead of having children or getting married. A lot of my friends (some of them read my blog) have pets that they treat just like human members of their families. They buy clothes and SHOES and let them sleep in their beds. Didn’t pet obsessions used to be just a crazy old lady thing? Is this a widespread phenomenon or do I just have weird friends? I feel like the odd ball here. I just don’t understand pet obsession. Does the companionship outweigh the annoyance?

I found this on YouTube. Is this normal? Am I heartless? Am I the strange breed? Someone help me out here.

3 comments:

David said...

I think pets and blogs are replacing children.

Anonymous said...

A couple I know were trying to get pregnant but were not having any luck after several years of trying...so what did they do instead....they bought a dog! I guess they feel that that is as close as they can get to parenthood. But in reality, it's the farthest thing from it! Have you ever seen a dog have a temper tantrum?

Cherry Red said...

Interesting Blog. Really silly video. My dog and cat have beds, toys and treats, but they don't have shoes. I'm not sure if my pets are a replacements for having children because I've never wanted kids, but I've always wanted to pets.

We rescue dogs and cats from shelters (rather than buying them from breeders) and give them a second chance at a nice life. My husband of 15 years and I are happy. Our dog and cat are happy. I'm not really sure why this is supposed to be a bad thing.

Kim

 
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