It is that time of year again – ghost town! Most of the bags have already been packed, shipped and joined their respective owners beachside in the Seychelles or lounging at a café in Europe. But what happens to our wee furry ones when we are gone? If you are smart, you start planning your summer pet care well in advance. If you are like me though, you often forget until it’s too late and are subsequently forced to trade the proverbial farm for the hope that someone you trust might watch your animal for you. In honor of the pets left behind while you vacation, we give you the pet-centric version of Love/Hate. Here are your conundrums…
#5 Inappropriate animals for the climate –Okay, I think we can agree that super furry wolf dogs are about the cutest thing ever. It makes it pretty hard to not want one. Even if they have about as much reason being here as…well, they’ve got no business being here. The desert is too hot, and the conspicuous lack of snow is also troublesome. For my part, I have one of those hairless breeds that are equally not fit for this climate — perhaps even more so. I have to be sure to walk him by night just to avoid the chance that he might melt the second he hits the sun. Plus, when people see him, they definitely assume he is a sickly wild dog I just brought home for supper. Still, he is my favorite pup, so we do what we have to!
#4 Treating your pet like a child – Ok, I must admit that I do this sometimes, but not as bad as some of you out there. Is your dog sitting next to you on the couch reading this article right now? If so, you may have a problem. Let your dog be a dog, and not a baby surrogate. Let him play and get dirty, and by all means, stop dressing him in little girl outfits!
#3 People who look like their pets – This one’s not so much a pet peeve (get it?) as it is a sociological oddity. How does it happen? Does a person subconsciously morph and change themselves to look like their dogs’ appearance? Or, contrarily, does the dog head into the puppy barber and say, “give me that owner look?” Either way, it’s amazing. Please people, continue looking like your pets or I won’t have anything to laugh at.
#2 Cat People VS. Dog People – Like every great rivalry ever, it is tough to tell who started this one. Is it that the specific yearnings that guide you towards these pets are themselves are so different OR is it that cats are brainwashing everybody’s minds against dogs? Yes, dogs are kind of dumb and super messy and awfully drooly, but they come when you call them and they always want to be by your side. Yes, little ol’ you. Cats, by contrast, are smart and never need to be walked which, most days, would be enough to convince me right there. Still, there is something in their cold aloofness that has me convinced I’m going to come home one day locked out of my house and a cat will have already moved in and be sitting in my favorite chair laughing at me. The cat-pocalypse takeover is possible – perhaps probable even. Just saying!
#1 The Pet Sitting – And it all comes back to where we started – pet sitters! It really does not seem like it should be that hard to get somebody to watch your animal. Normally you have to sweeten the deal of course. My usual spiel goes like this: come on over, just for a few days, I’ll fill the fridge with goodies you like, and you have free reign of the pool, games, and entertainment system. And yet still, you simply mention the words “can you watch my…”and all of a sudden, your friends become wildly unavailable. It’s just an animal, people — not my elderly grandmother! Can’t you please just watch him for a week while I go sit on a beach somewhere? What’s wrong with people? Oh well, I guess I’ll just go back to snuggling with my dog.
Love/Hate is your guide to all of life’s little conundrums, and a good excuse to beach-out!
