Pets, Man's Best Friend

Hey everyone!

Hope you had a wonderful day! I’m loving how it’s staying light out longer. I only just noticed last week. Of course, winter is far from over and I believe there’s supposed to be a blizzard on Saturday. I’m not looking forward to any of that. More than likely though it’ll probably just be an overhyped mess like most snowstorms around my area tend to be. Shelves will get ransacked, and everyone will be prepared for the next blizzard of ’78 only to shovel a few inches from their sidewalks and driveways. It’s funny but annoying when lines at the grocery store led to the back of the store from the registers. I always find it strange how for holidays and storms so many people wait until the very last minute to shop. They know ahead of time. But who does their due diligence anymore, right? Speaking of due diligence, I checked on what’s in the kitchen and stocked up before it all gets bought up at the stores. I have to say, dealing with both blizzards and hurricanes, I think I prefer the hurricanes. I don’t like either. Both make a big mess and ruin buildings, infrastructure, and just about anything else you can think of. But, at least with hurricanes I’m not freezing my butt off when I’m cleaning up the mess. Also, when a hurricane passes the roads dry up and aren’t covered in ice and snow. Anyhow, I think I’ve raged against the weather long enough, Let’s dive into the topic for today!

How many of you either own or have owned a pet? They really are gift, but they can also be a huge pain in the butt. It’s worth it though. Personally, I’ve had dogs for most of my life. I never was able to own a cat as my mother is allergic to them. Not that it was really much loss though. I’ve had dozens of friends who either have owned or own cats and I’m not a fan. Something funny that I have noticed about cats is they tend to gravitate towards the people that don’t want anything to do with them. They always find an opportunity to sit on me or rub up against my leg. I might not like cats but it’s not like I hate them, so I just bear with it. Can’t blame a cat for being a cat, right? Don't worry, I understand where people who dislike dogs come from. An overly friendly dog can be annoying at best and an unwanted shock when you aren’t expecting it at worst. I had a run in with such a dog just last week when I was leaving my friend’s house. It was midnight, we had finished up watching the new Dune and as I was packing up my leftover snacks, I hear barking and the dog’s owner saying something from a house across the street from me. I turned and out from a driveway was a black Lab came running at me. The Lab proceeded to jump on me in friendly dog fashion. Being used to dogs I said “down” in a firm voice, and surprisingly it got down. I gave the dog a scratch behind the ear as the owner apologized. A surprise, but a pleasant one. Though again I understand how some people would get upset.

Having a pet is great but I can’t stress this enough: be a responsible pet owner. Take care of them. Obviously, it’s not like they’re a baby, they’re not helpless, but it still takes diligence. Keeping an eye out for how their food affects them for instance or do they favor one of their paws when they walk. Then there is training. You can’t have you pet getting away with whatever it wants, and it should listen to the owner. Now, these tidbits pertain to dogs but I’m sure there’s overlap between other pets. For an example other than a dog, I know a few people who own lizards and with them you have to make sure their environment is specified to them. Now, I’m not going to claim to be any kind of a pet expert. I’m confident that there are still plenty of things I could learn myself. I just want to showcase the importance of being diligent and learning what it takes to own a pet. Please, don’t be one of those people who gets a pet without putting any thought into it and thus causing the animal to suffer because you didn’t do your homework.

On a lighter note, I’m happy to say that I’ve had a lot of great memories with my dogs. I remember the first time meeting my first dog, Charlie when I was seven years. It was a surprise. The back door opened, and my parents called me and my sister over. Before I was able to turn the corner I was met by this little brown and black puppy that was just as excited to see me as I was to see him. Charlie did go on chew up the wires to my "Nintendo 64" and "Nintendo GameCube" leaving me with fancy paper weights instead of game consoles to play with. Even still, I loved that dog. Playing catch and keep away were always fun but his favorite was tug of war. Several months after he passed away, we got another dog. There’s a strange, painful hole that gets left behind after you lose a dog. Every long-time dog owner we knew told us getting another dog helps heal that hole. They were not wrong. It wasn't like flipping a switch and the pain was gone but it helped a lot. Our new dog that we’ve had for several years now is Hank. He’s also black and brown and looks like a seal that has the ears of Dobby from the Harry Potter films. It’s fun to get him worked up to play. I tend to exaggerate this, but every time he gets excited his eyes look in two different directions. It’s a miracle he can run in a straight line. Unlike Charlie though, he hates tug of war and loves keep away. He does like to grab things he shouldn’t when he wants to play. Thankfully, we trained him well so if he hears us say “drop it” he does. Then we take him to the backyard and run him around for a little while.

I suppose I’ll wrap up the post. What’s your favorite pet story? If you’ve got a favorite type of pet, dog, cat, bird, etc. Let me know in a comment! If your getting hit with this blizzard that's coming through then stay warm and stay safe! Can’t wait to share the next story in “The Hunt” series tomorrow. Hope you all enjoy it. Thanks for reading and have a great one!

Best regards,

Aaron Kirby