Comments on: Pets? No, Thanks.

By: Pomjob

Pomjob — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:16:35 +0000

OMG, stuck in a car with coworkers who have been talking dogs for last 15 minutes. Thought of you. Eish you were here?

By: PomJob

PomJob — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:09:56 +0000

Cosign. I’m not an animal lover at all. Just because you love your pet doesn’t mean I have to love it. Please don’t laugh when it jumps/slobbers on me – it’s not cute or appreciated. I understand I’m a guest at your house, but please control your pets.

By: April

April — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:35:58 +0000

Totally, Zandria. When people ask if I have pets, I say I’m a plant person. Which is true. I have lots of plants. I do pretty well with them, and they can last a week or so on their own. They don’t shed or slobber or make noise. While I have known some nice pets, I’m not really a pet person. And I think that’s totally OK.

By: ashley

ashley — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:46:16 +0000

Dude. I am a vegetarian so people ASSUME I am dying to have an animal live with me.

Nope. No way. For all the reasons you mentioned. I just don’t think animals are the cutest things ever. Or even that cute.

(Plus, it annoys me that most people ADOOOORE dogs and cats but don’t give two shits about the rest of the animals and the nasty conditions they live in. /rant.)

Kids, though? I totally want some of those. ;) Babies grow up and learn how to communicate with words. I like that.

By: Holly

Holly — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:01:16 +0000

Sometimes I feel like a bad person because I don’t like dogs more…like you, I LIKE dogs, just not enough to have one. I think a huge part of it is that I’ve never had a dog of my own, and a lot of my friend’s dogs (and houses) are, um, really stinky.

I feel about dogs the way some feel about kids…I LOVE to look at other people’s and coo over them, but not enough to take them home. :-)

By: LA Cochran

LA Cochran — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:57:23 +0000

I’ve come to really love *other people’s* pets. They say over the course of a pet’s life time it will cost you 10-15K. That’s a lot of happy hour money. Plus, you can have nice furniture/rugs/floors/etc *or* you can have a pet. Add in the guilt when I’m away and right now it just doesn’t make sense.

By: LJ

LJ — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:56:51 +0000

I agree with Anya & Geeky. I love my dog. LOVE my dog. And absolutely. There are tons of inconveniences (for example, I’m definitely not traveling as much these days due to the expense of having to board her). But for me, I decided over many years of thought that they were worth it in the end to have the company, and that feeling hasn’t changed over the months (not quite a year of ownership).

But all of the drawbacks you note are important. Too often people jump in without knowing the expenses and potential frustrations they’re signing on to face when bringing home a pet. And even though I’m on the other side of team pet from you, I appreciate your thinking through it so logically. And if I ever get Dixie to DC, I’ll bring some hand sanitizer so you two can meet! :)

By: geeky

geeky — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:27:10 +0000

What Anya said. I’ll put up with all of the annoyances of pet ownership for my dog because she brings me so much joy, but I feel the same way you feel about pets about kids. They’re just not for me. And pets just aren’t for you. Nothing wrong with that :)

By: Lemmonex

Lemmonex — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:23:33 +0000

You have no idea how much I love you for this. I am not a pet person and people’s reactions are harsh. It is way more socially acceptable to say you hate kids than to say you hate animals.

By: Leah

Leah — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:04:37 +0000

I love pets. I totally adore them. But I haven’t had one (other than a snake, which is the easiest pet ever) since I left home. And the reasons why are the very reasons you list: it’s inconvenient, it can be potentially costly, and you have to plan around them.

I’d love to have a dog. Matt and I are talking about maybe getting a cat. But every time I seriously think about it, I realize that my current lifestyle just doesn’t lend itself to that. I love being able to go somewhere on a moment’s notice or not worry about booking a pet-sitter when I want to leave town for the weekend.

What I loved best was having lots of friends with pets. When I lived in Ann Arbor, I spent plenty of time pet-sitting. I got all the joy of a pet for a few days with very little hassle, and the pets were always happy to see me when I visited my friends at other times.

When I have kids, I’m sure I’ll get pets. I expect life will be more stable then. But for now, when I’m moving around and still trying to sort out my career, it’s difficult to think of taking on yet another responsibility.