The Clash For Love Of Pets 🐶🐱❤

Having a pet has always been a social delineation that is a source of contention in my world. Growing up, my family had always welcomed a four-legged friend, but I also remember neighborhood friends whose families swore of any animal dependents. Something about shedding, or pet maintenance like feeding, walking, cleaning up after them, etc. I was regularly disturbed by how definitive some parents’ position was on a pet. I also wondered if that contributed to the sometimes inconsiderate nature I saw in the friend from those families.

My grandma had a cat in the house, and dog in her backyard. My mother was open to having her boys care for a dog of our own. Out of several dogs that we had over my youth, one was particularly interesting. He was both my comforter when I was stressed or needed a friend, and the bane of our existence when he would snarl because he didn’t want to come from under the bed where he hid, or had food that he didn’t want to return to us. Having that perspective helped me to begin to understand several concepts about life, such as the beginnings of negotiating with someone with a difficult attitude, developing compassion and a sense of responsibility for beings in the space around me, and even learning to interpret a rudimentary language that was being communicated by my furry best friend.