Dealing with Pets

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My roommate loves pets, dogs especially. We go through them often, because we tend to end up adopting dogs with problems and not knowing until its too late. Personally I am really getting tired of getting pets. We have one dog that has been with us for two years and she is a sweetheart but my roommate is always wanting to find her some good company.

I do not play with the pets often, because I rather be in the house, honestly, than outside in the yard and because after the death of our pug (he had a congenital defect and we did not know) I am having a really hard time connecting with the other animals.

I am not sure if anyone else here has problems with animals or loves them. But how do you get over loosing a pet? My pug has been dead for at least two and a half years but he was my prince and we got to know each other and get along. After he died, I have had too much of a hard time trusting them.

Its not like I do not understand death . . . but at the same time I really don't. I think people dying has always affected me less than a pet.

I don't think you can really get over death.

I just wish my roommate would understand that it took me a lot of emotional effort to be comfortable with the pug and that after we connected my empathy for pets just got kinda shot. Besides she likes medium-sized dogs and they are too damn rambunctious for me.

I guess the biggest problem I am dealing with is liking the damn animals while being completely paranoid that they can die at any minute and that at the same time I wish to spend time with them and they freak me out.

I still miss my German Shepherd, who died last year. She was the best dog ever. She had a brain tumor and when the seizures started to get frequent, we had her put down.

Very, very tough to lose a pet.

Pets aren't things to go through like a pair of shoes you don't like. They are sentient beings and you should be prepared to work with them through problems much as you would with children.

You will frequently hear from trainers and the likes that it's not actually the pet who has the problem, but the care taker, and I agree with this to some extent. People actually have very little empathy for their pet's perspective. Observe how people react when a cat or dog is sick and in the process of vomiting. There is usually panic because the dog or cat is about to vomit on the carpet and the animal gets hastily yanked outside and often scolded, while they're still ill. Would someone do that to a person who is ill? Probably not. Why do it to a cat or dog?

As far as training dogs, understand that it's a learning experience for them and some dogs will get it faster, and remember better than others. They need daily training sessions and reminders of their lesson throughout the day for at least a few weeks on end. They need consistency and owners who are mentally a step ahead of them because even the most well trained dog can be impulsive.



Dogs are naturally social animals and I don't approve of keeping them separate from the rest of the family all day without having at least another dog as a companion.



Trust them for what? I think you have to enter into relationships with the knowledge that we are all finite beings and can't give out word that we will always be there. This extents to pets unfortunately.

Very good points.

I absolutely get your perspective. Getting emotionally close to a pet can be dangerous. My dog is nearly the only (I was about to write person) being that is important to me. We communicate on the same level. We understand eachother and I would never scold her while she is ill, because I feel what she feels. That sounds a bit strange. It is just easier to feel empathy for her than for humans. If she died, I think I might not handle the loss.

Yeah pretty much. I guess I feel like I can't trust getting close to another pet because I worry about being attached to them and suffering because I have seen them leave my life before. Like having a pillar knocked out from under you.