Last month, my youngest sister invited me and my parents to a birthday celebration for a close friend of hers, Dunkin.
Plans were simple and included a dinner at an outdoor restaurant and a trip to the park with all his friends. The celebration was canceled due to work schedules, but Dunkin still got a “Happy Birthday!” greeting from my dad on Facebook and I’m pretty sure there’s a box of treats in the mail with his name on it.
In case you haven’t figured this out already, Dunkin is a dog. He’s a well-behaved, loyal and slightly clingy two-year-old yellow lab who follows my sister almost everywhere. There are so many Facebook pictures of him, I’m surprised he doesn’t have his own profile yet. If dogs (instead of Dawgs) were allowed in Sanford Stadium, he would have an invitation to her college graduation in May.
I often roll my eyes at people talk about their pets like their human beings, but secretly I’m jealous. I’m one of the few people in my small circle of friends and co-workers who doesn’t have a pet to talk about.
When you live in a small apartment by yourself and spend most of your day at work, it’s hard to find the right kind of animal. Dogs need attention and exercise, and depending on their breed and temperament, can be rather high maintenance. I’d feel bad leaving it at home alone all day without a yard to run around in. Cats aren’t an option either, since I’m mildly allergic. Also -- hairballs? Ew.
When I was growing up, I had rabbits, three of them in succession -- Snowball, PJ, and Tibbar (which is ‘rabbit’ spelled backwards). I like rabbits. They’re quiet, relatively clean and I know how to care for one, so that could be the pet for me, right? But I don’t really know where I’d keep a rabbit hutch and if let loose inside unsupervised, rabbits will gnaw on anything. I can just imagine turning my back for a second to find that Fluffy had scampered off and chewed through my computer cord.
Maybe I should start small and just get a fish. No one ever brags about their cute and awesome pet fish, but a fish is a relatively low maintenance animal. You don’t have to pay a pet fee or vet bills, just remember to feed it...you remembered to feed it, right? You forgot again? Poor Flounder gets a burial at sea.
And therein lies my problem: I don’t know if I’m ready for the costs and responsibility of a pet. When I was a kid, my parents and sisters were always around to feed it, walk it and clean up after it if I forgot. I’ve never had to take care of an animal by myself before, so I second guess my desires for something cute and fluffy every time I pass a pet store. Instead, I dog-sit for my parents when they go out of town and of course, play with Dunkin when my sister visits. He’s an entertaining dog. Too bad I missed his birthday -- I’ll bet it was a blast.
