Pets, nearly everyone wants them. Their cute, cuddly, and for some offer as much satisfaction as children. Legal pets range from hedgehogs and guinea pigs to monkeys and sugar gliders. These may vary depending on your state so do research. Parents buy pets for their kids or they get used for various health problems. The concern is when these pets are bought for the wrong reasons or abused for the wrong purposes.
The new and growing trend are those that bring “service dogs” into shopping or eating areas when they clearly are simply pets or “emotional support” animals. There is a major difference here. Service dogs MUST perform a specific task for the handler, whether it’s physical or mental. They perform functions such as hearing, guiding, psychiatric, seizure alert, diabetic alert, mobility, and allergies. They are highly trained by either the individual or hired company to perform that task. An emotional support animal (ESA) has no formal training but is written a letter by a mental health professional stating a need for the animal. But, the animal has no rights under the American Disabilities Act (ADA), which means it has no rights to go to public locations with the handler. An ESA letter does allow the owner the ability to take the animal with them on airlines (most) and stay with them in their apartments in such places that would normally not allow them. Otherwise, there is no need to assign the title of “ESA” to an animal. Short of the need for this, it’s simply your pet. I know to some that would frustrate but, unfortunately, that’s simply how it is. There’s an epidemic of falsification and it only hurts that need it. Therapy dogs are trained also but they typically are used in group settings such as daycares or hospitals.
One final note to those with service dogs. If you’re out and about and store owners come and ask about the dog, don’t get frustrated. I know for some it’s difficult and confrontation about this matter can strike up some anger or anxiety. Some even struggle with PTSD symptoms and have signs that people clearly ignore. But, the ADA clearly indicates the following:
You may be asked:
- Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
- What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
Next, let’s talk about young kids and pets. All kids want a pet at some point, whether it’s a cat, dog, bird, or little fuzzy gerbil that they think is cute running inside a ball. To all new parents, I encourage you to rethink, and rethink again on these new endeavors. Hear me out here because I’m not saying a pet for every child and household is terrible; that’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is that many parents impulse buy cute things when it comes to their kids…including us 🙂 We’ve done it numerous times and never learned! I can’t count the amount of times we’ve purchased a small animal and they swore it would be taken care of, only for the ‘oh shiny’ to wear off 2 weeks later, and I’m feeding and cleaning cages. Then it compounds to 30 minutes a day of cage cleaning and wondering “when does it end?!”. So, we vowed to never agree to any more small pets and just have cats and dogs. Someone explain to me how there’s a hamster cage upstairs…
On a side note, I had a few year span in which I had 30 snakes. They were all varieties, from boas to ball pythons to reticulated pythons. I don’t have them any longer because we agreed to parting with them when my son was born. Why you ask? No clue.
Birds!
This is a special topic and it should be. I have 7 birds. 2 parakeets, 1 green-cheek conure, 1 sun conure, 1 African Grey, 1 cockatiel, and 1 blue and gold Macaw. My grey and macaw are from rescues, and are 9 and 27 years old, respectively. My sunroom is dedicated to just them and a couple air filters and they are NOISY. I think they each compete for who’s louder but Gabe, my sun conure, wins hands down. Ava, my grey, makes a ton of sounds and whistles. She loves me to death but hates everyone else. Rusty, the macaw, hates me but loves my wife and oldest daughter, Natalie. I house the 2 parakeets and 2 conures in a walk-in aviary; all of them love me and hate everyone else in the house. Are you getting the picture about how temperamental birds are? You can’t force the relationship by any amount of treats or food either. Speaking of food, it’s expensive! Nuts are expensive! They are time-consuming because they are like toddlers that never grow up, requiring constant attention, otherwise they develop longstanding habits such as feather plucking. The concern is that social media has made it seem like birds are simple, that you can buy a bird and it will talk to you just like the video. This is absolutely false and is the reason so many birds are malnourished or ending up in foster homes and rescues. Some don’t do research, buy this gorgeous macaw, the care becomes tedious and it just ends up in the cage. Or, they learn that the real lifespan is 50 plus years. Please do research on birds! If your not willing to spends hours with it, don’t buy it. If you’re not willing to give up an area with smelly stuff and perfumes, don’t buy it. If you’re buying it for a child, don’t buy it. If you don’t think you can afford it’s food long term, don’t buy it.
God Bless You All