Lovable, but not to everyone

You've most likely seen it happen. Someone visiting your home or meeting you on the street. They take one look at your furry pet and they sometimes feel uncomfortable and try to stay away from the animal. If they are tactless, they will even complain that "animals are filthy and smelly" "they leave too much hair around the house" and "don't you know what germs they could carry?"

Leaving germs on the bed, eeek!

The Mom issue

I'm sad to say my mom is one of these people. When we first got Aschiuta off the street, we were living with a friend and he had no problem with the cute pup. After a month though, our friend had to move out and mom came in instead.

Now, you must know that my family policy had always been "no pets inside the flat". And I guess they had their reasons (mostly that animals belong outdoors) and they both admitted to liking animals. We actually had a rabbit for a summer and hosted a kitten for a couple of weeks. I might talk about them in a later post.

When my mom moved in, we agreed she would stay in one room and the doggie and us in the other room. She didn't have to run into Aschiuta too much, because we don't usually let her out of the room much. But when she escapes, my mom makes the "eeek, stay away, you animal!" dance and Aschiuta just wants to hug her more.

Are pets bad for you?

We've had "the talk" a lot of times, that dogs are smelly and they shed too much fur. Also, she has heard of an aunt who died because of an alleged cyst caused by an animal hair. And, there's the story she read about someone who developed asthma because of dog hair. Bottom line, she wants us to give Aschiuta away.

I'm sure she is a nice concerned mother, but I think that's a bit overreacted. I'm sure animals can cause some diseases to humans, but, apart from the common allergy and rabies, I wonder how often the others really occur. Do you guys know any cases of pet-caused illness?

We're seeing the glass half-full

Regardless of all these cons of living with a pet, I don't want to give Aschiuta away... She has grown on us and we've also watched her grow from a small puppy. I'm sure I don't have to tell the pet owners who are reading this post about how wonderful living with an animal can be. It's an emotional bond, beyond all the germs and fur and smells.

Aschiuta came to nap next to me.

So, let's enjoy that glass of life with our pets. Cheers!