Category: Pets and Animals

Taking your pet on vacation.

~ SA Otey

You take your dog everywhere. The grocery store, restaurants, movie theaters, and airplanes. I’m not talking about service dogs, I’m speaking of people’s pets.  Taking your dog everywhere is the cool and hip thing to do. So why not take it on vacation? After all, the dog is part of your family, so why not let it enjoy all of your adventures. However, if you don’t take your dog on vacation, please find someone who can look after them.

We have a cat and if we are gone for more than two days then we hire a house/pet sitter. We pay them to come and stay at our house. They sleep here, they eat here, and they take care of our pets. Cats are pretty easy to take care of and don’t need much attention. Cats really don’t need humans.

dogFace

However, if you have a dog, it’s a different story. Dogs need constant attention because they are highly social creatures. If you don’t hire a house sitter then take your puppers to the kennel where they can get social interaction. Leaving your dog in your house overnight and someone letting it out all day is unfair to your dog and your neighbors. The dog will bark all day because it’s lonely. If there are two dogs they will try to out-bark each other. If you are going to be cruel, take it up a notch and just throw on a shock collar and leave it outside in the cold. At least it won’t bother anyone else since you won’t be bothered with caring for your animals.

Taking your dog everywhere

~ SA Otey


People bring their dogs everywhere. Restaurants, libraries, grocery stores, the doctor, no not the vet. Tourist attractions are now putting up passive-aggressive signs to subtly hint that no one likes your dog. There used to be a time when you’d see a stroller with a cute baby, but now it’s occupied by a dog. People will carry their dogs in a Baby Bjorn just so they don’t have to pay for a kennel.

Do you share food with your dog?

~ SA Otey

I’m not talking about a table scrap thrown to the floor for them to enjoy and get diarrhea later. I’m speaking of something I’m seeing more often in public. People give dogs their ice cream cones and share a table at a restaurant. Yes, there are dining establishments that now have portions of their menu dedicated to dogs. Drive-thru banks have dog treats in addition to lollipops for your children.

What I saw today disturbed me. A grown man with a shaved ice treats sitting on a bench at an outlet mall sharing it with a standard poodle. One cup and two spoons. There is a myth that a dog’s mouth is clean. But in reality, it’s only clean for them, since their saliva may or may not contain antiseptic and antibacterial properties. They can still reach their testicles and butt hole and they may have just finished off a serving of gnat butter before you dipped their spoon into your dessert.