UNITED STATES—Pets they are great companions, but I have to ask a question why do some people have pets? You might be asking me exactly where is that question coming from? It comes from someone who seems to always be babysitting and caring for someone else’s pets and I’ve reached my wits end. Why? Its one thing to expect people to do the basics with any pet: take them outside, feed them, provide them with water, and shelter and a bit of companionship. Now anything beyond that is excessive in my opinion, but that is dependent on the owner themselves if you ask me.

I’m not looking at a watch and calculating the exact time frame a dog spent running around the house. I believe there are two types of dogs: the ones that are trained and the ones that aren’t. If your dog is not trained to NOT use the bathroom in the house, they’re not going to be running around the house. Why? I’m not cleaning up dog mess and piss all day. It’s more frustrating when your dog is nearly 10 years old and doing the exact same thing. If you love your dog that much it might be time for you to get a trainer to teach a bit of obedience to end the madness.

So it raises perhaps the most important question of all: why do some people get dogs? I’d like to believe it’s for companionship, but at the same time, I think some people like to get pets just to say they have one. They want to be part of the group, but in doing so they are neglecting the animal itself. Pets can sometimes be worse than human beings; they require attention, they WANT attention, and worse of all they always have to be taken care of. At some point, a human being is able to take care of themselves. They can speak, they can open doors, they can feed themselves and so much more, dogs can’t do any of those things.

If you’re getting a pet, look at it as a lifelong responsibility. One where you can’t just vacate your responsibilities because you had a long day of work! Guess what we all have bad days at work, and still come home and take care of all of our responsibilities and so much more without b**ching and complaining about it. However, this is the one that probably peeves me off the most: people with dogs who seem to always travel, but never seem to have their dog.

Hey, planes allow you to take dogs on them, so if you’re planning to go out of town, take your dog with you. It’s not far for the animal to be bounced from place to place without having some sort of stability because someone just has to jet off and move here and there not realizing they really don’t have time for an animal they should have never gotten to begin with. A pet is a major responsibility; if you’re not ready to sacrifice your free time to caring for someone else, than its best to NOT get a pet. Why? It’s unfair to the pet, and it’s unfair to the person that you continue to pawn your pet off to.