I am spending three weeks petsitting. Pets have been noticeably absent from any of my blog posts, despite the theme being happiness. How can I defend their absence? I write on so many things that I have absolutely no clue about. Hence my regular pleas for guest blog posts. I have two Vets I am working on. But there is a balance between asking someone and becoming a mosquito.
I had a wonderful dog growing up. I believe Milligan was a cross between a fox terrier and a poodle, but I don't think anyone knew for sure. He was awesome. I have a wonderful photo of the two of us sleeping next together when I was a little guy. He always seemed to know when you were ill and would sleep next to the couch or your bed. Like Mother Bears porridge, he was neither too big nor too small. Just right. I have to admit to struggling with yappy dogs, slobbery dogs or jumpy dogs.
As for cats. We had a couple. One named Tut, who we all loved dearly but had an unfortunate run in with our neighbourhood Pit Bull Terrier (unsurprisingly #1 on the first list of danger dogs I googled). The second had a few names - Fat Cat stuck best. Unfortunately Fat Cat soured my Man-Cat relations and was grumpy in the kind of way that doesn't make you millions of dollars.
My project for the next three weeks is to keep two dogs and two cats happy and healthy till their loving owners return. Maybe it will give me some more insight into animals and my own happiness. It has been a long time since Milligan left my world. The main handbrake for me has always been the fact that I been wandering the globe. I am also a little hesitant of messy pets turning my home into a zoo. It seems you have to be in one place and you have to live in a big house with a big garden to do pets justice.
Perhaps the co-housing model of the Danes would help solve that? You get less of the wasted space of one family living in a huge house, and you get enough people around so that you can go on holiday or travel without concern. I also like the idea of pets at Third Places. The well trained sort would make great additions to schools, hospitals, coffee shops, and even libraries (read a book, stroke a cat).
I know there are lots of dog and cat people out there. Anyone want to do a better job than me at stating the case for pets and happiness?
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