When my son was little, I thought it would be fun to share looking after a pet with him. I had discovered after looking after a neighbour's cat for a week that I was allergic to them, so that was out. I decided a budgerigar might be a good option. They're quite intelligent and can even learn to 'talk'. However, I found out the mess from one small creature can be unbelievable, and Georgie never did learn to talk or do anything all that interesting except freak out my husband, Andy, by swooping down and missing his bald head by a centimetre. When we were trying to sell our house, it was hard to keep it pristine for viewings, so I took Georgie to live with my mother's budgie. It was supposed to be temporary but he was so happy there with a friend to talk to, he stayed until the end of his life.
That was the end of life with pets until Alice came along. From as soon as she was able to, she showed us how much she was fascinated by, and loved, animals. All animals. Any animal. She would spend hours stalking neighbourhood cats to give them a stroke. She would (still does) beg me to ask anyone passing with their dog to ask if she can pet it for a bit. She loves to visit friends with pets and spends a large part of our time visiting with the animal(s). Alice would even get ladybirds to crawl on her hand and ask me if she could have that as a pet.
So, a pet would have to be found and I began to think: who's going to be doing all the donkey work when the novelty wears off? It would be me of course. I looked at rabbits when a friend wanted to rehome theirs, but remembered that they're cute, but a bit smelly and, well, boring. Gradually I began to tempt myself with thoughts of owning a dog. Now I don't go out to work, children are grown enough, so if not now, it will be never again.
No comments:
Post a Comment