Today’s writing prompt is “What is good about having a pet?”. I can easily think of many good and wonderful things about having a pet but let’s not forget that it also comes with responsibility. Having a pet is a lifelong commitment, well their lifetime at least, and you need to treat them like family. If you cannot handle the pet when it gets old, and you are not going to treat it like family, then don’t get it.
Our Pets
We’ve owned many pets in our life, fish in aquariums, bearded dragons and other lizards, snakes, rabbits, and hamsters. We’ve owned many dogs, and we’ve had a cat for a short time. Unfortunately, we found out that I was allergic to cats and my allergy was bad. Luckily, we found a good home for the cat. My wife and I were very sad that we had to part ways with the cat, but I just got too sick, so sick that it was dangerous. I should say I am not allergic to dogs.
We were not always good pet owners. Mistakes were made. For example, our five year old daughter brought home a dozen minnows that we put in an aquarium. They were basically fish that did not end up as bait. We did a lot of fishing for a while. We placed the minnows in a clean aquarium and fed them what we were told to give them. Our daughter named them Sally one, Sally two, Sally three, Sally four, Sally five, Sally six, Sally seven, Sally eight, Sally nine, Sally ten, Sally eleven, and Sally twelve.
As I mentioned, we were not always good pet parents. Our five year old daughter thought that the minnows needed a more interesting environment, so she poured cranberry juice in the aquarium. We were able to clean it out and save the minnows that time. But when she poured red paint in the aquarium, we were not successful in doing so. Our son also had a snake that needed to be fed subdued but live mice. We discovered that if you walk into a pet store and tell them you want to buy mice to feed your snake, they won’t sell the pet mice to you. Long story short we struggled with feeding the snake and eventually he died. We felt awful, but we realized that keeping a snake as a pet is not a good idea unless you really know what you are doing.
Our Dogs
The dogs we own and have owned have a very special place in our hearts. They’ve given us so much unconditional love, special moments, entertainment, and not to mention hilarious moments that we are still laughing about years after they happened. We used to have a Labrador called Baylor. Well, more correctly, he was one quarter Rhodesian Ridgeback but mostly a yellow Labrador. He was a funny and loving dog and the most skilled surfer counter I’ve ever witnessed. We also had a German Shepherd named Baby. She was also a rescue. She was a great guard dog and a loving stepmother to our Leonberger puppy Bronco. She fiercely protected him.
Bronco, or Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle, was our Leonberger dog. This is a big dog and a rare breed related to Saint Bernards. We got him as a puppy from a Canadian breeder who likely is North America’s most prominent Leonberger breeder. Before we were allowed to buy him, we had to go through an interview to make sure we would be good dog parents. Bronco was a friendly, confident, loving, and funny dog. He was also very protective of our other dogs as well as our hamsters. He rescued run away hamsters on several occasions. He even put them in his mouth once and carried them to safety. He had a great sense of smell and one time he alerted us to Baylor having an oncoming insulin shock and on another occasion he saved our Pug Daisy’s life.
In addition to Baylor, Baby and Bronco we’ve had small dogs including our Japanese Chin Ryu, our Pug Daisy and our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo who is still with us. Ryu and Daisy were funny and easy dogs and Rollo is very energetic, curious, intelligent and funny, but admittedly a bit of work.
What is good about having a pet?
Pets bring a lot of entertainment and joy and they add life to a home. They keep you busy and keep your mind off problems, conflicts and doom scrolling. Intelligent mammals, such as dogs, will also give you cuddles, unconditional love, and they can comfort you. For example, a few weeks ago I was watching a movie that was touching and bit sad and I got a bit emotional That’s when I noticed our dog Rollo staring at me with loving eyes as he tilted his head. Then he came over to me and gave me a dog hug (pressing his body towards mine).
Another advantage of owning a dog is that they need a walk every day. Walking your dog a couple of miles per day will keep you healthy as well. Studies show that dog owners live longer than other people. In addition, dogs can provide practical services such as alerting you when strangers approach your house, they can be guard dogs, sniff out diseases and seizures, in our case without any training.
Your Responsibilities as Pet Owner
You need to feed your pet, provide clean water at all times, wash those food and water bowls daily with soap and hot water, care for your pet, keep it healthy, wash it and clean it, pay for veterinary bills, play with it and provide opportunity for exercise. If your pet is a mammal or a more advanced animal, such as a dog, you need to love it, train it, and it needs to be part of the family. If you are going to keep it on a chain in the backyard, leave it to be lonely most of the time, or uncomfortable, or let it take its own walks without supervision, or return it to a shelter when it gets old and sick, then don’t get a pet, especially not a dog.
The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle
Finally, I would like to mention that I wrote a book about Bronco and Leonbergers. About 60% of the book is about Bronco’s daring and often hilarious adventures and 40% of the book is information on Leonbergers, breed history, breed standard, training, care, health, how to get one, and there is an extensive resource guide towards the end of the book.
The book is available in a lot of places including Amazon in the US, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and many other places.
Leonberger Life 