Posted by bluedog on November 18, 2002, at 0:22:56
In reply to Rainbow Bridge, bluedog, pet lovers, posted by shar on November 17, 2002, at 22:13:06
I think that non pet owners and and those that don't love animals simply cannot understand the depth of feeling (and love) you can have for an animal. I used to get angry or upset at those that would tell me "it's only a pet" but I have mellowed in my attitude in recent years and understand that everyone is different and they simply don't know what they are missing out on. Often this is due to a lack of personal experience with pet ownership and I have seen several friends make a complete turnaround in their views after getting a pet. The only thing that does get me very angry still is people who are cruel to animals. I think the penalties in this world for animal abuse are absolutely woeful and I won't even get into what I believe the approprite penalties should be for the perpetrators of animal cruelty, but let me just say that they are along the same lines as the penalties that I believe should be given to child abusers and paedophiles as animals can be just as helpless and as trusting as children.
Medical researchers are now beginning to focus on the healing qualities of pets and some hospital wards and nursing homes now have resident dogs/cats etc because it is being consistently shown that patients who have contact and interaction with friendly animals recover faster from illness than patients who do not have such contact. These results are pronounced in patients who do not have any other family or social support to rely on other than the love of their animals.
It has also been shown that the grieving processs for the loss of a much loved companion animal can be exactly the same as the grieving process for the loss of a human companion and this is the main problem that those that don't have pets seem to wrestle with. Some people simply cannot understand that you can cry as much over the loss of a dog as the loss of a child as they believe that this devalues the grief that you suffer for the loss of a child. Pet owners know that this is simply not true and the grief in each situation is unique and and REAL. Unfortunately in our society pet owners who suffer this grief are discriminated against in very similar ways that people who suffer from depression are discriminated against. So, the result is that pet owners end up hiding their grief so as to not appear as eccentric, or mentally weak. The result of hiding this grief is of course that it perpetuates the illusion in our society that losing a pet does not constitute "real" grief. This is why I found the rainbow bridge and pet loss websites so helpful as it showed to me that I am not abnormal and that millions of pet owners go through the same feelings that I experienced after the loss of their furry friends.
Here is a list small list of things that I do with my 2 golden retrievers that absolutely horrifies my non pet owning friends.
1. I cuddle and smooch with my dogs. There is nothing quite so soothing as giving my dogs a great big hug. Believe it or not but I once had a girlfriend that was actually jealous of me cuddling my dogs. Another friend didn't know what to say when he saw me blowing rasberries onto my dogs tummy. ( Like you would blow raberries on a babies tummy)
2. I regress into baby talk when I communicate with my dogs.
3. My dogs sleep on the bed with me at night
4. My dogs have "their" couch in my living room.
5. Strangest of all, when I watch a movie I can watch people being blown up and killed in the latest "Arnie or Seagal" movie without batting an eyelid but I will have a lump in my throat when animal suffering is portrayed in the same movies ( is this abnormal? )
Basically my dogs do not judge me, they are always happy to see me and they bring much joy and laughter into my life. I believe that my depression would be worse than it currently is if it was not for my dogs.
poster:bluedog
thread:32435
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20021106/msgs/32443.html