Dogs

I really don't understand keeping a dog as a pet.
Don't get me wrong, I love dogs, in fact I love all animals (apart from cockroaches which though admirable are not lovable) I just don't understand why you would want to keep one in your house.

If I see a dog I will, undoubtedly, get straight to my knees, arms outstretched and begin inane baby speak, but to be fair I also do this to cows, goats, pigs (not sheep, spawn of the devil as they are, I keep my distance)but that does not mean I would want them in my house.

Dogs are smelly, slobbery and altogether far too eager for my liking. I want to earn an animal's love, not just be given it willy nilly. The pets I have owned have always demanded a reason to return my affections and this is how I like it. This, I feel, makes the end product all the more rewarding. You feel like you've worked for it, like you've earned the right to be loved by them.

Our first rat, a little white doe called Lorelei, is a great example of what I mean.
When we first got her, she would sit in her cage, tucked under one of the levels, glaring at me. I regularly cried to Steve over the first couple of days, sobbing and yelling "Why doesn't she love me?" at him.

She soon figured out how much comfier my pockets were than her cage, and that she would get treats if she came out and played. She grew to utterly adore both me and Steve, but this affection was not shared amongst all members of the human race, oh no! Lorelei was picky about who she loved. In fact she actively hated most people unless they proved that she should feel differently. She showed this hate through biting.

I think this feeling has also crossed over in to my love life. Steve notoriously hates until proven wrong, and many of our friends comment on how privileged they feel that he actually likes them, since he likes so few people.

So coming back to dogs, but I guess it applies to all sorts of love, I don't see how something that will give love to anyone, unconditionally, can be a rewarding kind of love. You've done nothing to show why you should be loved therefore surely they don't really love you as an individual, just as an object.

Hmmmmmmmmmm... I'm not really sure this ramble was completely coherent....