Comments on: You’re either an animal person or you’re not

By: Amy Suggars

Amy Suggars — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:26:54 +0000

That’s another thing I love about my job as a pet-sitter. The people that I meet are pet lovers and we have an instant connection. Yes, I have customers who are demanding and difficult and so on but overall, I know that my clientele is friendlier and more easy-going than the clientele of a different type of service provider.

By: Colorado Transplant

Colorado Transplant — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:07:15 +0000

I heartedly approve of your upcoming post on the “best of” pet-hater e-mail/comments, Gina.
It might be very stimulating, to say the least.

I grew up with dogs and cats, and for that I am thankful. However, some did not have those wonderful experiences. That might be part of the reason you get e-mails from “nasties”.

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:44:43 +0000

Heather, I’m going to save the “best of” pet-hater e-mail/comments and do a whole post on them!

It’ll be like John Scalzi’s book, “Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded,” just not as funny.

By: H. Houlahan

H. Houlahan — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:44:23 +0000

I think an entire post of just the kitten-kickers’ hate mail would be marvelous!

There’s a big difference between being “not a pet person” and filling your empty life by sending hate mail to a pet blogger.

There’s lots of things I think are an idiotic waste of time, energy, and resources. I have other things to do with my day than get onto NASCAR discussion boards or high-fashion blogs to tell the enthusiasts what troglodytes they are.

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:46:47 +0000

Y’all shoulda seen the pet-hating comments the first-time poster moderation filter caught.

On second thought, you don’t need to. Their senders are all banned so I don’t have to see more from them, either.

Some people really do need therapy for their steady (and always anonymous!) hate-spewing and chronic unhappiness.

I’d suggest they really need a pet, but I wouldn’t wish these miserable haters on any animal.

By: Colorado Transplant

Colorado Transplant — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:03:01 +0000

I enjoy talking to cats and dogs I meet so I say nice things to them, like hello.

I do not enjoy talking to babies and little kids, so I don’t.

Does that make me a horrible person? No, it just shows where my interests lie. Anyway, there are plenty of people who coo over babies and love talking to young-uns.

By: VJ

VJ — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:07:08 +0000

All I have to say is that I absolutely agree with everyone’s comments here.

By: Rinalia

Rinalia — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:08:24 +0000

I remember a time I was walking my older pit bull lady dog at a park. It was an on-leash park, but people still let their dogs off leash. We encountered a 6-mos-old lab puppy, covered in mud with a penchant for jumping on people. The owner was about 500’ behind her, yelling she was friendly. Well, yes sir, I see that, but I prefer to remain relatively mud-free when I’m in the on-leash area, plus my old lady pit bull has a low tolerance level for unruly, large puppies. Mina yelled at the dog good and proper, which the puppy ignored, and we moved on with life.

We passed a woman who was clearly afraid of Mina. I put Mina in a sit. As she walked past, I was about to warn her about the lab puppy when who should appear on the horizon but said dog. She charged over, happy as can be, and planted two big muddy feet on this frightened woman’s clothes. I could tell the woman was trying hard not panic, she was stiff as a board. All heck broke loose when Mina thought she should be removing that lab puppy from the woman by bodily force. So here I am with an unhappy dog straining at the leash, a prancing puppy who is enamored with a petrified woman, and a dog guardian walking in the opposite direction apparently immune to my screams of him to get his dog. I finally had to tie Mina to a tree and corral the dog. The owner finally moseyed over, I yelled at him thoroughly, he seemed properly chastised, and the poor woman walked away CRYING.

That was perhaps the most painful reminder that not everyone likes or is comfortable around dogs (and really, most of us do not want a 50 lb puppy plowing into us). The situation could have turned out worse, circumstances depending. We should definitely be cognizant that not everyone is enamored with the charms and quirks of our canine and feline brethren.

By: The OTHER Pat

The OTHER Pat — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:02:55 +0000

Hmmm . . . . maybe people should keep their kids away from me for the same reason!

JUST KIDDING!!!!!!

By: Eucritta

Eucritta — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:57:50 +0000

I’m going to go against the tide here: I do my best to keep my pets at a distance from people who don’t like animals, but that’s not because I respect them; I don’t. It’s to protect my pets, because people who are either angry or fearful or both may lash out if pressed.

Just like dogs and cats [g].