Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Animals

I'm not a fan of pets. Animals are fine in their habitat. But I'm not one who has any desire to curl up with a puppy...or a kitty...or a hamster...or even a goldfish for that matter. When neighbors' dogs come barking to say "hello" I struggle to kindly ward them off without making it look too much like I am avoiding the friendly gesture (and trying to not kick them). I know that my sort-of-hatred for them is wrong, but I still sort-of-hate them.
That being said, Ruby can choose for herself if she wants to like animals. So far, her relationship with them is developing, and I think she may become an animal lover. How will I cope with that decision?

As a baby laying on a blanket at Grandma's house, she was fascinated by the kitty
She was delighted when she learned how to crawl so she could chase the cat:
But she became disappointed when she learned the cat was way faster than her:
We moved away and Ruby's animal interactions became less frequent.
There was the day we spent at Camm's work with a dog. Any time the dog came near, things went about like this:
But when the dog fell asleep, she couldn't take her hands off him. 
In Tillamook I took her to the petting farm. It went about like this:
She was very interested and wanted me to touch/feed them. But she would have nothing to do with it (you can bet I liked that - being the non-animal person I am).
On our way back from Tillamook, we stopped at my sister Kara's house. That's when she seemed to lose her fear. She became the animal lover. The cats hid frantically under the bed, and Ruby spent the whole time attempting to coax them out. 

When I tried to bring her downstairs to distract her, she insisted on climbing the steep wooden stairs to find them again:
And she resumed her post at the bed. The cats were scared to death.
That happened one week before we got to South America...
That means we spent the week watching her adore every animal she came in contact with. I think we stopped her before she touched any stray animals, but I'm not totally sure.
And just for the record (sort of as a side note), in Peru, there's a popular dog that looks like this:
pic found here
OK, so now I've got this baby who is really starting to love any type of animal and I have to figure out how to cope. I don't ever want a pet. And any time she touches any animal, I would appreciate it if she would take a bath immediately following so as to not carry any hair or germs with her. I don't think this is going to work.

Any ideas on how I can let up a little bit?
Or any ideas on how I can persuade her to not really like animals?

8 comments:

  1. I too don't like animals living in my house. My six year old has always loved animals. I tell her when she moves out and has her own house she can have as many animals as she wants. That seems to hold her off a bit. We also go the the pet store and they can walk around and see all the animals there.

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    1. I told my husband this idea and he said, "Yeah, that's what my parents told me...and now look at me!"

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  2. Well...I liked animals until a cat bit my finger when I was about 3...so that did it for me. But yeah, I think it's probably better for her to like them than to be super scared of them, like I was...

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  3. I'm so glad I'm not the only one that has a strong dislike of pets!! Good luck! My boys love animals too... I just fear the day they ask for a pet.

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  4. I love animals, but I don't like the mess they bring. Kari is in love with dogs and cats, but mostly dogs. I am thinking for Christmas she needs to have a dog. The kind you find in the toy section with batteries.

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  5. Maybe you could introduce her to some really mean animals with no teeth so their bites don't hurt? Or maybe you could trick her for now and get one of those battery powered stuffed dogs that walks and barks.

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    1. And now, of course, I read the other comments and see that I am not the first person with that idea :) Must be a good one!

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