how many folks feel like their pets are like family?

DL Hegel said:

I like my haggis with horseraddish

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Kills the taste, though.

Our dog is our third son, no question. And because he's the "baby," he gets to sleep with Mama (me). Poor Dad.

Pets are people-ish. I recognize the birthdays of some of my frineds pets, and Christmas too.

My cats..well...Clyde Jaymes is a devout Calvinist and as such, somewhat curmudgeonly, not to mention pedantic. He's more like the strict uncle who doesn't approve of anything...who is forced to live with you because of some perrverse twist of fate.

My other cat..Boots...is...well....imagine if you were the parent of quadruplets....and they grew up to be 'The Who'.

My kids...they treat Boots like a slightly 'simple' little brother...complete with dressing him up and getting him to chase sticks.

Clyde elicits respect.

SRSLY...you do not want to wake up at three AM with this cat sitting on your chest, his yellow eyes glowing...while he quotes scripture.

SRSLY!

With family, you talk about unconditional love...but with the

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cats - you actually get it.

The cats mind better, too. I don't know why that is but it is so.

I love my dog. My family?..............Meh.

Somewhere along the line, Mr Rima and I turned into the nutbar aunt and uncle who sign the pets' names to the Christmas card. We didn't plan it, we just got a little crazier every day and then it was too late. I once wrote Mr Rima a plaintive country western ballad about our basset hound. We talk about going "walkies". I have approximately 5874 adorable images of every four footed moment on my hard drive. We crazy.

My pug Tubs is the best friend I could ever have. Dogs are one of the greatest gifts we are given in this life.

Jay, you have at least four humor columns in those comments...the Calvanist cat is still killing me.

I don't mind dogs, I'm allergic to cats but have known some that I considered very cool for whom, I was willing to take a daily dose of benadryl and who hadn't sold out their cattiness in the process. (Graduate school, black angora named Shoe) --sounds like a Johnny Cash song).

We grew up with big black labs and I loved two of the three we had...the first Midnight was perfect. She was the runt of a litter but had a fierce heart. She regularly houdinied her way out of every cage and dog run ever built to contain her. She would pedal out to us in the ocean when we got too deep for her comfort, allowing my then pregnant mother not to have to come in to get us. She was awesome.

Penny was an abused dog and took longer to learn to love. She would shy away if you raised your hand above your shoulder or quiver at loud noises. But over the years, we came to love her as a very gentle soul. She got us more than we got her.

My cat (in my avatar) is Elizabeth Cady.

She is my baby, my fuzzy child.

No, I don't have children of my own, and I can see how that might change things, but if I have extra cash, my fuzzy girl benefits. I've spent more on vet bills for her than for doctor's appointments for myself this year. The running joke is that she isn't my muse, she's my furry minion.

I once heard it said that dogs are like children with fur coats. If such is the case and I do believe that, then my kittens are teenagers with fur coats. Cats has much bigger attitudes. I am but their humble servant, here to take care of all their earthly needs. Help me!

I called my mother this weekend to see if she wanted to go see an exhibit at the museum and she called me back to a half an hour later to tell me that she couldn't go because she couldn't find anyone to babysit her dog.

The dog's not sick, not hurt, not in anyway needing supervision, she just "really, really hates to be alone".

Grrarrgh said:

I called my mother this weekend to see if she wanted to go see an exhibit at the museum and she called me back to a half an hour later to tell me that she couldn't go because she couldn't find anyone to babysit her dog.

The dog's not sick, not hurt, not in anyway needing supervision, she just "really, really hates to be alone".

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Oh dear. That's kind of sad, both for the dog and the owner. Dogs are pack animals by nature and, if you plan to own only one at a time, they need to be trained to be alone, either through crate training or desensitization. Letting a dog suffer separation anxiety because you don't know how to train it is a bit of a shame. Either the dog suffers every time the owner walks out the door, or the owner suffers because she can never walk out the door without the dog.

CaroGirl said:

Oh dear. That's kind of sad, both for the dog and the owner. Dogs are pack animals by nature and, if you plan to own only one at a time, they need to be trained to be alone, either through crate training or desensitization. Letting a dog suffer separation anxiety because you don't know how to train it is a bit of a shame. Either the dog suffers every time the owner walks out the door, or the owner suffers because she can never walk out the door without the dog.

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It's pretty disturbing. The dog is one of those mini Yorkie terriers that weighs about 7 pounds and my mom won't leave the house without her. I don't even like to have her come over, because she always brings the dog. Then she spends the entire time talking to me through the dog in a baby voice. "What do you think, Jello, do we want more Pepsi right now? We do?!?! Ok, Heather, we'll have some more Pepsi!!"

Yes, the dog's name is Jello, because, and I quote, "There's always room for Jello".

Grrarrgh said:

It's pretty disturbing. The dog is one of those mini Yorkie terriers that weighs about 7 pounds and my mom won't leave the house without her. I don't even like to have her come over, because she always brings the dog. Then she spends the entire time talking to me through the dog in a baby voice. "What do you think, Jello, do we want more Pepsi right now? We do?!?! Ok, Heather, we'll have some more Pepsi!!"

Yes, the dog's name is Jello, because, and I quote, "There's always room for Jello".

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Well, if I'd been drinking Pepsi while I read that post you'd owe me a new keyboard! That's disturbing yet hysterical.

My father-in-law's a bit like that with his dog. He loves that thing so much it's unnatural. I think he'd marry it if he could (although my MIL might have something to say about it). I haven't exactly bonded with "Scooter" (yes, that's its name). I call her Cujo because every time I go over there it skids down the hallway at me like a rabid raccoon, growling, snarling and spitting. I fear I might lose a finger one of these days.

Duncan J Macdonald said:

Kills the taste, though.

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The haggis or horseradish?

When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, a dear friend asked the one question that became the object of my nightmares. He asked, "What if the new baby will be allergic to the fuzzy baby?" I was literally sick from this question. We had the fuzzy baby - a pomeranian- for about 5 years before, so there was no way we intended on giving her up for any reason. We even went so far as to figure out how to keep the 2 babies separated if need be. Luckily, she wasn't allergic and the fuzzy baby wasn't jealous. When we brought the baby home for the very first time, we put her carrier in the middle of the living room floor and Hubby and I both sat on the couch and played with the fuzzy baby just like we always did. When my daughter started talking, my mom chastised me for her calling the fuzzy baby her sister. But we called her that...

Now we have 3 fuzzy babies and 2 human girls and we keep them all in the house. We keep the pets outside -- birds, tarantula, iguana, fish in the little pond, etc. I never know what kind of 'new pet' I'll come home to.

I voted yesterday but didn't have time to post.

I love my dog- more than I expected I would. I call her my baby dog. But I am aware she is a dog and try to treat her as a dog. She is pampered - we don't have children and we channel some of that parental energy into her, but we endeavor to be good to her and let her be a dog. We crate trained her, we worked to prevent seperation anxiety, we trained her to sit and to stay and to wait until we say ok when we put her food down, stuff like that. I walk her almost daily (i'm not perfect).

I agree with some of the other posts here, I see her more as a companion that I love than 'my baby'. Even though I call her that, you'll note it's 'baby dog' not just 'baby.'

Though I have, when my mom or mom-in-law bug me about having a baby, told them their grandbaby is in the yard barking, but that was more as a defense.

Some animals definitely don't seem to have that spark - that special connection. Other animals can actually connect with almost everyone. our main street had a cat that was loved by all.
Seriously, it even moved in with a cat-hater. you couldn't say no to this guy, he had the touch.
When I was young, we had some beagles who never connected with us. We also had a black lab who was wonderful: she was lovely and goofy and loved us.
Currently, I have [read here: live with] a lab/shep/collie cross. He is about 7 or 8 now, but he previously lived with jerks who were not nice to him. It took a long time to convince him that we don't beat our dog, or kick them down the stairs, or tie their mouths shut with barbed wire when they do that piercing whiny barking thing... and he appreciates the fact that I am really good with a can opener! haha.
He knows he is not the alpha, but he knows he is important too. But I am not the alpha either, and I'm okay with that. He protects me because I have can-opener skillz.. mad skillz! and because I 'belong' to his daddy... the Alpha of our pack. My dog thinks we get by pretty good for 2 leggers.

I have no family so the dogs are all I've got. From my memory of family life though, I feel I have the better deal now.

I voted for all options EXCEPT:
Yes--I like them as much as my family

We have some big dogs outside. I live in a house with my brother and sister-in-law. She has a little in-the-house dog, and four ferrets. Most mornings I go to the ferret cage, open the door and grab the one that first comes to the door and hold it in my hands for a couple minutes, or until it gets a little too feisty to stay in my hands. I think they're calmer with me than anyone else. A previous housemate had many cats and dogs that I enjoyed, and when I sat down to watch TV at least one cat would crawl into my lap. She called me "Doctor Doolitle."

Maybe someday I'll find one or more people I get along with as well as I do with animals, but I'm not holding my breath.