Everyone remembers their first dog or cat growing up, but not so many have the fond memories of multiple animals greeting them at the door everyday. For those who did grow up with a plethora of animals, we've come to love all the slobber, hair, and unrequited love our pets gave to us. Plus, you learn a couple of things along the way.
1. You learned responsibility.
Pet's don't feed themselves or pick up their own poop for that matter, and the job wasn't always for the parents. You learned at an early age how to take care of something besides yourself, which is a great skill to have in life.
2. You learned to love the hair.
Whether it was cat or dog, pet hair was a fashion staple in your closet. No matter how many lint rollers you used, the little pieces of fur always stuck to you, but eventually you took it in pride because it means you have someone that loves you no matter what waiting at the door for you.
3. Everyone was jealous of you.
You were the kid with cool parents who let you have more than two pets growing up and everyone was always dying to go to your house to play with all the animals.
4. Your house was like Noah's Ark.
Either with the sheer amount of animal or the diversity, it was like a well-functioning petting zoo at your home. I personally reached the record of two dogs, two cats, two hamsters, and two turtles. But hey...who's counting?
8. You learned to accept the smell.
Pets don't smell like roses; in fact, they can smell pretty damn awful from rolling in dirt to making it through the potty-training stage to eating whatever they can get their paws on (poop included). You accepted that your house will never be Martha Stewart clean, but that's okay because you have built-in buddies and pristine carpets can't replace that.
9. You were never lonely.
Even if you didn't have a sibling growing up, having tons of pets always kept you entertained whether it was just watching them be dinguses (my new favorite word to describe animals) or cuddling with them at the end of the day. To quote my favorite wine glass, "You're never drinking alone if the dog is home."
10. Living without animals is alien to you.
When you went to summer camp or college without having pets around you, it was a new (and sad) experience. While your clothes were less hairy, you're heart was less happy. Sometimes you missed your pets more than you missed your parents. Plus, having a dog around keeps you from picking up food off the floor.
11. You learned to respect animals.
You understood that animals are intelligent creatures in their own respect and deserved to be respected as such. Animal cruelty is unthinkable and you automatically hate anyone that commits it.
12. You don't understand people that don't like animals.
I mean, who doesn't want a floof nugget giving them kisses at any given moment?
13. You know you can't live without animals.
Partly because it's how you grew up and partly because it's just a better way of living (in a purely biased perspective), animals are just crucial to your future plans. Before you even decide you want kids, you know you want animals in your life forever.
Long live the floofs! (and shoutout to my little bucket of love, Annie).
