Like most children and young adolescents, I was a curious individual. Until my little brother and sister enhanced their ability to talk, I was the one in the family who questioned everyone about everything. I learned a lot about my parents this way - what their least favorite foods were (and still are), their childhood best friends, their majors while attending college. Over the course of time, I managed to gain some information about my parents’ lives when they were children. Though they both seemed to cause more trouble than I ever have (especially my father), I learned that there was one thing in their household more reckless than my three siblings and I together: a dog.

The only dog I ever had the pleasure of being around more than once in my lifetime was the golden retriever my uncle and aunt owned since before I was born. He was a sweet dog, and it wouldn’t surprise me if his laziness rubbed off on me in the later years of his life. However, he wasn’t the type of pet I was able to see on a daily basis. His large round eye wouldn’t be staring out the dining room window, eager to see the three or four of us hop off the bus as we arrive home from school. His collar wouldn’t be jangling as he ran to greet us. Instead, we were all graced with the presence of cold wind and disappointment.

I would claim that growing up without a dog had many benefits. My parents would always tell us horrible stories about their dogs and the trouble the got into, but they also claimed their pets to be “good.” I suppose it was a positive thing because there was one less organism to worry about in the household. Six is plenty, and seven could have been a challenge. However, there is a lot a family could miss out on when they don’t have a dog (or a pet of some sort). My siblings and I fought a lot, so it was hard to find someone to confide in when we were not at school. That’s where the puppy comes in. The mammal is known to be a loyal and social animal. They live to please people and help them overcome their challenges when they are at their weakest - or at least when they are feeling pretty down. They allow one to escape simply by going out into the backyard and playing a game of catch with an old tennis ball. My siblings and I shared rooms with one another when we were younger, so escaping the craziness that was one another was difficult. We could go to the basement, but all the screaming and crying could still be heard upstairs.

I think being raised in a household without a pet provided more benefits for me than probably what I imagined. Did I want to have a pet just like the rest of my friends? Of course. Though we were around my uncle and aunt’s dog a few times a year, my older brother and I grew up with a phobia of large dogs. I’m not quite sure why, but we always clung onto our father if a giant animal was in sight. Perhaps we were scared they were going to jump on us and lick our faces off, but we still have not figured out why we dislike them so much. Both of my parents had fairly large dogs in their childhood, and my father wanted to get a giant one if we were allowed to adopt the animal. I’m sure if such were to occur, the phobia would be brought back.

Also, my family and I were able to do so many activities and fun things that we wouldn’t have been able to experience if we had to worry about a pet. We traveled to big cities and participated in traveling sports that required us to go eight hours away for a week just so one of us could participate in a tournament. If we had a pet, who knows what would have happened to him or her while we were away. The money we saved from not having one was put towards other things that could be considered a necessity for functioning. We didn’t have to worry about an extra mouth to feed or anything along those lines. We could put it towards what we wanted it to go to or just save it for a rainy day.

In what I classify as the end, my parents still have yet to get a dog. Until my younger brother makes his depart for college, I know I am going to hear him asking for a German shepherd puppy for his birthday and for

Christmas every year. However, that’s okay. Maybe one of these days, they will finally give in and adopt one. If not, our lives will still carry on perfectly fine.