I never had a pet...

I never had a pet my entire life. I have never been given a responsibility in the form of an animal that can walk in the land. The only animal that my parents keep is fish. We have a lot of fish at home. I don’t know why we keep fish. Maybe because we are Chinese that we have to keep fish at home because a lot of my relatives also keep fishes at home. My dad said that watching fishes swim and feeding them will take away your stress. And I agree with him on that.

But let us talk about my need to have a pet.

I have never been hurt by dogs, yet (hopefully never). My friends told me they had been bitten by dogs on their hand, their legs, even on their groin. My cousin was attacked by a cat when all she wanted to do was play with the cat and fed it. I grew up with these stories and I was in a certain childish way traumatized with dogs and cats.

I can’t be in close proximity of animals unless I know for sure that these animals won’t bite me, scratch me, lick me and won’t do any type of body contact that animal can do to human. I touched my first dog when I was 19. And that was because that dog was the nicest, friendliest dog in the whole world. Her name was Mini. She doesn’t bite, she doesn’t bark, and she’s just so cute and adorable. I love her and I haven’t touched her ever since because she’s living in another country.

But I wasn’t cured, I am still not cured of my pet phobia. I can’t stand the fact that their hair will be falling off on the floor, on the couch, on anything they walk on. I detest the fact that they are smelly if you don’t bathe them regularly, like everyday. And I am so not ready to have them drool on my hands.

All those fears don’t stop me from wanting to have a dog. I want to have a dog. And I have a chance to have one now. My husband grew up with having dogs as pet. He promised that when we have a dog, I can name the dog, and he can take care of anything that has anything to do with the dog. He will teach the dog to behave. That’s all I am asking for, a dog than can behave.

It might not be until another year that I will have a dog but finally I will have a dog and when I have kids, I would be happy to know that my kids will have pets.