As a principle, I respect that everyone has an opinion. I appreciate hearing differing opinions because I believe we can all learn from each other.
Today, I came across a post on BlogPaws – a community of pet bloggers, which I proudly belong to – that really insulted me.
This post claimed that I do not deserve Luna because I work eight hours a day.
While I still respect that each and every one of us has different experiences and different opinions, I really had to disagree.
You can read the whole post, entitled “Top 5 Reasons You Do Not Deserve A Pet,” here. Below is the snippet of the post that really got to me.
I’ve already defended being a young and single pet parent, but I didn’t expect to have to defend working for a living.
My response:
I work 8 hour days away from home and I have for as long as I have had Luna.
I wholeheartedly agree that dogs should not be left alone and crated for extended periods of time, but I find your point on #3 offensive.
Adopting Luna was the BEST decision I have ever made, but it comes with its challenges and I admit there have been times and places when I doubted that.
In your comments, you speak a lot to destruction being the reason behind this point. I personally have dealt with destruction by a dog. Luna faced separation anxiety and it was a huge challenge. I lost blinds, carpet, a few pillows, a door frame, and a Kindle just to name a few casualties.
Do I think this destruction was partially brought on by me being away from home for 8 hours?
Yes.
Do I think this means I’m not a deserving dog parent?
Absolutely not.
What was the solution?
Not crating at all.
(Dogs all handle crate training differently. It just didn’t work for Luna, except at night where it is still her special place.)
Together Luna and I worked through it. We made compromises and we made sacrifices.
This point should instead be about readiness to handle challenges and make sacrifices.
If you don’t know about or are not ready to make the sacrifices that come with having a pet, then you might not be ready for one.
If you aren’t ready to sacrifice a bit of your social life or alter your vacation plans, then a pet might not be right for you right now.
But that doesn’t mean the time won’t come.
8 hour work days are normal and average. Not all of us have the privilege of working from home or custom hours.
For a post under “Be the Change”, I have to ask: Is what is really best for pets seeking forever homes removing tons of loving homes who can absolutely make things work?
It is near impossible to give someone life advice without knowing their situation. To write such an over-generalization to a community of people who LOVE their pets more than anything else is bold and insulting.
Luna’s rescue group asked me how much I worked, but they didn’t hold that against me. If they had, then I would have missed out on having my furry little soul mate in my life.
Luna is happy and healthy, so no, I absolutely do not believe that working 8 hours a day makes me unworthy of the love she gives.
Now take a moment to visit Christie from Life With Beagle who also handles being a single, working dog mom and keep an eye out for a post about how we got over separation anxiety and made things work.
What are your thoughts on this topic?
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