Obviously, I love dogs and cats. However, this week, I was taking care of a boarding kennel for a few days and I was reacquainted with the fact that I don’t love ALL dogs and cats. In fact, there are quite a few critters I don’t like at all simply because of their personalities.
For example, many years ago, I had a roommate who owned quite possibly the dumbest Siberian husky in the state of California. Many dogs are sort of less than brilliant in sort of a sweet, goofy way. However, this husky was dumb as a stump in a purely vacuous way. She had a kind of vacant look in her eye, much like some cats I’ve met (and also didn’t like).
This week, I met a basset who, for lack of a better description, is just plain obnoxious. He’s not mean, but he’s has bad manners and is not fun to be around. His personality kind of reminds me of a big, balding blowhard who is always spewing forth boring diatribes.
I’m starting to think that people who say they “love all dogs” (or cats) either probably haven’t met many examples or have a different problem.
Here in Idaho, yesterday a warrant was served on a “no-kill” cat shelter that housed more than 400 sick and dying cats in deplorable, disgusting conditions. It’s apparently the worst case of animal hoarding in the state’s history and is undoubtedly going to present tremendous challenges for local humane resources. Because animal cruelty isn’t a felony in Idaho, of course, these nut jobs who ran the facility will probably just move to a different state and start collecting again.
Unfortunately, the reality is that not all critters are nice. Neither are all people, no matter how much they may profess to “love animals.”