I just wanted to quickly write something after reading Allison Benedikt’s Slate article about not getting a dog if you ever want to have kids. I personally found this article to be pretty deblorable. Sadly, I’m never amazed at the depths at which good people often sink. I don’t know Allison, but she’s very likely a decent person–and yet she can so callously type what she typed, seemingly without a care in the world. It’s wild to me.

With the internet and social media at the forefront of much of communication nowadays this “sinking” is often on full display. I was truly taken aback by these statements, which came in an article where she professed both a love for her dog and a love for her kids…

A friend of mine once told me that before he had a kid, he would have run into a burning building to save his cats. Now that he has a kid, he would happily drown the cats in the bathtub if it would help his son take a longer nap. Here is how I feel about that statement: Velvel, avoid the bathroom.

Recently I took Velvel for his annual checkup. He’s 13, does not get enough (any) exercise, and has gained a fair amount of weight in the past few years, as we’ve started doling out the dog treats quite liberally because it’s the only thing that shuts him up. The vet ran some blood tests and called with the results a few days later. Velvel’s liver levels are a little off, she told me, but why don’t we try medicine first before discussing other options. The vet delivered the news gently, as if I might start sobbing at any moment. All I could think was, “I can’t remember if she said liver or kidney.” And then the baby spit up and I had to go.

Both of these quoted sections come amongst other text that complains about how much the dog whines, how much the dog barks, that he poops, that he vomits, that he sheds, that she needs to walk him and that she regrets him. She goes on to say that it’s a “universal truth” that almost all parents regret their dog after having a child. She bases this around people that she knows. So, um, either she doesn’t know many people, or all of the people that she does know are basically jerk-offs. Because “parents regretting their dogs” is most definitely not a “universal truth.” Sorry Allison, you are wrong.

I first want to address the parent thing. We grew up with all kinds of animals. My mom had a Golden Retriever before me, while she was pregnant with me, and after I was born. He was one of my fondest memories. When he passed away and as my parents added another kid, and then another, we got another Golden Retriever. He grew up right alongside us. When we moved out to the country we took in even more animals. We had multiple dogs, cats, sheep, rabbits, a goat. It’s simply called living your life and prioritizing your loves and your time, and respecting each life as a member of your family. This may lessen over time for some people, or take another form, but as many other people have said… As the parent’s interest in the dog may decrease, the child’s interest in the dog will likely increase, thus creating the same interaction space and feeling of inclusion within the family unit.

All I can say after reading Allison’s article is that I’m glad that she wasn’t my mom. With that, I now want to thank my mom for not only being my favorite person on the planet, but for also instilling in me many of the necessary tools that go along with being a compassionate person. She loved each of our animals, and made time for them, and integrated them into our lives–whatever that looked like–always. Does that make her a super-mom? Well, she was. My mom was and is as awesome as they come. But I bet that all mom’s are super in their own way. This leads me to the thought that Allison’s bar is set too low. So I’m glad that I wasn’t her kid, that’s all that I can say, and here’s why…

Her article paints household pets as discardable objects. Straight up. That’s the takeaway. And coming from someone who deals with shelter pets, and why they are in these kill shelters in the first place, well, that’s fucking disgusting. Shame on you for that. Further, you are teaching that to your children.

I pray that people have more sense and trust in their own heart than to listen to some woman like Allison, who’s article is very likely to influence the dumping of more animals (to their death, at a “shelter”) as they anticipate children. That’s sad. That’s extremely sad. Have you given that any thought? I can only hope that you now do.