Better than a fish

Today I want to talk about pets. Everyone should have a pet. Pictured here is our 6 year old daschund "Honey". She is a wonderful , loving , protective dog with a great personality. She is 17 pounds of ferocity. she will lunge at 100 pound dogs and if necessary she will bark at absolutely nothing. Possibly she is chasing away evil spirits. I think she is auditioning for the lead in a new tv series - "The doggy ghost whisperer".

Anyway, she's a great pet. On a cold night she can climb into our bed and raise the temperature with her body heat by about a hundred degrees. It's like having your own portable furnace. She's very affectionate and will gladly lick your face, if you happen to be wearing peanut butter. And if you throw a ball for her to fetch, she will sit there and look at you until you go get it for her.She's no fool. She would rather chew a toy or take a nap. She's a real part of the family.

Cats are good pets too. The interact differently than dogs, but they still respond to their owners.

There is an understanding of sorts between humans, cats and dogs. We are, after all, warm blooded mammals and are capable of interacting. If business is bad we can even share their food.

For some reason some people like to have fish for pets. They will spend huge sums of money for tanks and filters and pumps. And even for rocks for their tanks. Then they get their fish and go "ooh, look at the pretty colors". You want to look at pretty colors? Go to the store and look at all of the nail polish colors - no charge. Or carpet samples.Or if you want to spend a few bucks buy a pantone kit and have every color you can imagine.

Then they will tell you how they can just sit and watch the fish swim around because it's so relaxing . You want to relax? Take a nap!

Some will say that they like to watch their children look at the fish with such fascination. Yeah , that's great for about 5 minutes. Then they get bored and look for other things like cartoons, toys and interactive games.

All of these things may be okay, but there is no interaction with fish, unless tapping on the glass so they'll swim away is interaction.They don't look at you or even acknowledge your existence. You can't take your fish out to play with or even to pet. And a walk to the park on a nice day is definitely out of the question even if you could find a leash that fit.

But I'm not against fish. You give me some smoked salmon and a bagel and cream cheese and watch me interact.