Say No To Pets

Since the day I was born I had pets.

First and foremost, I had Patches.

He was my first love.

Half great Dane and half best friend. His head was the size of a basketball, his ears were long and he was spotted (hence the name Patches). When I was seventeen, and in grade 12, he died.

Yes, that's right folks, he lived to be 17. This was the first time my heart was broken.

Actually, that's not true. He was not the first pet of mine that I loved that died. There was Buttons, Scooter, Radar, Sesna, Snoop, Spike, Ziggy(the iguana that Mr. Deeter gave me when I was in grade five) and too many others to count. I remember them. They have names and a special place in my heart.

The thing is they always die. Always.

This weekend my mother called to tell me that Yuko has passed on. After being an amazing furry creature for twelve years, and holding a steady place in my heart just as long, she died. I remember when we got her. We went to the dentist in Newton and stopped by the pet store on a whim. She was sitting in the pen all cute and fluffy. Mom phoned dad to see about getting her and dad said to come home and they would talk about it. We didn't go home to talk. We just brought her home.

And I named her Yuko Bailey (Bailey after Scott wolf's character on Part Of Five).

She was so cute and, up until this winter, had been doing okay. Getting old, but that was expected. When I clapped my hands and said, "Whose a puppy?" She would roll on her back and kick her legs in the air. It was the cutest thing ever. And I am terribly sad.

Why do we get pets? They are just heartache.

And we keep doing it. Just get more and more until...?

People who don't have pets say they want them and I say, no you don't because it's going to break your heart when they die. And they will die.

People will say the joy a pet brings out weighs the sadness when it passes on. And it's true. They do. they give you years of unconditional love. And you give them the same in return.

I am going to miss the hairy creature who went by the name of Yuko and whom I called Yukes.