Plan ahead before getting a pet

The column below appears in this week's INM Irish regional newspapers.

By Michael Commane
It’s over a year since I wrote here about my 12-year-old Labrador, Jessie. At the time, I hinted how she was beginning to fail and soon - too soon - I had to put her to sleep. If you've said goodbye to a dearly-loved pet you’ll how I felt. The inevitability and yet the shock of the tears.

The vet was wonderful, showing great respect and kindness. As I left the surgery, he suggested I get another dog. But I was already grieving for Jessie. I felt I’d have to wait to get over my loss.

As it happens, around that time, friends had a six-year-old Labrador they were looking to re-home. After too many lonely days and only some hesitation, I decided to adopt her. And so Tess arrived home.

Tess is not only great company, she gives my life a steady, welcome rhythm. Regardless of the weather, she takes me for a walk twice a day. In the mornings, we’re out before seven. In the evening, by the time I cook dinner, we’ve done a few laps of the local park.

Now, it’s Sunday night and we’re just back from our evening perambulation. During our walk she chased off after another dog so I decided to play a trick on her and hid in a great spot behind some trees. But within minutes, she’d found me. That’s the thing about Tess. She’s impossible to lose, impossible to deceive, impossible to deny. As I’m just thinking about putting on my shoes for our walk, she’s already at the back door. After our almost-year together, she knows me better than I know myself. My friends would say that’s just as well.

This Christmas many people will go out and buy pets. These days it's not just cats or dogs or hamsters on the list but tarantulas, snakes, lizards. The other day in Dublin I saw a young man with a ferret on a lead.

But if you are considering getting a pet or gifting one to someone else, think twice. Or at the very least think and plan ahead. Across the country, animal shelters are choc-a-bloc with pets abandoned by their owners as the financial crisis hits harder. So unless you understand fully what you’re taking on when you take on a pet, for all your good intentions, you could be adding another animal to that sad number.

Last week RTE had a news report on a horse sanctuary in North Cork who restore to health animals who’ve been mistreated. The new arrivals were in a deplorable condition. One of them had been set alight. For fun. The longer-term guests there looked better. They were recovering. All the animals displayed one common sign: an almost-crazed fear of humans. Who would blame them?

When I was a child, we had two dogs at home. Then, I left to study for the priesthood and there followed 30 years without a pet of any sort, unless you counted the mice in the various priories. But then came Jessie. And now Tess . Both, in their innocence and great truth have brought comfort and joy to my life. My late father used to say that if someone is kind to an animal it's more than likely they will also be kind to people.
I believe there’s certain truth in that.

Just as there is in the old saying: a pet is for life. Not just for Christmas. Treat them even half as well as they treat you and you’ll have a long and happy life together. Even if it means gales and sleet at 6.30 in the morning.