Choosing a Pet

Depending on the size of home you have, or what purpose your pet will serve, you should consider different types of animals. For example, there are many different categories of dogs: guard dogs, family dogs and guide dogs. There are even dogs that fit in more than one category.

• Things to Consider
• Other "Pets"

Things to Consider

Every pet is different, and is a large responsibility for their owner. Some of these responsibilities include caring for, feeding, giving water to, walking, training, picking up their poop or cleaning a cat box, giving baths, taking them to the vet and other specific needs.

There are many reasons people get pets. For example, one might get a pet for:

• Companionship
  
• Love
  
• Friendship
  
• Help (such as a service dog or guide dog)
  
• Transportation (such as a horse)

If you don't want to have a full time pet, you can always do community service projects that involve animals. Some options include fostering an animal for an animal shelter or animal rescue program. Or, volunteer to be a house sitter for someone you know who has pets. Another option is raising and training a dog to be a guide dog. Here is one organization: www.guidedog.org. There are many ways for you to get involved with animals.

Some of the animals people have for pets are cats, dogs, fish, different birds, rodents (such as a hamster, mouse or rat), reptiles (such as snakes or lizards), or even farm animals like horses, chickens, ducks, cows, pigs, donkeys, goats and sheep.

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Other "Pets"

You might be unable to have a pet because someone in your family has allergies or you are simply not allowed. Whatever the reason, there are other ways you can experience having a pet. Some of these ways are low maintenance, and pretty easy to handle.

Below are ideas for "pets" that are pretty easy to care for, and a suitable stand in for a real pet.

• Pet rocks
  
• Sea monkeys
  
• Tomagatchi (portable games that have a pet that you keep alive for as long as you can)
  
• Neopets (a Web site that has games and allows you to have a virtual pet)
  
• Furbies

Deciding to have a pet is a big decision, so make sure you take into consideration all of the factors.

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