A Message for Dog-Loving Worrywarts

All my reading lately has made me keenly aware of how many treacheries can befall a pet. In retrospect, I realize how very fortunate I was with my menagerie. But will I remain fortunate in the future?

All the What Ifs of pet guardianship sometimes freak me out and I know I’m not alone in this. The What Ifs are exactly the reason some folks are leery of adopting a new pet. What If…she develops allergies? he has hip dysplasia? she contracts cancer? he’s thunderphobic? This list could go on for days. Each possibility is a serious matter, but may never materialize. You can make yourself crazy with this game, or you can read Bulu: African Wonder Dog.

Bulu is a Fox Terrier mix raised in the African jungle. He dodges danger of every kind every day. Our What Ifs pale beside Bulu’s concerns, if only in quantity (which can be reached by taking the number of all the critters in the jungle and adding to it all the diseases of the jungle plus natural disasters, the follies of humans, and the thorns and toxins of plants). Catastrophe hovers everywhere. Keeping a dog safe in suburbia is nothing like keeping her safe in a jungle.

So relax. Don’t fret so much about the What Ifs. And DON’T allow the What Ifs to prohibit you from adopting a pet in need of a home.

On the other hand, if you and your pooch are relocating to Zambia, home to Bulu (and lions and crocodiles and tsetse flies), BE VERY AFRAID.

[Bottom pic is of Bulu and two baby warthogs, the first of many orphans Bulu fostered.]