40% Married Women Get More Emotional Support from Pets

         In a recent New York Times, in the Science section, there was a story headlined “The Creature Connection,” about how involved we are with our dogs, spending $48 billion on our pets, another $2 billion on pet conservation.  It was also pointed out that we Americans spend over $300 billion on killing animals for meat and while hunting.

         The same story, which quoted Alexandra Horowitz (I am listening to her book “Inside of a Dog” on a CD in the car), who noted that people are passionate about their dogs.   “70 per cent of pet owners say they sometimes sleep with their pets (but not Us, this time); 65 per cent buy Christmas presents for their pets; 23 per cent cook special meals for their pets; and 40 PER CENT OF MARRIED WOMEN SAY THEY GET MORE EMOTIONAL SUPPORT FROM THEIR PETS THAN FROM THEIR HUSBANDS.”

         As soon as I pointed that out to Grace, while Gizmo was sitting in the kitchen with us and sporting a slightly pained expression, she firmly said that that did not apply to her, that I was giving her all the emotional support she wanted or needed.

         Gizmo got up, went around the corner of the separation between the kitchen and the rec/TV room, lay down in the corner by the window, nearly under the farthest bar stool that was there.  Then he sighed and went to sleep.  No sense trying to fight against Grace’s extreme satisfaction with her human person.

“I tried to get my dog to practice safe sex. But he keeps licking the condoms off.”  Tim Halpern