Dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, snakes, lizards, oh, my! All of these animals are in some way domesticated, because if they weren’t,they wouldn’t live in our houses.

Don’t ask me about the people who get caught with tigers as pets, because I don’t get that particular desire. Seriously, why would you want a four-hundred pound cat capable of serious damage with little effort living with you?

All of those animals listed above, as well as those that aren’t listed but are still common household pets, are conscious creatures. I won’t debate emotional abilities or animal intelligence with you, but most people will agree that emotions or not, these animals have some sort of mental state that allows them to act based on things that happen in their environment.

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Shadow, Tempe Town Lake, 02/27/2010

[02/28/2011]

One year ago today, a puppy named Shadow had to be put to sleep because he had Distemper. Less than three months old, and almost 30lbs already, Shadow was a sweet puppy who had a strong impact on our lives, and would have been a shining star in our household.

He would still be with us today if someone had purchased a $12 vaccination for him a scant few weeks before he came into our lives.

Distemper and other fatal dog diseases are preventable with a vaccination, but not curable once the dog gets the disease. From the time of contraction, death is usually within two weeks, and it’s a hard one.

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Let’s explain two different families who own a dog.

One family has a dog that lives outside for the most part, and that is never allowed on the furniture. They don’t give him table scraps, they may occasionally take him for a walk, but they don’t usually take him anywhere other than the occasional dog park trip.

They don’t take him to a festival with them, because they see that trip as a family outing and they don’t want to take the family dog because they don’t want to have to worry about finding him water and picking up after him while they’re having their outing.

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A lot of people want to train their dog to obey certain commands. Many of them try, and fail, to teach their dogs to do even the most basic commands consistently. They obey sometimes, but not others.

Owners often get frustrated, and eventually give up, or hire a trainer to do it for them or show them how to to it properly themselves.

Often times, the reason behind this problem is fairly simple. It is in a few parts, though.

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