Hi Rachel, I for one (a huge dog lover, too) thoroughly enjoyed your
story! A gerbil will never have the intelligence or pack member
bonding of a
dog. I've had a dog in my life for the past 32 years and expect to have
one by my
side until I die.
On the other hand I could never have 17 dogs in the house, spend hours
watching my dog build doggie cities, enjoy seeing the care dog parents
take
grooming each other and raising a litter together, experiment with
genetics, or carry
my dog around in my pocket. The benefits of my gerbils are that they
are
always there to mess with when I need a break from the stresses of the
real world,
but (unlike a dog) they are not dependent on me every day for hours of
time
and committment (whether I feel like it or not). That's nice in the
pace of
the world today.
Relationships with animals are a very cool thing when you appreciate
their uniqueness and don't expect them to be what they are not. It's
very
different between species.
I think it is wonderful that you are getting a dog. At the same time I
am hoping you will take full responsibility for your gerbil clan (13 is
plenty old to be a responsible pet caretaker!). I'd recommend running
ads in the
paper and selling complete tank and gerbil setups. (Free pets is an
invitation
for abuse -- so don't do that). If you can't place them, I think you
owe them the
time and effort to let them live out their couple year lives in your
good
care.
I'll miss your input to the list, hope you'll check back sometimes.
Donna
Rachel Wall wrote:
> Hey,
>
> Hi guys, this is to all of you. :)If this sounds corny, go ahead and delete
> it. Anyhoo, I hope this isn't too "off-subject" to you guys. :)
>
> Okay ,everybody joins this list for some reason or another. I'm going to
> tell you mine. Just last year my dog, who I was very very close to died when
> he was hit by a car. It was really hard dealing with that...I guess it's
> always hard to deal with the loss of something you love. WEll, I missed him
> alot. To make matters worse, my other dog, who I've had since I was...8, I
> think, died of cancer shortly after. Might I add that my cat had been put
> down because of feline lukeamia a little bit before this all? :(
>
> My cousin had a gerbil, a golden agouti, who I thought was very cute. I
> looked up gerbils on the internet and found the Dani Clan. From there I got
> interested in breeding gerbils and taking care of gerbils and everything. I
> got two golden agoutis from the pet store thinking they were both boys
> because that's what the petstore employie had told me. Well, one of them was
> a girl and I soon had a litter of pups. Lucky for me I practicly had the
> breeding pages from the dani Clan memorized and took much joy in raising the
> pups. Though too soon afterward I had another litter(of seven!. Okay, now
> I'm overloaded with gerbils, four girls in a cage and six boys in a huge
> cage. Anyway, I don't know if you've figured it out but, all in all, I was
> trying to replace the hurt from losing my dogs with the love of gerbils. But
> I've figured another thing out; No matter how much love you give a gerbil,
> they can't love you back. sure many gerbils appreciate their owner's care
> for them....but they just can't love you like a dog. They don't sleep next
> to your bed, or wait for you to come home from school at the fence.
> Actually, gerbils don't care, or mine anyways, who you are at all. As long
> as they have food, water, and a toilet paper roll to chew, they're
> satisfied.
>
> Please don't yell at me, I'm not saying gerbils are horrible. I had a whole
> lot of fun with them and the list. yet, now they're more of a problem than
> fun. Sure I like them because they're cute and all, but I don't love them.
> Now I'm SEARCHING for homes for the little guys. They're free and need good
> homes. Maybe I need a good shake and a "Get over it!", maybe not. I'm just
> saying that's why I'm on the list and have gerbils: because I thought I
> needed to, or wanted to more likely.
>
> Thank-you for reading this if you have gotten this far. Again, I'm not
> trying to offend anyone, this is just me. If you want a gerbil, by all means
> try to get one. I live in Renton, Washington and if you know anyone who
> wants one in this area please tell me! :)Seriously, I've tryed pet-stores
> too. Perhaps this is irresponsible, hey, I'm just 13. In closing, I'm trying
> to say, I got into this the wrong way and want out. I know I haven't sent
> much to the list, and I'd like to thank all of those who did. Thanks for all
> the advice and I appreciate it. If it weren't for you I wouldn't know a boy
> from a girl and have pups sitting in pine bedding and be stumped over why my
> two females hate eachother. :)
>
> I'm signing off the list, bye bye guys! Hey, it was fun. But now, I'm
> getting a dog. :) Something that can love me back, something that I needed
> in the first place. bye!
>
> PS. Perhaps there's a LML? Labrador Mailing List? hee hee :)
>
> PPS. thanks again.
>
> -Rachel and the rest of the Puji Puji gang,
>
> <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~
> Leo Bradine Iris Skip Chip Lukers Prince
> <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~ <"(_)~~
> Dip Tritan Chubbs
>
> Yep, there's a lot of them! Want one? I have many many many gerbils
> available! Golden Agouti, Black, DE white..and more!
>
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