I have had different pets for the most part of my adult life. My family had a small dog when I was growing up, but it wasn't my pet. The dog had to be put to sleep when I was 13, four days after Christmas. To this day I have never forgotten that. My mom didn't want another dog for year afterward. I moved out with some friends and got two cats. Something I was never allowed to have at my parents. My dad hated cats and I never could understand why not. Having cats was fun for a while and I really loved my cats. When I had to move home, my cats went to my husbands house (we were dating and he was living with his parents) because I wasn't going to give them up and my dad wouldn't let me bring them home. After about a year I had to give them up because one of them pissed all over my husband's paintball equipment. I was highly upset about it.

We got hamsters a few years later and had those for a couple of years. We also got a snake for a while, which of course we fed some of the baby hamsters too (population control). The snake got bit and died and we got rid of the last of the hamsters as they died off. We ended up getting anoles and frogs. Those were cool too. During this course we had moved into a house and gotten married. We got a dog right after we moved in. A big dog. I was worried about it since I had never had one before. He's a boxer/bullmaster mix. The idea was that my husband was going to be working nights and he didn't want me home alone. Our neighborhood isn't bad, actually it's pretty nice, but still things happen.

He got big and the next year we got another dog, a boxer mix. She ended up medium breed but she thinks she's as big as the other dog.

Now for the point of this post. Dogs are better pets because they are usually happy and thus their owners are usually in better moods just for being around them. Cats are aloof and don't unormally care if you give them attention. And other animals are too small or stupid to know the difference. I heard this statement about dogs on the radio the other day and that's when I realized it was true. Our dogs are always happy to see us when we come home or get up in the morning. They will lay on the couch with us (yes even the 120 pound protector dog) or at our feet. The aren't unhappy except when they are in trouble, which isn't often. Again cats don't care, won't lay with you. My family little dog when I was younger was the same way. She'd lay with my dad in his chair all the time.

I'd rather own a dog then a cat any day. Dogs are the best pets out there.