In case you aren’t convinced that “Pets are Part of the Family,” this may help you understand. (In this family, the pets outnumber the people so in a way the “family” revolves around them.)

Any time the household population changes, be it people or pets, the dogs are usually the first to notice. This week we have a change. We have a new horse, a Missouri Fox Trotter, named Dundee. Since we can only have 2 horses at the house, Biscuit, a horse that handles any situation well, is moving down to the meadow for a couple weeks while Dundee shares the home stable with Mariposa. This change creates a little commotion in the animal world.

The two dogs are free to run in the enclosed yard area so they are right there at the stable watching everything that goes on. Biscuit is ridden down to the meadow. That’s nothing out of the ordinary, but high-strung Mariposa does not like to be separated from Biscuit (that’s like being left out of an adventure!). She immediately starts making her unhappiness known with snorting and squealing.

Then the horse trailer arrives with a new horse! Silence from the horse coral. Now who’s going to be the boss? Dundee seems to take it with a grain of salt and immediately begins chomping on some hay in his new stall. Mariposa is wary. She’s figuring. She finally decides she doesn’t like this and starts her unhappy squealing again.

In the meantime, the Lab runs right over to Dundee: ‘Hi, glad to meet you. We’ll be great friends!” Her is tailing wagging as fast as possible, she stands by the stable fence waiting for a chat.

The Whippet is frantically running back and forth. “What’s going on?” “Who’s this?” “Where’s my friend Biscuit?” “I don’t like this!” Followed by: Whining, barking, crying! The cats appear in the windows to see what all the noise is about!

The people in the family are amazed at the drama. Who would think Mariposa and Pippa would be so upset? We decide they are just like we are. We become attached to our friends. We aren’t happy when our friends move, we’re sad. We wish they’d come back. Then, eventually, we decide to make new friends.

We all agree to give Mariposa and Pippa lots of extra attention, and maybe a treat or two with lots of petting and stroking. They’re part of our family, they need comforting. Tomorrow we’ll take Mariposa down to the meadow to see Biscuit. Pippa will go too. Yes, pets are really part of the family – a big part!