The Community of Pet Owners

Since Miles joined the family, there is one thing that constantly surprises me. It’s nothing he does. Miles could stand up and give a perfectly elocuted lecture on German expressionism and I would likely just shrug and say, ‘hmm, I just though that guy’s vision was blurry.” No, it’s the other dog owners we meet that surprise me. A lot of the people we know well are aware that we have a puppy, and some will offer a little unsolicited advice or ask how things are going, which is great; a little dog talk is enough to improve any conversation. Complete strangers, though, are another story.

Here's Miles at the Concord Dog Park nuzzling up to a friend he made 

that day

Every weekend we’ve had Miles out and about to keep him as socialized as possible. He’s been walking the streets of Portsmouth, going to puppy play groups, hanging out at college campuses, hitting up huge street markets and going to dog parks. The other dog owners we meet are just amazing. Not only are they the friendliest people toward Miles, they are also the friendliest people toward us. We always strike up a conversation with these other dog lovers we’ve never met but love to talk about our shared experiences. We talk about how old he is, how training is going, the funny thing their dog did last week, rescues vs. pets from breeders, purebreds vs. the muts, and plenty more.

Ryan, and a handful of other owners at the dog park

This isn’t really surprising. If we see someone else with a dog, we instantly know that we have something in common, and therefore something to discuss. When we’re walking Miles, the same thing happens in other dog owners and soon enough we’re chatting away. No one can really deny how having a dog improves the human and animal connection, but who knew that having a pet could improve the human and human connection?

It’s remarkable how many times one person can walk by another person on the street and exchange little more than a nod or fleeting glance. Throw a tail-wagging puppy into the mix and the two people are going on like old friends discovering each other again. Usually our conversations run fairly short, but every once in a while we really get into it with someone where the dialogue just keeps going on to newer, previously unknown topics. Rob’s first run-in with this came at the Healthy Living fair a few weeks ago, but yesterday we took Miles to the Concord dog park where we got to talking with people for nearly two hours straight.

Everybody gets along when our four-legged friends are around

We could go on and on about the benefits of socializing a dog (particularly a puppy), but it’s becoming clear that the benefits extend well beyond the puppy’s life. Pets create an overwhelming community of like-minded support for all their human companions. People love to whip out their cameras or phones to show others the pictures of their pets (this happened with us and the cats for years), but more than that they love to share their joy of raising a pet with others who can return that joy. Pets provide a superb opportunity to bring people together in any relationship, from a first encounter to marriage. They create the enormous community—across all differences—of people who love animals. Isn’t it great that Miles can do that? He’s such a good boy.