What's up with all the crazy pet parenting? Are you a dog snogger or a cat kisser?
'Just make sure you give him a big kiss at night.' Chilling instructions, when they come from the person whose house (and dog) you’re sitting.
Kiss. The. Dog.
I don’t own a dog or cat (my landlord gave me a good excuse to give to my children by banning pets) and I’m not what you call a ‘dog person’.
Increasingly, though, I have come across friends who have what they call ‘furbabies’. No, their human children don’t suffer from hirsutism, rather, they treat their pets as their kids. They say they’d prefer to remain child-free.
The furbaby cuddles up with them on the bed, travels in style in a designer handbag to the mall, or, controversially, a restaurant, and is treated as the name suggests: as one of the family.
Some pets have Facebook accounts and their own galleries of photographs posing languidly in the garden, or grinning doggy grins next to their personalized food bowls.
Is there a line between caring for your pet, and overdoing it?
You may wonder if I ever kissed the dog I dog-sat for. I’d never kiss and tell…
What do you think? Take our quick poll:
By: Scott Dunlop