Open Your Heart with Pets: Mastering Life through Love of Animals

Do you have a pet or are you considering getting one? A pet to greet you when you return home after a busy day at work... A pet to teach your child responsibility or provide companionship to an elderly parent... A pet to be one less animal in a shelter. What do you expect of this pet, who may weigh 30 grams (such as a parakeet) or 150 pounds (like a Newfoundland dog)? It seems today that more and more individuals and families are opening their homes to a pet or more than one pet in some cases than in the past. Many people have multiple pets and multiple species. Fish, ferrets, sugar-gliders, horses, llamas ... there are as many choices of a pet as there are personalities to want them. Reasons for purchasing or adopting a pet vary as much as human temperament and motivation. There are more opportunities for acquiring information on a given animal than in the past books, magazines, and the internet, as well as media such as Animal Planet. Still, there is a difference between acquiring a pet and opening one s heart to a pet. Open Your Heart with Pets will explore the difference.