pets our friends

Is there any seven-year-old who has not longed for a puppy? But, as most parents know, longing for a pet and actually dealing with the day-to- day reality of owning a pet are two different things.

The lack of basic education regarding animal care has prompted the Society For Animals in Distress to implement human/animal bonding lessons for Grade 2 learners in nine disadvantaged areas in Gauteng.

The initiative began with just three schools in 2003 and has since expanded to include 52 schools, with an estimated 10000 children participating in the programme.

“Our programme commenced five years ago and our aim is to increase knowledge, awareness and animal-owner responsibility in children from a young age,” says Heather Muller, the general manager of the society.

“We have a trained education officer who takes it upon himself to approach principals in schools about the initiative. The principal, in turn, communicates with the Gauteng Department of Education and we are then able to begin our lessons, which are in line with the department’s guidelines and requirements,” Muller says.

The education officer and an assistant conduct all the lessons for the project, which currently runs in Gauteng. He makes use of various visual aids in order to ensure that the children completely understand the message.

THERE'S A wonderful knitting store in my neighborhood. It's a large room with a few tables pushed end to end, like a variant of King Arthur's court. The owner sits serenely in the middle of half-finished sweaters and dropped purls. She remembers every project each customer has begun. Visiting her is a life pleasure.

Here is another life pleasure: twice a year or so, I take my dog to the vet. For 20 years, some family pet or other has been a patient of his. One day, while he was washing his hands after seeing my cats, he started to talk about the health problems of his own pets. It was as if I had been knighted after all those fur balls. Now our appointments are reunions, little joys, even though the dog still dreads them.

Incidental intimacies fill the day: the knitting store owner, the vet, a likable colleague, my dentist discussing a recipe with himself over my open mouth, the parents of other children encountered cheerfully on playgrounds, a neighbor of many years I mean to invite for dinner. All of them are happenstance encounters that come to be counted on over time. My mother always said it was important to coordinate colors before decorating a room. But these are random fabrics thrown together by fate. Through the years, you grow used to chintzes and polka dots. They bring swaths of color. One day, you realize with surprise, these fabrics are the whole colorful world.

A glimpse of the passion and vitriol the sport of dog racing can stir up could be found Saturday along one of main roads through Bonita Springs.

On the inside of the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track, preparations were under way for an event that would celebrate the track’s 50 years in business. A big race that night would leave $50,000 riding on the running times of a group of elite dogs.