When I was growing up, I had severe allergies (food, animal dander, dust, pollen, etc). As a result, the only pets that I had were fish or gerbils. Over time, most of those allergies faded away, except for the pet-related ones. When we started our family, we started getting back into the pet business (I started taking allergy medicine again...). In the past year, we added a dog to a cat that we already had. He was an older dog (7) and we got him at a shelter. As a first-time dog owner, I have spent a fair amount of time walking our dog Arlo and taking him to a local dog park. In helping with the walking chores, I tried to give Arlo the chance to visit other dogs that we meet on our walks. As the walks have continued, I have learned the names of quite a few dogs in our neighborhood, and met their owners as well. I would not have met them except through the act of dogwalking. To me, this has become a way of building community, of connecting to my neighborhood. It has become part of my life.