What life would be like without owning any animals ?? I have had dogs, cats, horses, chickens and guinea pigs for the last 15 years and have for the most part loved every bit of it. I do often think what it would be like without them all though, perhaps I could actually have a pristine house and garden, the washing machine wouldn't be clogged up with pet hairs, my clothes might not all need lint rolling 100 times a day and I wouldn't spend hours each day picking up poo !!!!!!!!!!
I obviously couldn't bare to part with them and would be bored silly without them, I just wonder how different life could be.

Debbie 

My life would be stress free, kitchen wouldn't always have dirty food bowls in it, washing machine wouldn't have dog hair in it or vet bed. The edge of the worktops wouldn't have doggy pawprints on it. I woud be able to find a place to sit on the sofa and the bed. I would be able to go to the bathroom on my own. My garden would have grass and flowers instead of mud. I wouldn't have dog hair in my meals or have to worry about leaving food unattended for 2 minutes.

BUT            

I would be bored and lonely........................oh and cold at night!!!

Tried it for 4 years - no pets at all, was working full-time so only missed the company in the evenings and on weekends - walks were sooo boring! :(  shortly (18 months!) after child came along so did dog :-D 

After dog was PTS at 151/2 we had 2 cats and baby but no dog for 21/2 years, then got a pup, what a relief!  the house was a home again :)   There's no welcome home like a Bedlington "WELCOME HOME" :-D  OH gets reason for acting silly :) (he's way too serious sometimes) and child has learned responsibilty and to put someone else first, me, I'm just enjoying having dogs to roam the town and hills with and just really love having them around, my house wasn't a home without one! (or two or three!!)

i know what lifes like without them as at the moment i personally don't have any, and it sucks! we always had dogs while i was growing up and when i moved out for the first time a couple of years ago i couldn't have my own one. whenever i'm at my parents i spend most of the time with the dogs. i hate coming in from work or uni and not have something come bounding up clearly delighted to see you. it's especially horrid when you have had a bad day. Not for much longer though! The Tio monsters arrival is imminent! just need to finish uni and set up the house for him :)

I've lived for 4 months without any fury pets (I just had fish), when I first moved out of home. I didn't like it :(

I have 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 rabbit 2 hampsters and a pond of fish. Without them my home would be tidy - no pet hairs, no diry foot prints no slobber.
My old dog leaks little drops of wee, we had to get rid of the carpets beacuse of it, I am always going along behind him cleaning up his dribble trail. My pup is a huge lazy lump, if you go in the downstairs loo he'll lay behind the door so you can't get back out. Getting back into the house with bags of shopping is like running the gauntlet, the dogs are exited they block the hallway stuff thier heads in the shopping bags... My garden, wow without pets I wouldn't have hay & rabbit dropping on the patio to pick up every day (the rabbit flicks them out) and I woul dhave grass!!!!. I have pet food stored in the little porch, it looks a right mess, I have the rabbits hay & straw stored in the downstairs loo.

Pets are a lot of work, they make a mess, they give you nervous breakdown when you think they are ill, they are a tie (extra planning for holidays/days out etc.).... But I couldn't be without them :) 

I wake up in the morning to 2 happy waggy dog tails, I go into the garden and the rabbit starts skipping 'round in exitement waiting for a fuss, I go to the pond & the fish come up to the surface.....it makes all the mess and trouble seem like nothing atall :)

I would never out of choice be without pets again.

I grew up with cats and when we lost our last one and went a few months without it was not nice but OK. I do belive it relieves stress so stroke an animal. When i lived in my flat i had my hamster-not the same but something to pet and care for. Now i've got the dog and i never thought id say it but i am a converted "dog person" and dont think i could ever be without one. When he goes to the groomers every 6 weeks i sit in the empty house and dont know what to do with myself. I've had him a year and cant remember what my life was like before Fred! I get tearful just thinking about if anything were to happen to him God forbid. Would feel like having a limb removed if for any reason he wasnt around & without sounding melodramatic i just dont know how i'd cope if he went missing or wasnt here for any reason. If this is how i feel after one year whats it going to feel like when he's been around for 10 years and we've been through even more together and bonded even more ??????? :-(

my house would be clean, no hair or paw prints. i could go out for the day/eve without arranging dogsitters. i wouldnt have them snuggled up on the bed and covered in mud. the garden would look like a garden and it would be soooooooo peaceful and no kids/hub moaning about the mess/noise. but i love them dearly and couldnt be without them

Life would so easy but so so dull :) we have guinea pigs, rabbits and koi- hubby's pride and joy, after rabbit and guinea pigs go to the bridge we won't have anymore small furries as we are getting another dog.
Without them my house wouldn't look like a large dog kennel, and large clumps of dog hair left behind on the carpet, costing you a fortune at the vets, food etc, worry, making your house smell of wet dog when they've been out in the rain!!
But i wouldn't be with out them what they give you in return out weighs everything,  love em :):)

My life would be very lonely with out my dogs, ok i have two kids and hubby, but I think I would get bored during the day!!!
And would probably put on weight! as would not be walking as much and hoovering around, mopping as much everyday!

My life would be empty without animals. However I would be able to do a load of laundry without spending half an hour picking off afghan fur bobbles. The hair sort of clogs  together in a ball and shrinks, crinkling all the fabric as if it had been tied up with string. Bizzarely although my cat has gone to the bridge more than two years ago, I STILL  have white cat hairs appearing on my dark clothes.........................

I must admit...I do like at some times not having any pets now I'm leaving away from home at uni! It's nice going out for the day or night not having to worry about the dogs and how long they are on their own for, don't have to worry about getting up to walk them in mornings or after settling down in the evenings walking them.

If it's raining I can stay inside all day!

I don't go to uni with hair on my clothes....

HOWEVER

I don't have any dogs to cuddle, to wag their tail, to give a fuss to, I don't have company when housemates go out etc etc etc

But then again I do get coverd in fur when I go to work and this momrning walked into the back area for the pets with loads of bowles of food and watching a rabbit didn't escape as I let the german lop have a little stretch of legs.

Must admit can't wait till next weekend to have the responsibility of just one dog! :D 6 can be a little too much! :D

Well i would not cope at all , i am already trained to get up at six without an alarm  (to let them out ) so what would i do ...lol...Hubby would have no use at all in the house as all he is good for on the household front , is pulling the washer out every three months to declog the filter of hair ... and he thinks its a real important job too ... bless him ... He was worried that while he is away for six months (army ) i would not beable to do it ....
No poo's to inspect and be proud of ...
I would have no one to sit and pluck ...(moulting i love it , it is a real stress buster )
No one to moan too and know it will go no further... Could go on forever ...but won't ..lol...

> My pup is a huge lazy lump, if you go in the downstairs loo he'll lay behind the door so you can't get back out.

I love it!!

> Hubby would have no use at all in the house as all he is good for on the household front , is pulling the washer out every three months to declog the filter of hair ... and he thinks its a real important job too ... bless him ...

ROFLMAO!!!!!!

Well i did have to teach him how to change a plug when we bought our own house 2 and a bit years ago .. says it all really .... Soldiers like being told what to do ..lol... thats what i tell him so he does not feel inadequate (sp)

I've always had cats but a house seems empty with out a waggly tail or wet nose around and who wants to walk across a beach without a dog! When my dog became ill I even borrowed some from the dogs trust to walk and I had my kye kye put to sleep in the Feb and by April had my new pup.
Years ago when my baby was small my mum would come and take him for the weekend, as I worked and was going out that Saturday night she loved my dog my tervuren kye kye [ mad really because she was scared of dogs but loved her] and so asked me if she could take dog as well so I agreed... Never again I was so lost walking- no buggy to push no dog to talk to... I just kept looking around on the ground and had nothing! such a strange feeling could not handle it, so that was the last time she had my kye kye. Still blagged my mum to have the baby though!! :)

If i didnt have my dogs then i would have no life.
I am disabled, I dont go out of the house very much,I do my shopping on line and have it delivered.
I live with my nearly 18 year old son, last of 4 kids, i have no partner. If it wasnt for having to take my dogs out then i don think i would leave the house at all.
I live for my dogs at the moment.
But i am happy

Ive always had furries and couldnt be without them now.
I waited 21 years for my first dog and now I couldnt be without them either!! :-D

Its so nice to have agreeting when you get in from work, first Im kissed by the dog, then Im chirped at by the birds and then the gerbils come out to see me as well, what a welcome!! :)

All my life I've been surrounded by dogs, as a teenager I was the puppy trainer for my mum and eldest brothers gundogs and have always had cats, rabbits, guinea-pigs and mice. :-) Never imagined a life without animals, have always loved them and they have always just been there.

But, after my own dog Carrington passed over and hubby and I planned on having children I had no animals, not one, it was heaven I loved it. We travelled all over the world, no ties, no-one to care for or clean up after or worry about but ourselves, my babies came along and when my eldest was 5 we got a rabbit, then guinea-pigs as I believe children should have at least one animal to care for (call it hereditary :-D ) as I was always brought up with them.

I didn't want another dog though as I did not wish to be tied to the house, I always believe in giving your animals 100% of your time and energy and I didn't have the time so for 9 years my family and I came and went as we pleased and I did love it.  Then the time was right, boys were desperate for a dog and I felt we all had the time again, so we got my girl ce la vie, love her to bits, love the walks, the training, and everything else, it felt like I'd never been away.

I will only have a dog when I know I'm at the right chapter in my life to have one though.  I know when my girl now eventually passes over, bless her, I will be dog free again for many years as hubby and I wish to do other things, so I'm easy both way.

Love animals and am always a hard working owner, but also love the freedom of no animals too. :-)

Besides with the amount of animals the rest of my family have I will never miss out, difference is, they take them all home. :-)

Blimey I just cannot imagine a life without animals. I have never ever not had animals in my life from being born and can't imagine not having horses and dogs.

Better off financially, more time, less (MUCH less) mess, quieter, MUCH more freedom.  I could take up the extra dance classes I want to do, and maybe guitar lessons too.  I could probably better afford my holiday to Spain in June.  More than likely I'd have a longer fuse and lose my temper far less often :-P

But I'd be miserable with it!  On the odd occasion I've had no dogs in the house, it's been absolutely awful.  I've had pets round me since I was 4 - cats for 20 years, with the odd hamster, rats and a dog thrown in.  When I lost the last cat I was heartbroken and I still hate not having them around (can't because of the dogs tho), it's like something's missing from the house.

All of the above, plus I would be an unfit lazy slob! :D 

I often think what would I do with out my babies! And thats what they are... I look after them, worry about them, clean up after them!!
I wouldnt have paw prints everywhere, my carpet would be intact, the back door would have pawprints all over the windows! There would be no poo picking and bathing!
But even with all the expense and time we spend cleaning them and cuddling them, it is so worth it! I have two cats and getting my first pup at the end of the week and I cannot wait!
We have always had animals and life would not be the same with out them :-)

All of the above, plus I would be an unfit lazy slob!

Beat me to it Huskypup :-)

I'm housetraining a reluctant pup at the moment and am spending a lot of time going to and fro the garden to stand in the rain...... repeating my mantra...... " Hurry up".
In another life I would be sitting on my fat a**e with not a care in the world........ dont you just love 'em?

I don't need to imagine what life was like I lived it for the first 25 years of my life! The house was immaculately clean, no token dog hairs in your coffee!  I will put up with the hair and mud splaters up the white kitchen cupboards, its worth it! I would hate to be without my dogs.

I would never have to buy another lint roller, wash my hands a thousand times a day, walk til my legs wont walk anymore after a busy day, have dog hairs all over my rug as fast as ive hoovered! Never tread on hooves and roast bones when ive got no shoes on, spend ages disinfecting, and cleaning up the yard, spend hundreds of pounds on show entries and shampoos and lotions and potions to keep my showdogs looking good, travel hundreds of miles for a bit of card if im lucky!!!!!!!!
Id never get big slobbery kisses when im fed up, never laff til my sides ached at the antics in the garden, never meet so many lovely people out on our walks who all want to talk about their dogs too, never have met some very close friends through showing and ringcraft, id never have spent hours driving to shows with good friends in hysterics at each others ridiculous made up stories and jokes. Never have 6 pairs of big soppy eyes to greet me in the morning, and never have such good company again! I could go on forever!!!!
My hubby hit it on the head when he said he knows hes bottom of the chain in our house, kids come first then all the dogs then him! He did say he would make sure we were all fed before he was though so at least he agrees its the best place for him!LOL!
mel.xxx