Have you ever tried to explain Pet Talk?

[gini]

I found myself explaining to a dear friend, Pet of The Day. The conversation started because I was telling her about the So. Ca. Picnic to welcome Cincy's Mom.

I tried to keep it fairly serious and explain the many benefits of the forum and how wonderful people can be about offering advice or tips on animal care.

But she couldn't get over the fact that I was willing to hold a BBQ for a lot of people that I had never met. And she was dumbfounded when I told her Slick had flown in from Canada to attend a weekend picnic.

So you can imagine - I never even mentioned Thursdays in the Dog House.
And what would she think if she knew that I just called T & P's Mom Turkey Lips??

[Husky_mom]

haha so much!!!! but i ended telling them its a place i can talk about pets, so they can get an idea, if i try to profundize and tell the real deal i get the ??? face, LOL so i think only you here understand what PT really is and thats all that matters to me, my hubby knows it as the place about dogs LOL anyway I LOVE IT HERE

[slick]

I have very few friends up here and none of them know about Pet Talk. Heck, even my Mom doesn't even know about Pet Talk.

Pet Talk is my little secret hide-a-way that I keep private from everyone I know up here. They just wouldn't understand so why bother trying to explain?? So Gini, what year was it again that you moved from BC to California??

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Actually, I was having my hair done last night and we were discussing cats because my hair dresser's cat is sick. She told me I'm her official cat expert and when the cat is having problems she can't wait for my appointment to ask me what to do. I almost started explaining PT, but she's not a big computer person so I knew she wouldn't understand, so I just skipped it.

The only people who would understand are people who've been involved in a similar online community. I know I was familiar because of all the Corvette friends we made online, and now all the motorhome friends we're making online, and of course because of all the PT friends we've made online.

One of our motorhome friends live near Sara so we visited them when we were in town for last year's BBQ. They kind of understood, but they couldn't quite get why I would want to hang out with "a bunch of crazy cat people." Hmmmmm.....they have two dogs....maybe if I tell them that "crazy dog people" hang out here too.......

[slleipnir]

I tell people at work..and they really don't understand. They're like..."so...you meet people you don't even know?" And once I told my doctor I was going to Flordia and Utah...and he was like "oh, you're going to visit relatives?" So I explained it to him and he was like "Oh...are you SURE she is not really a man? Some pervert? You know these things do happen..." (this was even after I told him I had already met Kay the year before...)

[Sonia59]

Interesting thread.
Strangely, I never tried to explain PT and I very rarely mention it. My best friends (not all are pet lovers) and family don't know about it.

Once, I mentioned PT to the people at the shelter where I help and I only said it was a discussion forum about animals, that you could post pics of your furry kids and tell about almost everything else you want.
Although they are great cat lovers and they spend time, money, holiday time, etc...to rescue cats, they are not Internet people, and they also don't speak English well enough to easily chat. When I saw they were not really interested I did not insist.

If someone would have told me about PT, I have the feeling I would not have understood or I would not have been interested as well. Perhaps the thing is that you have to discover it by yourself...

[Flatcoatluver]

Ever since I joined Pt, I have learned so much. People and freinds are amazed beacuse of my age and wonder where i get all the information. I try to tell them and it doesn't work very well. They pretty much get angry.my mom now understands, i am working on my dad now.

[king2005]

I learned to keep quiet, too many people... When people ask what I do at home I say I chat on forums, & create my own websites...

However my dad thought it was really cool, that I met someone from PT in PEI, hes the only person that understands, or atleast pretends too.

[carole]

Oh yes everyone i know is told about how wonderful PT is, of course they think I have become a bit nutty these days, but i don't care,now when i tell them how Lisa helped me with the donation to spay my neighbours cats and that one PT member adopted a cat from USA to England, they look at me in dis-believe and in aw, they just find it hard to believe that people can be so wonderful.

It is not often you find the jewel in your life, something as precious and rare as PT.

[Anita Cholaine]

I tried to talk to my friends about PT, but they think it's just an internet forum, where you just talk to people... They can't understand why do I call it a 'family'. Even my best friend, who has two dogs and absolutely loves animals, doesn't understand me. I'm sure she would love it here, but her english is not too good...

I don't think you can understand what PT is if you're not in it......

[Alysser]

YES! My parents seem to think it's stupid. I've talked to people into joining. Jenna(i_luv_rusty) and Rachel (Orlando's_girl) so they understand.

[k9krazee]

Ha...I rarely tell people, it took a long time for me to actually tell my parents! None of my friends know about it, and I like it that way!!

[BC_MoM]

I don't talk to my friends about my online life. Most of them are weird about that kind of stuff. But I do tell my parents about different things about Pet Talk so they sort of "know" it as well as Border Collie Rescue board I'm on.

[lbaker]

Slick, if even your Mom doesn't know - how on earth did you ever explain the ~ ahem ~ interesting Christmas presents you bought me while she was with you Did you say you were buying them for Santa Some people know I am part of an "animal support group" [sounds a bit more grown up doesn't it ] My family knows all about it and DIL even came with me to a PT'ers meeting in PA. They do roll their eyes when I mention something funny that happened at Thursdays but....

[Karen]

I tell people about it all the time.

On Thursday nights after bell choir rehearsal at church, we have a brief closing prayer and my friend Harry usually turns to me first and says, "Okay, whose cat or what member of your crazy "family" are we praying for this week?" Everyone who knows me pretty much knows about the websites and Pet Talk!