Anna, the way you were treated was totally despicable--too bad you can't lodge a complaint with anyone, since the woman was her own boss. Argh!

But there's also a subtext here that I hope nobody gets offended by....I've definitely noticed that the people who choose to have animals rather than "real kids" are really getting looked down upon and belittled in this baby-crazy society. I hate this attitude DH and I get, at 35 years old, that we'll "grow up" soon and want to have children, and that our dogs somehow don't count as living beings to care for. Right. Those of us who choose NOT to have children deal with so much nastiness cloaked as humor, as if we are some kind of threat to others because we're "weird," we're "dog freaks," we're "animal radicals," whatever. (All of those names are what we've actually been called on various occasions. I can't imagine what Mugsy and Mike, with 15 dogs, must have to hear and put up with!)

I know there are lots of childless or childfree folks (like myself) on PetTalk, Anna, who totally support what you've done and don't find it laughable at all. Stand up proudly as one of those who doesn't look at dogs or other animals as if they're just "stuff" you "own."