Had a dog when I was really little and someone stole it. I was never able to have another until I was a fully functioning adult. They are the best and not sure what it would be like to be without a dog. I also have a rabbit and fish. The rabbit is super cool and thinks it’s a dog.

I think the study could be accurate, but not sure cause I think there are too many other factors that need to be considered.

Don't know about the study, but I lived in four big cities before I was 18 and now I crave change, like I get anxious if things start the same too long

...but have always had a ton of animals. My MGoDog always is happy to see me when I come home...can’t ask for anything better than that! Definitely relieves stress.

On the flipside, hosting the livestock on the in-laws side is quite stressful especially when they clean out my fridge and pantry.

But not livestock. I have always felt pets are great for stress reduction and add much comfort to our lives.

Grew up in a podunk cow town. Grew up in a family of farmers but by the time I was grown the livestock was sold and the land was leased. It didn’t prevent me from working on farms, bailing hay, pick rocks, pulling weeds and helping neighbors out though. All work that I liked as a kid and would still like as an adult. Parents have horses and various farm animals so I get my fill when I want.

I love dogs but just can’t have them or cats in the house due to family members with pretty bad allergies.

If I had all the money in the world and still had to pick an occupation it would probably be farming. Loved being around it when I was a kid and miss it as an adult.

via GIPHY

I grew up with a few cows, chickens and rabbits, and pigs.  Just a hobby farm.  I thought I hated it, but as an adult, I've ended up raising pygmy goats (keeping two to three dozen at a time), plus the usual farm dogs and cats -- and one orphaned pygmy goat who is now a pet.  It was a pretty good supplement to the homeschooling curriculum.

City vs Country

These guys did an in-depth analysis back in the 60s.

https://youtu.be/umS3XM3xAPk

from us than what they get.

Dogs are the best.

It's the pigs and geese that are highly interesting and entertaining. Although I grew up near fruit farms, as my backyard was both an abandoned Welch's vineyard and orchard complete with creek and our family garden, I ate local to table without choice :>), the real lessons were from working family livestock farms in Michigan on the maternal side.

My aunt Faith for example raised flocks of commercial geese that were supervised by Brutus The Goose who, among other behaviors, herded us small kids around honking, pecking and flapping just as if we were subordinate geese. He kept us in flock. We hated that ba$tard but never killed it despite spending our days shooting at practically anything we could hit to include box kites we'd fly and shoot after dipping our ammo in different colors of paint. We also hunted a lot and ate what we shot, arrowed or trapped. (I don't care for trapping at all, I witnessed too much cruel murder with that practice.)

Pigs I love to this day and I hesitate to eat them although as kids we did experiment feeding bacon to other pigs and they didn't register any objections. They will maneuver you into a hierarchy and herd and nip you into place unless you learn how to firmly and cleverly push back, literally with your knees and willpower because pigs are always testing you. Pigs are scary smart, sentient and emotional, in some ways like humans and in many other ways brilliant still yet uniquely pig-like.

I'd liken what I eventually developed via the livestock farms to a sort of disassociative sociopathy. My friends and family weren't keeping the animals around as pets or friends. We killed them or sold them off to be slaughtered. So I learned early to make artificial, one might argue, distinctions between which living beings might be my buddies for awhile and those to die on Monday.

That changes perspective, and I don't believe urban kids have any clue in this regard. But it's strange because, although I developed a deep and genuine appreciation for all life forms, I happen to be an urban survivalist living in Chicago. Among other survival implements like water storage and puro, medicine and food, I have a small semi-automatic arsenal and in any rioting or insurrection comparable to Baltimore or Ferguson etc., I have the ability, expertise and willpower to mow down 500+ criminal arsonists or other invaders within minutes and then to sleep soundly after enjoying a beer or two.

It's what I mean by "disassociative sociopathy" because even soldiers who killed in combat but were raised in urban environments would likely have problems with the destruction of life while folks who spent a lot of time as children on livestock farms probably wouldn't suffer after effects from their killings -- even of human beings.

An odd phenomenon, love of life and ability to detach and dispatch life all rolled into a bundle and this is something those raised urban/suburban cannot understand I suspect. 0.02

but no OT on this?

Gravel road with horses next door kind of place. An acre of garden vegetables, a stocked pond and chickens were good for veggies, fish and eggs when we needed.
Plenty of pets then. Can't do that now due to allergies. We scratch that itch with a saltwater reef/fish tank. Pretty cool.

That'd be too much land and work for my family to keep up now but we love the idea of it. Maybe in retirement if the wife's and my health hold up.

If she predeceases me early, I'll probably get a trailer or boat and set off to travel aimlessly for a while.

I could get mad at my chickens if I tried.

I've always wanted a hippo

Family always had a couple acres of vegetables, fruits and pumpkins that everyone pitched in for. I worked on a smallish vegetable farm for 4 full years and have on and off when they need some extra help the last couple. They had 3 labs plus chickens and geese. I enjoy what I do in construction, but I'd quit in a second if I had the money to farm for a living.

How are those community farms doing in Detroit?

A gator? I thought you live up north or in the UP.

we had to put down our Golden retriever a few weeks ago. I'm still depressed. My wife thought the best way to get over it was to get a new puppy. So we did, but I'm just not feeling it. Of course, that may be because it's a different breed and a much smaller dog, but I just haven't warmed up to him yet. So I guess my question is, what's the ideal grieving period before getting a replacement dog?