Your pet may not be human, but he’s not just an animal, either. You can’t expect him to sit around all day alone and then welcome you at the door with your pipe and slippers like a picture perfect pet out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Pets crave attention of any sort, so the more time spent at play or even sitting quietly with the family in the evenings; the better it is for your pets.

The problems begin when the family’s expectations for the pet are unreasonable. There has never been a dog born with batteries or a cat that runs like a computer. Pets make mistakes; just like the rest of us, they’re not perfect. If you can’t stand any kind of mess or disorder in the house, a dog or cat is probably not going to make you happy, because when an owner demands meticulous behavior all of the time, the relationship begins to break down.

When you treat your pet like an animal who must be trained into submission, you are going to have a neurotic dog or cat who never does anything right. On the other hand, when you ignore your pet and don’t treat him like a member of the family, you will have a dog or cat that misbehaves just to get the attention denied him.