The priority of pets

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, February 18th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Americans and our love of pets.

An estimated 2 of 3 of households in this country own at least one pet and we lavish money on them. In fact, last year, Americans spent around $150 billion on our animal friends. That includes everything from food to vet bills to grooming services.

REICHARD: But our national fertility rate is dropping to record lows, yet it’s getting more common to see Mother’s and Father's Day products in stores for so-called pet parents.

So, how far is too far? WORLD senior writer Emma Freire paid a visit to the World of Pets Expo.

AUDIO: [Sound of dogs barking]

EMMA FREIRE: Tens of thousands of pet lovers and their animal companions descended on the Maryland State Fairgrounds on the last weekend of January. The World of Pets Expo bills itself as the largest consumer pet show on the east coast. There’s plenty of strollers being pushed around, but they’re more likely to contain a dog or a cat than a human baby.

As you enter, you see a long swimming pool set up for the DockDogs competition. Dogs jump off a podium into the water to fetch toys. And the bleachers are full of cheering fans.

AUDIO: [Sound of dockdogs competition]

Jean Emge has been organizing World of Pets for 24 years. Dockdogs is one of her favorite events

EMGE: Takes a lot of encouragement to teach them to do that.

But the expo offers so much more. There’s seminars on pet care, a dog grooming competition, pony rides, a petting zoo. About 200 exhibitors sell everything from dog treats to eco-friendly towels to clean up your pet’s mess.

To the right of the main entrance is an area where no dogs are allowed. It’s a cat show, and 135 cats are registered to participate.

ANNOUNCER: Short hair kittens, 51 through 60, ring five as available.

Then, there’s a stand featuring very different animals.

GRAVES: We have 5 ball pythons here today. We have a rat snake, a handful of geckos and a couple bearded dragons.

That’s Tyler Graves. He’s manning the stand for Second Hand Serpent Reptile Rescue.

GRAVES: All reptiles have personalities, just like cats and dogs. It's just you're inviting somebody else into your house that you want to share time with. And quite often, reptiles are very chill and relaxed.

Many of the vendors and participants know each other. Shelly McAllister is selling pet beds, blankets, strollers and toys. Strollers are going for $125. She says people here understand each other.

MCALLISTER: You meet other people that have similar interests, so you don't feel like a fool. Like at one point when I was working with the one rescue I worked with, I had 12 ferrets, because I had a lot of fosters. I might feel weird telling you I had 12, but there 12 was, like, at the low end. There were people that had 20 ferrets.

But do we love our pets too much?

Ephraim Radner is a professor emeritus of historical theology at Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto. He points out that animals were created first and God gave humans the mandate to care for them.

RADNER: The laws about—especially in the Old Testament—about how human beings, how Israelites, are asked to treat animals, involve justice, if you will, and kindness and compassion being extended to animals.

The Bible also makes it clear we can learn something about God from animals.

RADNER: Solomon, you know, in the Proverbs, said go to the ant. Look at the ant, how the ant lives. We have something to learn from other animals, not just human beings. And of course, in the Psalms, animals, along with trees and mountains and seas, praise God. They actually have, in their own language, a way of praising God.

But when people treat their animals like children, they’ve lost sight of God’s created order.

RADNER: We live in a very confused culture, and I don't think it's fair to blame people for this because they're raised in a culture that has shifted enormously. But I do think it's important to be aware of this, and therefore to find ways to sort of relearn this ordered character to the created world.

Attendees of the World of Pets Expo do know it can go too far.

Candy Cole owns High Ridge Farm in Maryland. She brought a few of her goats, sheep and miniature horses here. And she thinks humans can have a hard time knowing when it’s time to let go.

COLE: We are very selfish when it comes to the end of life or cancer or something with our pets. We had a horse and I had a dog that had cancer, and they offered me chemo. And I said I would never do that to an animal, because they don't understand why you're doing that to them.

Expo organizer Jean Emge agrees.

EMGE: I don't know if you can love your pet too much as a pet lover, but some people might prioritize them a little too much.

But as long as you keep your priorities straight, animals can bring a lot of happiness.

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