During the past months of quarantine, a lot of things have changed which have held us back from doing normal, everyday things.  The cabin fever has driven some people crazy, being unable to have  a lot of human contact or interaction with friends or family.  The tasks that we seem to perform every day have become boring and there’s nothing to do besides sit at home and play with our pets.  

Pets are a great way to relieve stress and they serve as great companions for when people are feeling lonely while being cooped up inside their houses.

One downside of having a pet, or getting a new pet is the training.  Most pets, like dogs and cats, need extensive training in order to learn how to go to the bathroom outside, not to destroy furniture and slippers and how to respect their owner.  

Art teacher Pam Merkel, recently just got  a new family member, a dog named Murphy, a mini golden retriever.  She shares her experiences training  her new best friend during quarantine.” [Being home a lot] mostly helped with training as I have been there to reinforce wanted behaviors. The down side has been that he is so used to getting attention that if he isn’t getting attention he will do whatever he has to to get you to pay attention to him,” she said. 

Murphy has gotten into a lot of mischief so far. “As a family there have been multiple items of clothing, assorted magazines and books, many kleenexes shredded, tupperware stolen from the cabinet and several cords that have been victims of his attention seeking behavior. He also leaped onto the kitchen table this week and broke 2 dishes,” she said.  

Others have  had the responsibility to take care of other people’s pets.  During the early weeks of March, senior Miguel Smith took care of his nieces’ guinea pig while she was in Arizona.  ”I went over there a few times for the day to watch the little guy.  He wasn’t that little though he was actually kind of on the chubby side but I don’t judge,” he said.  “I just had to feed it and replace its water every day as well as cleaning up all the droppings that were in there.  But hey it’s something to do and I got paid for it so I’m not complaining.”

Everyone has stories to tell about their pets, and especially now since we are spending a lot of more time with them because we are home so much.  Daily routines become normal, and become more enjoyable as each day passes.   

Sophomore Jadyn Galaska  just recently got a dog over quarantine and she is really enjoying him. “ I take my dog for a walk every day. It’s something to do. I’m sick of sitting at home so much so we go for long walks. They enjoy it,”  she said. 

Junior Nathan Dineen also got a new dog over quarantine.  ”I just got him not too long ago and things have been doing okay.  I’m not the only person who has to take care of him obviously because we bought him as a family, but it’s good to take on a responsibility.  We have lots of fun and I’m glad I have something to look forward to,”  Dineen said.

As more people start to get vaccinated for covid-19, the light is starting to appear at the end of the tunnel.  With the help of fellow furry friends, students at GHS stayed as positive as they could and spent quality time with their pets.  Pets don’t judge people at the end of the day, they’re just there for support and love, and without even knowing they helped out a lot of people get through this pandemic.