There is a scene in Marley & Me that happens all too often in the lives of pet owners. Babies are crying. Parents are fighting. Life is a mess. And the dog is being, well, a dog. What’s the solution to the situation? The dog has to go.
My wife and I have had a fair amount of experience in the world of animal shelters and humane societies, enough at least to hear a sad litany of tales of woe from people dumping their pets on a shelter’s doorstep. “I didn’t know it would get so big ... It was my kids’ dog and they moved out ... It keeps having puppies ... I got a new sofa and it no longer matches my dog.” I’m not kidding. That last one is true.
Marley & Me is not a great movie. I do think it is a good one though. It kept me entertained for most of its two hours. It made me laugh, sometimes hard, more than a few times. It made me cry at the end as it did seemingly everyone in the audience. When you bring your kids, consider preparing them for a story telling the entire life of a dog and not just the happy puppy times. Ultimately, as a lifelong pet owner, it made me think.
Animal shelters are overflowing because so many people give pets as gifts – tied with a bow – with thoughts of a cute puppy or kitten dancing in their heads and forget that a life lasts a lifetime. And, as if a conscious response to these tough economic times with news stories of pets left to starve in foreclosed houses, this is where Marley & Me – both movie and book – locates it heart.
It’s a plea to all future pet owners to think first. It may seem like a good idea now. But what happens when you have a new baby next year? Or what happens when the kids grow up and have boyfriends and girlfriends to occupy their time? What happens when they leave for college? What happens if you take that job offer and move across the country?
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