i have no dogs, though i love them. i do spend a lot of time with my homie's ridgeback, who is the 'ultimate chick magnet' dog, but i refuse to own just ONE dog. i will get a dog when i have enough space for 3+ dogs.

canines are pack animals and really want their position in the social order CONSTANTLY affirmed and reaffirmed. when there are no other dogs around, they are forced to seek this affirmation from humans. though i usually have no issue wrestling animals to prove my alpha-hood, there are times when i don't want them up in my face. for instance, my friend's 210 pound(15 stone) english bull mastiff is always up for a challenge. though i have bested him before, i must admit that it was FAR from easy and i'd prefer to not have to accept every single challenge that he doles out.

though, dirt, i do love exotic pets and am a fan of the mongoose. you'd have to be careful not to get a male cuz they can stink up the place in no time. it would be a pretty sweet ice-breaker at a party to bring in a live, juvenile cobra to feed to your pet. i imagine that keeping track of a mongoose would pose a similar challenge as a ferret. they can hide ANYWHERE, and are extremely hard to hang on to when they don't want to be held. also, despite ricky-ticky-tabby's honorable actions, pets from the weasil family have been known to kill babies. it's fairly impossible to train them to not think 'helpless, juicy food item!' when they smell a baby. :(

chinchillas make excellent pets and are very soft and nice. they also live longer than any other rodent. which is good, because rodents are generally thought of as disposable pets because of their short spans. chillas are very, very shy tho and only active at night, so they might not provide as much entertainment as one might expect. hedgehogs are kindof similarly shy. think of them as chinchillas minus the softness. in truth, there are few things softer than a hedgehog's cute little pink belly, but you have to earn a great deal of trust from one before it would consent to having it's tender undeside touched. not too unlike certain women.

i've wanted a sugar-glider for a while, but my small experience with my friend's pet squirrels in college tought me to fear squirrel puberty. they really do go completely squirrelly and will bust into every cabinet that isn't bolted. since sugar-gliders have similar behavior with the additional gliding abilities, i can imagine that they would become an extreme challenge upon reaching puberty. the only pet more challenging to restrain would probably be a racoon or monkey, simply because they are far too smart to easily control.

of course, what i really want is a pet dinosaur, but i've been having a hell of a time finding one. also, i want a furry dinosaur, and i think those are even more rare. oh well, my cats would probably not like their dinosaur sibling anyways. :(