Most of our friends also have adorable dogs that they love, spoil, and treat like children...but my parents think treating dogs like human children is the craziest thing ever. This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately because it seems to be a big generational shift. The baby boomers certainly have dogs, and many of them would say their dogs are family just like I would, but there are a lot that also think dogs are animals and shouldn't be treated like babies. But the reality is, our generation is doing a lot of things later in life. We're getting married later and having children later then any generation thus far, sometimes by choice, but mostly by circumstance. College graduates have more debt at age 22 than generations before us could even imagine. That means we have to focus more on our careers because making money has to be our top priority to dig out of these debt holes we've dug ourselves into. Even if you do meet Mr. or Mrs. Right, you might not be able to afford a wedding. Even if you have a small affordable wedding, chances are it will take some time to afford a house. If you're like Joe and I who were lucky enough to have a wedding and buy a house by 26...the next step everyone expects is kids.
Here's the thing, we just absolutely were not ready to have kids right after our wedding. Not only were we not ready to commit to a lifetime of Friday nights at home, but there was absolutely no way we could afford a kid even if we wanted to. Day care in CT costs $1200-1600/month, that's a third mortgage payment on top of our actual mortgage and student loans...we just didn't have it. There's a lot of love in the Martin house and we knew we had a little extra to go around but since babies weren't on our list we thought a dog was a great idea! Plenty of our friends got dogs for, what I don't know for sure, but I'm assuming are similar reasons. People are always asking you about what they assume should be your next life step. Single? "How's your dating life?" Dating? "When are you going to get married?" Married? "When are you going to have kids?" Already have a kid? "When is number 2 coming?" People who ask these questions aren't trying to be rude, they're just trying to make conversation with you and assume your life is going to follow the path prescribed by society. A dog is a great alternative to ANY OF THESE STEPS.
Millennials get married later and have babies later than any generation that has preceded us, which I think is why we are so obsessed with our dogs. You have no control over when you meet Mr. or Mrs. Right, but that doesn't mean you don't want someone excited to see you at the end of a long workday...get a dog! Maybe you met the right person but you want to be really sure before you make that lifelong commitment to marriage...test things out by moving in together and getting a dog! Of course we know dogs are also a great substitute/practice run for kids. Millennials are more likely to own dogs than any other generation, and of all the people Joe and I know our age, I can literally only think of 4 that don't have dogs...one of them has a cat and 2 of them would really like dogs but can't where they live. (Some people really do work such long hours or travel so much that dogs aren't possible for them...in which case it's responsible of them to continue playing with their friends dogs as much as possible.)
Dogs are the best because they are loyal and loving, always excited to see you when you get home, and always great for a cuddle on the couch. But you can still leave them home alone for 12ish hours when you have something to do and they can pretty much take care of themselves. They're really not that expensive (especially if you have little dogs like ours that don't eat very much) and their total annual cost is probably less than one month of daycare and diapers for a baby. So whether you need a little more love in your life, or you think you have a little extra love to give...dogs are always the solution and millennials prove that. We have the lowest rate of childbirth and the highest rate of pet ownership of any generation to date (source). We're changing the "normal" life progression steps to include pet ownership to be as much of a must as marriage or children...and the great thing about a dog is that life step can go anywhere in the order that you want it to.
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