ABSTRACT
Until I was 38, the only pets I owned were two turtles, JFK and Acrobat. I’d wanted a dog when I was a kid, but my brother was allergic. When I was studying economics at Cornell, I would always stop and pet Reds, a golden retriever who would lie outside the library while his owner was inside studying, but he wasn’t mine. After I earned my MBA at the University of Michigan and began working as a marketer in the financial services industry, I didn’t think I had the time. Finally, I adopted a yellow Lab, Gator, from a neighbor who was moving to Australia. Having a dog was even better than I’d imagined.
