Pets world in America!!!

                                                   (This is a new kind of Hospital for me)
One of the biggest culture shocks for me in America is the PETS world here. If you go to Vietnam and you see many signs of places with dogs or cats pictures, those are called Dog or Cat Restaurants. And you might see a lot of people inside. When we were riding bicycles in California, I saw a sign with a Dog and Cat picture, but I was surprised when the sign actually said: Dog and Cat Hospital! I stopped right away and told Ben: "Oh my god, I think my parents will be very very surprised when I show them this sign." So I asked Ben to take picture of me in front of the hospital.

(First time I saw a Pet Gym!!!!)

When I first moved here, I felt a little bit strange seeing how pets, especially dogs, are treated here. They have their own beds which I did not even have when I was a kid. One time I saw a big bone next to a dog bed and I thought, "Well at least they feed dogs like we do in Vietnam."  But then I realized that it was a FAKE bone and it was really just a dog toy!

So what does everyone feed their dogs here? This really blows my mind because there are so many kinds of dog food: dry dog food, canned dog food, raw dog food and frozen dog food. They even have organic dog food. Whenever I've seen a new kind of dog food, I think about how Vietnamese dogs would react if they saw those kinds of food. Not only that, people treat their dogs like their children here. I felt a little weird the first time I saw one of Ben's friend's dogs actually lick Ben's face. Ben really loves dogs, so he pet the dog right back and they both looked very happy.

The first dogs I met were Ben's brother Zev's 2 dogs. They are a Boxer and a mutt. I was nervous and scared whenever the Boxer came to me and started jumping on me. Ben told me that I needed to pet him. So I started putting my hand on his head and rubbing his head, but my face was turned to the side because I was afraid he would bite me. Getting bitten made me nervous being close to a dog for the first time. Once I knew that most of the dogs here are safe, I felt more comfortable to pet and play with dogs. I am getting much better with dogs. Actually I have seen many beautiful dogs and now I kind of want a dog. For me having a dog like having a friend. But I don't know I could deal with that because it seems like a lot a work having a pet in America. Not only space, special food, but also we will need to walk with them everyday and send them somewhere if we want to go anywhere. Dog walking and training is a new business that I just learned about when I came to America. I got really surprised when I saw a Pet Gym in New York. I know that everyone who has a pet really treats their pet like a human. I think having a pet really makes people be more responsible and happy but it is still one of the biggest differences between our two cultures.