Midwestern vs. Coastal Animals

I am essentially a midwestern boy, born and raised in rural Wisconsin.

I now live in southern California.  I really like living where I live now, but there are some differences that I really do not understand.

One of the challenges I have is the difference in how people understand animals here in Los Angeles vs. Midwest.

Warning: Minor rant to follow.

I grew up in the country.  Our perspective was simply that there were only two kinds of animals in our lives.  There were wild animals; the deer, pheasants, rabbits, squirrels, and other animals that lived in the woods.  And there were also domestic animals: the animals we tended and which helped us.  There were cows, chickens, pigs, and other animals which we raised.

There was always a clear understanding that domestic animals existed for some serious reasons.

Essentially, domestic animals have jobs!

Though I lived in a rural area, my family did not work a farm.  We had a series of dogs, which helped my father when he went hunting.  We had a few cats, which caught mice.  As a child, I raised rabbits which were supposed to teach me responsibility. All of our animals lived outside our house, unless the temperature was below zero for a prolonged period of time, and we did not see them as pets.

Read: Our animals did not wear clothes.

My neighbors now appear to have very different attitudes.  They have pets who are essentially members of their families.  They wear different “outfits.”  They live indoors.

These are coastal animals, not Midwestern animals.  Can you help me understand them?

[ Photo: Solomon the dog by Gizzypooh ]