Memory of a First Pet...

     When my son was young I brought home a baby rabbit for him as a "First Pet".  This was no ordinary rabbit - he was raised by a special women who did Pet Therapy for Developmentally Disablied Adults. The Mother Rabbit was famous throughout the Day Program I supervised for several years.  I remember the day Marsha came into my office with a litter of small bunnies for me to choose one for my son. Along with the rabbit - I received wonderful guidelines how we should raise the rabbit to accept people handling him and how to train him.  We went out and bought a beautiful cage, bedding, food, and a litter box. We named the rabbit "Snowball" because of his beautiful white fur.  Oh what a wonderful pet he was. My son taught him to use the litter box, how to walk outside with a pet harness and sit in a basket to be carried throughout the house. He became part of the family - as most pets do.  As Snowball grew - you could see the love that my son had for him.  It was wonderful to see the development of my son's ability to be responsible, caring and joyful while raising his pet rabbit!  Often when you walked by my son's room - you would see Snowball sitting in his basket watching things going on around him. Only occassionaly did he chew a few things that were a not on his food list!  Snowball was a great first time pet!  Although Snowball is no longer with us, to this day there are pictures of my son and his rabbit throughout our house.  We were so thankful for Marsha's suggestions and her help in making this a wonderful experience with lasting memories!
"A parent's job is to encourage kids to develop joy of life and great urge to follow their dreams." R. Pausch