Not all students ready to own pets

Janice Bernard, special projects manager at the Animal Rescue League in Pittsburgh, said pets… Janice Bernard, special projects manager at the Animal Rescue League in Pittsburgh, said pets are often impulse buys.

“You’re making a 15-year commitment to something because it’s cute and cuddly when it might not be for very long,” she said.

Because of this, Bernard said many of the people who surrender pets to her shelter are probably students, who often have trouble devoting the time and money that is required of a pet owner.

Other Pitt students who own pets have embraced the responsibility and long-term commitment that their animals require.

When Pitt senior Justin Scheible bought a male pit bull/boxer mix to live with him in his old apartment on York Way, his sister suggested he name him Loki after the Norse god of mischief. Instead, Scheible decided on a more modern homophonic interpretation, low-key, and named him Lo-key.

But Lo-key has hardly remained low-key during his two years in Oakland.

“He’s more like the other Loki,” Scheible laughed. “The god of mischef.” When Scheible lived on York Way, he had frequent house parties. One of these nights, a girl left the front door open and Lo-key escaped.

Scheible spotted him on Atwood Street and crept slowly toward him. But when Lo-key saw him he darted into the street, where a Jeep was traveling at about 35 mph.

“Twack,” Scheible described the sound of the Jeep hitting him. He screamed “Lo-key!” thinking his dog was dead. Then, Lo-key emerged from under the front of the Jeep and ran away barking at it, his head turned behind him.

Scheible said Lo-key was completely unharmed, his usual spinning self the next day.

“It was unbelievable. Lucky as hell,” Scheible said. “If he was a foot to the left or right he would have been dead.”

To help expel Lo-key’s constant energy, Scheible said he ties a leash to the front of his bike and lets Lo-key pull him through the streets of Oakland.

Scheible said he and his roommates walk Lo-key four or five times a day and feed him twice a day.

“Go ahead and get one if you’ve got the time to devote to it,” he said, addressing other students who might be considering a pet. But Scheible enjoys taking weekend snowboarding and camping trips, which he cannot do as often now that he has Lo-key. “Dogs grow really attached to people, and you can’t just put him in a shelter every time you’ve got to do something,” he said.

Scheible bought Lo-key two years ago on the website Craigslist.com after the seller found him tied to a house in Pittsburgh. He was six months old and completely untrained.

Scheible said he thought he might have to get rid of him at first, but luckily he was able to housebreak him.

He said it took a long time to find a nice place in Oakland for this school year that allows dogs without a large deposit or payment. He currently lives on Meyran Avenue.

When he graduates next winter, he plans to move to San Diego with Lo-key. When filling out forms, Scheible calls him a “boxer mix,” since many landlords won’t allow pit bulls.

Nick Benvenuti, also a senior at Pitt, owns a ferret named Slinkles – named for the way he often moves like a slinky – in his Dawson Street apartment.

His landlord allows it, but he had to pay a nonrefundable $100 fee.

Benvenuti said each day he plays with him, changes his water and picks up his excrement, gives him new food every few days and shampoos him in the tub once a week.

He owns a cage and a litter box with cat litter, but Slinkles rarely uses either. He roams Benvenuti’s room freely and usually does his business in a corner behind the door.

Benvenuti was planning to live with five other students in a house in Shadyside next year, but the others said the place was too nice for an untrained ferret. So, he decided to find a place on his own.

“If I don’t live with them I can still be friends with them, but if I give Slinkles away I won’t see him anymore,” Benvenutti said.

Benvenuti had a close call when Slinkles escaped and went missing for two weeks. He posted signs and one night received a call from a man, whom Benvenuti said “sounded like he was using a voice changer.” The voice repeatedly said, “Your ferret’s at the top of the stairs.”

When he arrived home, Benvenuti found Slinkles in a new cage, along with a new litter box, leash, food bowl, treats and a ferret T-shirt.

“Whoever found him must have spent about $200,” Benvenuti said.

While Benvenuti is fond of Slinkles, he said that if students are grossed out about cleaning up excrement, they should get an animal like a dog or a cat, which is easier to potty-train.

Bernard recommends older cats most highly for students who want to adopt, since they are less active than dogs and younger cats.

Bernard said some alternatives for buying pets are fostering animals and volunteering at an animal shelter. Animals that cannot be kept in the shelter because they have medical or behavioral problems live in homes temporarily to see how they react.

Student groups such as fraternities and sororities often come in to wash and walk the dogs.

Before people adopt pets, Bernard said they should ask for permission notes from the landlords.

Briana Wakefield, rental agent for E.S. Management, said her company does not allow any pets in its Oakland properties but has made exceptions for cats in their Shadyside properties.

“I honestly don’t think it’s fair to have a dog in the city,” Wakefield said. “If there isn’t a backyard for them to go out in, I don’t think that’s fair to the animal.”

Scheible disagrees.

“As long as you have enough time to walk him and clean up after him, I think it’s fair to have a dog,” he said.