[drache]

all the animals we kept when I was a kid were useful animals - dogs for hunting, horses to help with the harvest and other things (okay, I had fun riding them), chickens, geese and fish for food, sheep for food and thistle control, eventually a cat for mice.
there were plenty of other critters to watch and interact with, but they were to be respected and left alone ("how would you feel, if someone snatched you out of your home and made you live with scary giants?")
so I did not get to keep pets until college and garters were my first