For a lot of families, adopting a pet during the pandemic has been one of the main reasons why they were able to stay afloat and not let the stress of quarantine overwhelm them. Whether a whole family adopted a dog, or a single person brought a cat into their home, pets have been the saving grace of this year. However, "Queer Eye" star Jonathan Van Ness has some light to shed on the darkness that can occur during a pet adoption.
“When I adopted a dog, I just didn't know what to expect,” the 33-year-old reality star told TODAY. “I went to a shelter that had COVID protocols that felt really good and then I just fell (crazy) in love with Pablo, but I just didn't know a lot of what goes into dog behavior or being a dog parent. A lot of dogs are that romanticized version of what you think adopting is," he said. "Like no issues. I think that's probably a lot of the time what does happen and for the first couple weeks, that was our experience. But then Pablo… with four cats, just started to see some things start to happen."
Van Ness said his dog Pablo started exhibiting some alarmingly possessive behavior. He became territorial of him, toys, treats, and furniture, and didn't get along with the cats. “If you're walking a dog out on the street and you're a known person and someone comes up too fast, it’s a lot of scary stuff," Van Ness said. "Or if you let a dog pop up on the couch whenever they want, all of a sudden, you have to reset boundaries. These were things that I just didn't understand about having a dog.”