Going off to college means having your own skewed version of freedom from the restrictions of parents and family rules, so some University of Denver students take full advantage of their new independence through drastic purchases, such as a new pet.
A week after Halloween in 2009, Erin Smith, a junior whose name has been changed, wandered through a pet store with a couple of friends for entertainment purposes, only to walk out moments later with a new best friend named Graham.
Graham is a yellow lab with a contagious personality, but unfortunately was forced to live in secrecy in his own home.
“At the time, I was living the Delta Gamma Sorority house with 27 other girls, and a long list of rules to abide by, one including no pets allowed to live in the house,” said Smith. “Graham had to remain a secret from our house mom, but was definitely a known and loved pet to the rest of the girls in the house. He was our only male member!”
Shadowing Graham from the house mother was a simple task the first three weeks, when Graham was still a puppy, but common knowledge has taught us that labs become big dogs, really quickly.
“When Graham was little, I would just put him in my backpack to transfer him in and out of the house, but eventually I ran out of bags big enough for ‘Graminal’ [nickname] to fit in, and I needed an alternative escape strategy, so I kept him at friends houses at night,” said Smith.
Smith has run into a couple of city law restrictions with Graham as well. Denver has a lease law that prohibits dogs from running around free in parks, with the exception of a few places, and people who violate this law are fined.
“I have to drive far away if I want to let Graham run off his leash,” said Smith. “Sometimes I take him to the small park by the mass mommunications building, because I don’t see many officers there, but I have ended up with three tickets so far because of Graham and they were $150 each.”
Another student, Monique Pearson, a junior whose name has been changed, chose to take a larger risk of hiding a pet her freshman year at DU.
While aimlessly driving around the city with her roommate in the winter, they came across a mall they had not been to before and their curiosities intrigued them to explore.
Inside they discovered a local pet store that they thought would be amusing to stroll through.
Instantly, Pearson’s eagerness and lack of self-control made her determined to make a purchase.
“It was decided,” said Pearson. “I was not leaving that pet store without a new pet to take home.”
Moments later, Pearson was an owner of a little bunny. She lived in the freshmen dorms, however, which have a strict no animal policy, so she put the little animal in her backpack and casually walked into the dorms.
“The RA’s had little suspicion about Bun-Bun living with me for the last six months of school,” said Pearson. “The only time they asked me questions of curiosity was when I brought the cage in and out of the dorm, but I just put a blanket over it and when they asked, I told them I was transporting a TV.”
Unknown to her, Pearson started a popularity trend throughout the dorm as well.
“Within a month, four other girls got bunnies as well, and the best part was that none of us got caught,” said Pearson.
Not only was Pearson fortunate to remain unscathed from being punished for owning a pet in the dorms, but she was able to easily and safely pass on her bunny to a new owner once the school year was over and she had to return to her home in Florida.
“My roommate’s mom was a preschool teacher in the Denver area, so she requested the bunny to be her class pet, so we knew it was ending up in good hands,” said Pearson.
