Part 3  I'm not sure when I started referring to pets as an extra heartbeat in the house, and I’m not sure where the thought came from, but it just seemed right. They are not people, for sure. I don’t harbor any such delusions, yet they are most certainly family. The heartbeat sounds out the presence of another life for which I am responsible. It is another source of warmth, a soothing rhythm, a bundle of energy, another creature with some level of thoughts and feelings who irrevocably changes the dynamic of the household.