I’ve always been a pet person, and I always will regardless of any disadvantages to having pets.
My parents taught me from a young age that you need to take care of your animals to the best of your ability, which involves bathing them regularly.
Some of my friends and coworkers only get baths for their animals once a year—if that. Usually they just take their cats or dogs to a groomer. My mother wouldn’t put up with this, nor would we afford it for most of my childhood. The job was passed between myself and my sister, with each other rotating each time. There was one such instance where my mom forced me to take my dog back into the bathroom to wash him again because I hadn’t done a good enough job. Some would balk at this idea, but it was a good learning experience. You can’t be lazy with hygiene! It doesn’t matter if it’s your own or that of the living creature that you are caring for, feeding, and housing. And keeping pet odors down in the home is important to learn at an early age, god forbid you don’t take it seriously when you’re finally your parents’ age. We learned back then that one factor that is a huge benefit for keeping the home smelling fresh is by using charcoal coated HVAC filters in the air conditioner or furnace. The activated charcoal crystals on the HVAC filters absorb airborne odors as that air is pushed in and out of the central HVAC system during each heating and cooling cycle. It’s just getting harder to source these special HVAC filters in my size, so I always buy in bulk when at all possible.