Pets in paradise?

Given the holy status bestowed upon pets and particularly, dogs, the next logical expectation from religious pet owners goes something like this: “Will my adorable pet rejoin me into the afterlife?” 

As cynics often say: “Good question, indeed!” As for me, my response would be more nuanced and include pragmatic questions like “Who’s gonna pick up the crap in heaven?” or “Can I get my aggressive pit-bull up-there?”

These down-to-earth questions should be enough, in my view, to disqualify the entire discussion, even though a certain number of established religions and file-and-rank believers are scouring the holy books in search for answers and justifications, and I’m not even talking about “exotic” pets like pythons or tigers. 

Assuming that we all agree there’s some kind of afterlife (a huge step in it of itself), my focus remains stubbornly stuck on available space to accommodate all of that creation inside some other plane, and doesn’t quite figure out by my human standards of measurement, plus the fact that, except for cats, I’m not too high on pets. 

As a result, I’d stick with making heaven pet-free and suggest that departing humans stock up on photos and videos of their favorite furry buddies!