Of course, if a pet causes a rift in your relationship with another person, the problem may not be the animal.

当然，如果一只宠物让你与其他人的关系产生了裂痕，或许不是动物的错。

Human-behavior experts -- that is, therapists -- say it is typically not the pet's fault if something goes wrong between people. 'In my experience, pets do fine with relationships as long as the relationship is doing well,' says Katherine Brodsky, a clinical social worker in Manchester, N.H. 'But when the couple is having problems, often the pets are used as weapons for one partner against the other, just as children often are.'

人类行为专家（即临床医学家）说如果人之间出现问题，一般不是宠物的错。美国新罕布什尔州曼彻斯特市临床社工布罗斯基(Katherine Brodsky)说，据经验表明，只要夫妻关系良好，宠物就不是个问题。但一旦夫妻间出现问题，二人就会拿宠物借题发挥攻击对方，就象孩子一样。

Kim Gorode can tell you all about it. Her live-in boyfriend loves their two cats but is allergic to them, so he gets weekly allergy shots. This works out well, she says -- until they have a spat. 'If it's a money issue, he sometimes blames it on the fact that he has to pay for allergy shots and I don't, or if he's in a bad mood he will say he's congested because of the cats,' says Ms. Gorode, 27, an investor-relations representative who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. 'It's totally his trump card.'

格罗德(Kim Gorode)赞同这一观点。她今年27岁，是一名投资者关系代表，住在纽约布鲁克林，养了两只猫。男朋友和她住在一起。他也喜欢这两只猫，但却对猫过敏，所以每周都打抗过敏针。她说，本来这样过得挺好，直到他们发生了口角。如果是钱方面的事，他有时会抱怨说他需要花钱打针，而格罗德不用。如果是心情不好，他会说自己过敏都是因为猫。这成了他的王牌了。