Smart about Pets - Great Pets

My five year old considers his two year old brother to be his pet.  While that sounds funny, it's not really so funny when it's your life.  Poor Ami gets dragged around by his big brother all the time.  Judah is constantly asking where he is, taking Ami for "walks" and seeing what he can feed him next.  I think he subconsciously wants an animal that I'm not about to buy him, and he's projecting his desire on his brother.  Weird?  Perhaps...but what is a mother to do about it.  I've tried not to laugh when I see Judah doing things that he would do with a dog, but it's hard not to.  The other day, I found them playing fetch in the yard.  Judah was throwing the ball and yelling at Ami to run after it.  Now, some people would think that I'm misinterpreting things and that this is really called "catch".  But, when Judah is purposefully asking Ami to retrieve the ball, and to carry it back to him, I think it looks more like fetch.  I'm not ready to buy him a dog, but I'm also not quite sure how to wean him from treating his younger brother like one!  Fortunately, Ami seems to like the attention, and I haven't yet found him licking milk off of the floor or anything of that sort.  I guess it's all in a day's work as a mother of four crazy boys...it will certainly make for an entertaining story at Judah's wedding some day!