As a cat owner and an animal lover, I will forever support anything that helps protect animals. But I don’t understand why everything on America’s Got Talent has to be associated with “a story”. This past week a boy was an only child and he really wanted a dog. No harm playing the “only child, no dog” card to Simon because unless that kid was horrible, the worse he would do for himself would be walking out the door with a dog. The question is, did it really have to be played as some huge thing to overcome? I mean, OK, he had no siblings, he and 20% of the country. And why can’t his parents buy him a dog? Unless Simon is tossing in vacuum service for a decade and a lifetime supply of food, a dog can be acquired by any responsible adult at next to no cost. Perhaps the combative political free-for-all of today has made this good-hearted person jaded, I just hope to see a little less “get the sad story for the good of the show” when it seems to be the reach it was with that boy wanting a dog. He had a voice like a little angel and sang beautifully, they didn’t need to make it seem like being an only child was some guaranteed case of loneliness. That most definitely detracted from an amazing singing performance from my perspective.