I know the mini-epidemic in the midwest was from imported pouched rats (I've no idea what those are) that spread it to prairie dogs as they were in the same distribution center. Those prairie dogs went on to be kept as pets - and so direct contact with their owners leading to human infections.

From what I've read, the prairie dogs didn't show signs of being sick, meaning if an infected one had escaped and had contact with a prairie dog colony in the wild...

I'd expect that anyone wanting to own a prairie dog as a pet would just have to deal somehow - the same way people who keep armadillos have to deal with the potential for Hansen's Disease (AKA Leprosy). Fortunately, that's a bacterial infection, not viral like monkeypox (meaning it's treatable, zero fatality rate if it is treated).