Pets Make Our Lives Brighter

[OldMaineBear]

We all have had pets that do certain things that we never forget even years after they have gone. Little quirks or habits that endeared them to us. Tell us about them.

 

I'll start

 

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I had an Alaskan Malamute named Princess. She was as dear to me as any family member. She had many cute quirks that she learned over time but the one that I got the most fun story telling over the years was her sneaking onto my bed. She was a 95 pound furball that never realized she was no longer a small puppy. She loved the bed, but being as big as she was and having that Malamute fur coat that left evidence everywhere she was forbidden to sleep on the bed. She never gave up trying though.

 

I would be lying there feigning sleep knowing what was coming. I would first see the tips of her ears come up over the edge of the bed, followed by her eyes slowly rising up to scope things out. I would lie there still and quiet. Then a paw would slowly slip up onto the bed. Her foreleg would shake as she slowly placed the paw down. Then the second paw would slip onto the bed and she would slowly slide forward, watching me for movement. As she would get enough of her body on the bed, she would slowly bring her back legs up and finally she would be fully on the bed.

 

It was at this point that all her brainpower would be used up just getting on the bed because at this point, stupid took over. Now that she was actually on the bed, she would then start going in circles, scratching and generally getting a nest built in the bedding. All the time I was lying there. She was stealth getting on the bed, but once there she somehow figured it was OK to settle in. You tend to notice 95 pounds of dog on the bed with you.

 

At this point I would move and say, in a deep voice, “Hey!”

 

She was gone in a flash so quickly that Wile E. Coyote would be proud.

 

Then after a half hour I’d see the tips of those furry ears at the edge of the bed again and the game was on once more.

 

[Crazy4Canning]

I had a red tabby (orange with dark orange stripes) for almost 14 years...she was only 2 when I got her. Her name was Gabbie (because she always had something to say!)Sadly, she died almost a year ago, but she had a great people sense about her.

 

Once I was dating this guy...and there was something about him I couldn't place my finger on but decided to give him a try anyway. He came over for dinner and a movie and as we were sitting on the sofa watching the movie, Gabbie came and sat between us....staring the guy down. He ignored her. BIG mistake.

 

She leaned into my lap and put her paws against his legs...again, he ignored her. She looked at me, smiling, purring, and began to knead her paws. He moved away and was STILL ignoring her.

 

So, she stretched, got up, and walked across his lap, stopping right in a um...ahem...sensitive area...and began to knead with FULL CLAWS.

 

Suddenly, this guy went pale...and began to stammer..."CcccccCAT...Ccccaaattt! The ccccaaattt!"

 

Poor Gabbie didn't appear to be doing ANYTHING WRONG, just standing on someone's lap, purring, flexing claws...

 

And me...I was prone to wickedness...I innocently look over..."Oh, isn't that nice! She wants you to pet her!"

 

The guy again is clenching his fists.. "Nnnoooo...cccccaaattt, cc-ccc-caaa-aaa-tttt...ooo-wwwww!"

 

Then as I deliberately looked, her purring grew louder. I gently took her off his lap and onto mine. He was in the bathroom for an awfully long time, went home quite abruptly, and never did finish the movie.

 

Needless to say, after that I did find out he had a few quite terrible character flaws, the least of which was rudeness to my cat. Consequently, we ended our relationship.

 

 

The happy ending...that when I married four years ago, to a delightful man, she took almost a YEAR to warm up to my husband...it was the whole sharing a bed thing. BUT...once he went to find her in the basement and bring her up to share the bed...all was forgiven.

[HSmom]

Quote:

She was stealth getting on the bed, but once there she somehow figured it was OK to settle in. You tend to notice 95 pounds of dog on the bed with you.

[snapshotmiki]

 

Stevie Rae! We had her for 8 years- not long enough. She had so much attitude. She taught herself to carry her own leash. We believe that she thought we couldn't find our way home if she didn't lead the way. She would look back at us like "Come on you morons! You would never get home if I wasn't around" We do still feel a little lost without her. She was too much!

 

Our 2 new rescues do help us to heal-Miz Lucie and Buddy Love!

They are like having Abbott and Costello as sidekicks!

 

[Stephanie]

Thanks for starting this thread OMB. Pets have been a huge part of my life and I'm making sure my children have the same wonderful experience.

 

As a foster parent, I have seen a wonderful 'side' of pets. When some children came, they had a lot of trouble trusting other people (esp. adults) but they couldn't resist the nudge of a moist nose and a wagging tail. Many times, they awarded their 'first' hug to the warm, furry body of one of our pets.

 

 

[ol'momma]

DH worked in a sawmill for ...a lfetime! One day a truck arrived to transport the cut cants to another mill for their finishing, and hubby noticed that their was a dog riding on the bed. Well he was a tad annoyed with the driver for bringing the pooch, since a mill is no place for free roaming pets, but he let it go. When the truck was loaded an leaving, Dh saw the mutt padding around the log yard. He flagged down the driver to tell him that he'd forgotten his dog...only to be told "I ain't got a dog" This was bad!

The truck had come from a town more then 100mls away, so it was unlikely that the stow-away was a local. Hubby soon found the dog to be very social and remarkably well mannered. He put the dog in the shade of our car and ordered him to stay..., praying he'd fallow the command and stay outof harms way. At the end of the shift, he hopped happily into the car, ready to travel. Bre'r Ba'r didn't have the heart to leave him at the pound so he brought him home 'for the night'.

With no where to leave the pooch the next day, I was force to take him to work with me. That was a problem. I worked in a daycare. Not only were state regs very strict about pets on the premisis, I had no way of knowing how this animal would respond to the kids. Thankfully, he was very well trained and stayed upstairs in my boss' living quarters without any fuss. After that it became our routine for him to accumpany me to work, where I spent my lunch hour making long distance phone calls in hopes of tracking down his owner ...without so much as a murmur of success. No one I talked to seemed to know where he belonged!!

 

[ol'momma]

When Friday came, we went out with the boss for the evening. When we returned to pick up our new friend we discovered that he did indeed have a fault! He was prone to sepreration anxiety, and when we left him alone in the house, he paniced. He'd jumped threw the screen on the second story window and left for parts unknown!! I was heart sick, afraid he'd been hurt in the leap, but we could find no trace of him, so were left to assume that the jump had not hurt him badly and he was on his way back to the loving family who had trained him so well.

That was in August. In December, one of my charges at the daycare brought me the newspaper to show me the local humane soc. adoption page... Our friend was featured as the pet of the week. He'd been picked up in a town 35 miles north (opposite the direction he'd come from). We rushed to adopt him, of course. He became the head of security at the daycare, laying at he top of the stairs and monitoring the comings and goings. Anytime aneone he did not know came through the door, he'd meet them on the landing and block their passage either up or down until I told him it was alright. He was gentle to an extreme with the kids and protective of them without being threatening (75lbs of solid muscle was usually intimidaing enough). The perfect work companion--which was good since we couldn't leave him home alone!

My mother was in the nursing home at the time, and the dog did so well with the kids that I bagan to take him to visit her as well. He was soon a therapy dog, and the residents loved to see him prance through the door! He became a bit of a local celebraty. When the Humain Soc published a book in a fund-raising effort, his story was included within it's pages.

He was my constant companion for 13 years, only passing away last fall. I miss the old goof terribly.

[Stephanie]

Awwwwww, what a wonderful story! I love dogs!!

[OldMaineBear]

We lost our Princess 20 years ago. She was my dog, my best friend and a dear member of the family. She had a habit first thing in the morning of running around the house three times before getting kenneled up for the day. I let her out the last day of her life and she did her three laps and jumped in joy and foolishness as I gave her breakfast. I patted her and told her to be good for the ride with my wife to the vet's. She was going to be spayed that day. She actually did like the vet. Dr. Brown was one of those charismatic types that all animals loved despite shots and all the bad things associated with vets.

 

In the early afternoon, I got a call from the vet. Dr Brown was obviously in tears as he spoke to me. He had opened her and found cancer all through her. Her stomach, liver and womb were all cancerous. He said he didn't know how she was standing the awful pain she must have been suffering. She gave us no sign at all of pain and Dr. Brown didn't even detect any. The options were to close her up and bring her home to die or put her down while she was under the anasthesia. We opted for the latter for her own comfort. We had her cremeted and buried her under a tree at the house we lived at.

 

Over the years I'd run into her ribbons, medals and such from her show years or one of her collars or a picture and I'd break down. Occasionally I'll see a Malamute that looked like her and it hits so hard. It's been 20 years and I still miss my crazy companion.

 

Yesterday my LSW and I went shopping and a truck next to us had a Mal who stuck his head out the window and with that big Mal smile, begged for and got some ear scratching. I started 'talking Mal' to him and he put his head back and howled. My wife grabbed me and told me "no howling with the Malamutes in the parking lot." I was grinning and crying all at the same time.

[ol'momma]

Yeeah....I know that feeling, OMB. Trucker had a bad thiroid and for the last 3 years of his life, we had to medicate him daily and monitor his hormone levels. When it finally got really bad (where he was hurting) we just took him off his meds and let him drift off in front of the fireplace.

The poor dog not only had major seperation anxiety issues, he'd been shot sometime in his young life and was petrified of guns... so he ended up living with a Firearms Training Instructor! He'd shake and shiver all through a class.

He also had a horrible weakness for traveling. If anyone left a truck door open, he was in for the ride! He stowed away with the Schwan's man once, and another time with the UPS guy....

[Crazy4Canning]

OMB, Howl away!

 

It's been a year, tomorrow, since I lost my favorite Orange Cat. True, the loss has become less acute since we got a kitten this summer, but as humans, we still miss those pets we've bonded with over the years. That cat was with me through good, bad, and 2 3/4 of my college degrees. She was my reading companion, yarn/ thread monitor when I crocheted, and my Orange Sunshine. She loved this time of year to sit and watch the leaves fall, for she was adopted by my roommate and I during a blustery early winter storm.

 

When I saw a neighbor's tawny orange cat sitting in our leaves yesterday, it made me look at least twice...and yes, I did have tears in my eyes.

 

So you Howl, OMB, you howl away!

 

[Stephanie]

Here's a picture of my Quaker Parrot, he's a hoot! I bought him for my grandma, who loves birds and before I could deliver him to her last year this time, she fell and broke her hip and was unable to care for him. So, now, I have a parrot! His expected life span in 35 years!

 

One is him taking his daily 'bird' bath. He isn't talking yet, anyone have any hints? He doesn't appear to be saying 'nitenite' when we say it and cover him up. And 'thanks' when we give him something he wants.

[Annarchy]

Frank was at it the other day during our cold weather snap. I had brought out my knee-high wool socks, which are about 3 foot long, when he decided he wanted to tunnel into one of them. After slinking in about 1/2 way, I became concerned about what he was going to do when he got to the toe of the sock. Picking up the open end to see if I would be able to stretch it enough for him to turn around, he decided to continue to the toe area, instead of letting me pull him out.

 

Frantically, I grabbed the toe of the sock and began shaking it to see if he would slide back out. To my horror, he was stuck!!! His little body can bend but not with the tinsel strength of wool that has shrunk. I began to panic, shaking the sock more vigorously hoping somehow he would slide back out the way he came. No such luck. My DH sat white eyed on the couch across from me warning me not to shake so hard or I'd shake the stuffing out of him.

 

Gradually, I was able to back him off from the toe area, where a quick snip of the scissors brought the whole incident to an end. There I sat in disbelief.... "Not my only warm socks!!"

 

But... the little monster wanted to wear the sock as a sweater and refused to come out for quite some time!!??!!

 

Here he is trying to look innocent...

[Annarchy]

Little ones from the past:

 

Patience

 

Patience is in my lap,

curled in a little ball.

Snuggled by my tummy...

I musn't let her fall.

 

She's taught me many lessons,

'bout the time I have to use.

She's always gotten her way,

by scratching on my shoes.

 

Tho I have tons of work to do,

she tells me 'stop and sit'.

Even when I don't want to

she always makes me quit.

 

They say 'Patience is a virtue'

I would have to disagree

she's a ball of fluffy furr,

nestled on my knee.

 

 

 

The End

 

She came to us

from a little boy

who moved away

and gave up his toy.

 

We brought her in

and looked for a name,

to let her feel welcome,

that wasn't too lame.

 

She danced for joy

and played with the others

treating them all

like sisters and brothers.

 

She had earned her name

we had no choice

only one would fit properly

We named her Rejoice!

 

She'd dance and laugh,

attack and play

then cuddle and love

in her own special way.

 

Years have passed

since that unexpected day

giving us untold joy

in her own special way.

 

Our days of rescue

have all since past

She'll be remembered forever

She was the last.

 

 

Note: Tho Rejoice was supposed to be the last, we broke weak when another person came to us who was considering putting Frank to sleep, so, we adopted him 2 months ago.