my favorite pet of all time

[Keith L]

Here is a picture is my very best favorite pet, Pup. His official name is Blackie, of course, but he thinks he's a dog so I have always called him Pup. It is hard to get a good picture of him because he is just black, no contrast at all. He has been with me thru building an airplane, many Cub projects and evereything else. And he likes the smell of cigar smoke.

[John Niekamp]

Well Keith,

I am a cat lover too. A couple months or so ago I brought home this little white kitten that was under a wood pallet at work. I just couldn't let him fend for himself you know.

He is turning out to be a wonderful cat has one gray eye and one blue eye. I love almost ALL domest animals, dog, cats and even birds.



He likes sitting on the laptop, now he don't fit very well since he's grown bigger than the keyboard.

John

[JimT]

Mine was a dog named Cody. He was an American Eskimo Spitz. He has never bother anything or anybody. He never brought anything home that didn't belong to him. He minded his own business. The kids in the neighborhood would try to play with him but he wasn't interested. He would let them reach down and pet him and then he would go about his own business. When the wife comes home from work he meets her at the car for his treat she gives him. He would run around and play with me but he wouldn't play with any balls, sticks, or other stuff. He just liked to run around ya and have you chase him and he chased me. He first came into my life when he was just 2 months old. Cute little ball of white fur at that time.

Thursday of this week we had to say goodbye to him. He was 13 1/2 years old and in the last two weeks his health just when down hill fast. Hearing and eyesight have been going for a few weeks now, but he got to where he was having a very hard time just walking without falling over and we think his kidneys were shutting down. The vet said by the odor he was giving off he thought the kidneys were shutting down. The day before I could also smelled something different about him but I didn't know what it was.

He was the best dog I ever had and will be missed by the wife and I.

[John Niekamp]

Jim,

Sorry to hear about Cody, they really do become part of the family don't they? just like people, they have their own very unique personalities.

I have have to do that myself over the years with cats and dogs and when I was younger I could do it myself, not anymore. I now have to spend the money at the vet and let them do it for me.

In either case it's a hard thing to do.

John

[Kodiak]

Jim, Sorry to hear about Cody. He sounded like a very good dog.
My dog Joe is a German Shorthair, I've had him about 4 years. I found him on the net one day looking for a dog. He was in a pound in a local county so I called about him. They still had him and said it was his last day, he had been there 2 weeks. So I asked when they closed and they said 5 , I told them I was on my way and it would be close if I could make it. I got there with 5 minutes till closing. He was in the last pen before you leave the building for good. All the folks there were very glad I got him and I was too. He's a very good dog just a bit hyper as German Shorthairs are, but we like him. Here's his photo, he likes sitting in the chair in my shop!

[Rudi]

Well, my favourite has to be my friend Spook. He was a Great Pyrennes.. we used to watch him stand on the top of his doghouse face full into the wind in a blizzard and enjoying every second of it. Must have something to do with the genes of a GP...



He has been gone physically from us for almost 3 years now.. but he is still with us every day... family is like that I guess...

[moparado]

He was in a pound in a local county so I called about him. They still had him and said it was his last day, he had been there 2 weeks.

The county here keeps strays for around a couple weeks also. When i went to pick up my adopted black lab at the county animal shelter i got a look at those poor dogs there. Some depressed and some barking, some maybe sensing their fate and some maybe not. So many good looking dogs who would make great companions for some family would be gone forever in a few days. That visit to the shelter had a profound emotional impact on me for a few weeks.

Any way here's my 'pack':
Jessie, the latest member of the family is the dog adopted from the shelter. She was hanging around my property and made good friends with Duncan my male dog. Had to adopt her. She's affectionate, peppy, playful and mischievious.



Dollie, my spoiled 'little princess' of 8 years is independant, stubborn and strong willed. She's also like many two-legged females, high maintenance. She's had extended knee surgery a couple years ago to repair a torn ligament and is currently recuperating from a large bull snake who nipped off the tip of her nose.



As i type this, a tear has dripped from my eye as Duncan, my buddy and loyal friend of 8 years is going blind in one of his eyes from what the vet thinks is a tumor near the iris. The vet recommends removing the eye and i'm torn over this. Its an extremely painful procedure requiring a long home confinement recuperation period and is frought with complications.
At ten years, he's full of life, still as peppy as a puppy and still runs through the woods chasing squirrels and deer bad eye and all. It tears my heart knowing he might not be here this time next year. All the prayers in the world are not being heard and i'm just beginning to resign myself to accept the Lord's will.


-Ken

[Barnyard]

My favorite pet has to be Sarge. He scared the devil outta me when we first met just over 13 years ago. I had gone to the attached garage at our old house and when I opened the door he came out. He was soaking wet so I knew he must have gone in the night before when it had stormed I guess he found a place to hide in there and I didn’t see him when I locked up for the night. I wasn't sure how he would react when he came toward me so I stepped back and grabbed a shovel. He walked right past me and laid down under the elm tree in the front yard.

He seemed friendly enough and I saw a collar on him so I checked him for tags. Nothing. If he had them they either fell off or some one took them before they dumped him off. It was somewhat country where I lived at the time so a lot of animals got the boot around us. We gave him some water and he drank it in no time, there was a little store down the road so I got him a little dry food. He wouldn’t eat, he just checked out the yard.

My daughter was about nine at the time and immediately wanted to keep him. I told her we didn’t need a dog and besides he might belong to somebody and was just lost. He acted to good to be a tossed dog. Later in the day I noticed he was gone and my daughter was out by the road staring. I asked what she was doing and she gave me the typical “nothing, Dad” for an answer. I said, your lookin’ for the dog aren’t you and she said she missed him and wanted him back. I told he was probably lost for the night because of the storm and was headed home. It was clouding up and about ready to let loose with another good storm so I went to the garage and locked it up. I then went to the garage out back and locked it as the thunder kept rumblin’ closer.

Early the next day I went to the garage in back to work on my Jeep and heard something coming from under some shelves. I figured I had a coon in there and backed out a bit. Well here comes the old dog. He must have been scared form the thunder and hid in the other garage just before I had locked it. The first place it went was right back under that elm in the front. I think he had made up his mind that he liked it right were he was. Rosanne was headed to the store so I told her to pick up a can of food and see if he liked that better than the dry stuff we gave him the day before.

Well, when she got home with the food he had it gone in a hurry. I told Rosanne I would watch the lost and found in the paper and check for posters at the local carry out in case his owner was looking for him. If after a week nothing happened I would take him to the vet and have him checked. Some friends said I should just call the SPCA and let them take him. I said if they did that he would be dead in no time. Nobody adopted older dogs from them. And I sure couldn’t see him being put down. The neighbors even said that after we were gone to work he would just walk around and never leave the yard.

A week goes by and Melissa must have been marking the calendar because she came up to me and said it’s been a week, are we going to the vet. Yep, to vet we go. We made an appointment with the vet for the next day. Turned out he was in excellent health. The vet felt he had been abused and just needed love and care. He said the looked like he might be about two years old would be fine. One hundred and ten bucks later I’m walking out the door with a dog I had originally said we didn’t need.

If I was in the back garage late at night he would lay right outside the door and follow me when I went to the house. When I went back he was right there with me. When I was done for the night I would simply say ”Come on” and he would go right to the front garage and lay down as I locked it up for the night. When Rosanne works in the garden he always lays close by as if to say “Don’t worry, I’m protecting you”.

That was over thirteen years ago and that old boy still roams our yard. He has arthritis in his hip and takes three pills a day, twice a day. He has a hard time getting to his feet at times but he never fails to come to the fence to greet us when each of us gets home from work. He runs with the two young Border Collies, but now that run is a little slower and somewhat crooked. The vet said he still has the urge to be with us and he isn’t suffering so it isn’t time for him to go yet. My daughter is 23 now and still lives with us. Old Sarge is as much of her life as he was the day he walked out of that garage. As for Rosanne and me? Well, you’d have to fight us to take him away.

We know he’s getting to where we will eventually have to say goodbye and that will be awful tough for us, but for now he is a big part of this family. He’ll be with us as long as he wants.

[JimT]

Hi Barnyard,

Sounds like a good dog. Enjoy the time you have left with him.

John & Kodiac,

Thanks for the kind words you have shown at this time. They are appreaciated.

Rudi & Ken,

I'm kinda reading between the lines and thank you too.

I wish more people were like dogs. Dogs love you no matter what. You may get upset with them and might scold them, but they're right there at you side when you turn around. They're always happy to see you weather it's the beginning of the day or when you come home from work. Dogs can sense when your not up to par, but they're still there. They don't hold a grudge, they don't argue with you, they're just happy to be around you.

Thanks guys.

[Jeff M]

This is George, our beagle:



He's our first dog; we got him from a shelter almost three years ago. He was abused before we got him, and very timid. He's sure come a long way! What a great friend he's been for us; sure will be hard when he's gone. BTW, I understand he's from N. Carolina originally...anybody recognize him? If you do, tough luck!! He's staying here!

[Barnyard]

JimT, I know how you feel about losing your dog. I know ours is coming to the end and I keep replaying that day in my head. My daughter has come to realize it will come. She has had a friend for a long time. Yes, they are family to you. They are not animals in any sense of the word. Memories always will remain.

[Mag Man]

I know alot of you think that kitty's and men are for the dogs but about a month a go me and moma desided that there were 2 ferrel kittens and a moma out here that needed to be rescued before winter so I started to feed them daily in my shop and one night a few weeks later I phoned my wife told her to sneak up and close the garage door it was only open a foot. She did we ended up catching the first one with a big fish net after 10 min of chasing it it bit through 2 pairs of leather gloves and into my hand BAD, she took it in the house and locked it in the master bath then came the second one we did the same thing and this one bit through both pairs of gloves also and he screamed, Well after 2 days in the master bath they started using the kitty box these baby"s where born outside behind the garage by a gray femaile cat thats been around for a few years. They are both males and are about 6 months old and have already had there first shots and are goin to get nutered next week. They have turned into the most lovable little shi#s you could ever imagine.
I have never had tame cats that were this cute and cuddly.

[George Willer]

JimT, I know how you feel about losing your dog. I know ours is coming to the end and I keep replaying that day in my head. My daughter has come to realize it will come. She has had a friend for a long time. Yes, they are family to you. They are not animals in any sense of the word. Memories always will remain.

Marlee's asleep at my feet so I can safely type this. Our favorite pets are always the present one we interact with a lot, but for all time I have to say it was our Golden Retriever, Reba. Many folks here met her at shows. It was very difficult to give her relief from her pain from bone cancer. On her last day we took a LOT of pictures. This is one of them:


All our pets have little marble monuments as a reminder.

[grumpy]

This would be Molly. Wife rescued her from the pound about 2 years ago. She is the most timid dog I have ever seen. We've only heard her bark 2 times and I think it actually scared her when she did. She weighs about 20 pounds more now (wife spoiled her) Any loud noise and shes gone. Usually under the bed. Won't hunt, Won't attack, just eats and waits for me to pet her. Grump

[cub629XX]

This is Bo Bo
and willie