My Doggie

I am one of those animal people that you hear about. No, not the ones that are shown on Animal Planet Rescue shows where the house is filled to the brim with neglected animals. I didn't mean that type of animal person. I just mean that ever since I can remember I loved dogs and cats. When I was six years old and my brother was eight we walked around the neighborhood asking people if they had a dog and if we could walk it. Quite frankly, I am surprised that anyone just handed their dog over to some strange little children but there were several who did. I got attached to a little black dog named Jessie and I would walk the three blocks to that house almost daily that summer and ask to walk that little dog. I pretended that she was mine as I walked her. And then we moved to another town and I was "pet-less" once again.

Don't get me wrong, we had the odd assortment of critters, such as a guinea pig, some hamsters, a couple gerbils (that actually froze to death in my unheated room at the farmhouse when I was little...you know those things are desert animals), a rabbit, and even a goldfish (until my mom killed them by shocking them with the cold water when she changed their bowl). But the only real pet I had when I was little was a beautiful white cat that showed up at the house one day. I absolutely adored her, and her five little kittens that she later gave birth to, until one day they just disappeared. I always blamed my dad, thinking he got rid of them. It was only a few years ago that I found out it was my brother and mother who dropped them off at a park late at night. It was because we couldn't afford a cat, or her medical care, but that is still a sore spot for me to this day.

So I always vowed that when I was an adult and had my own home I would have what I wanted. And so I have my children, and I have my pets. Yes, we have five pets. Which really is too much at times, but I wouldn't give any of them up...but I also promise hubby that I won't get anymore. We have the two cats who are older than our own children, and the one dog that we got right before moving from Ohio almost 8 years ago. Then we got the Pomeranian from the pound this past spring and he is a sweet little thing, except for when he zips out of the house and runs around the neighborhood with me chasing him. And last, is my puppy.

I really didn't *mean* to get her. We already had two dogs and that was plenty. But I have always wanted an English Bulldog. And thought I would never get one because they are so expensive. And then running across a website of some breeders of the Olde English Bulldoggs that are very close to us and finding out that they had a little puppy that they were willing to let go for cheap...really cheap. And, while, one thing lead to another and here she is!
Such a sweetheart! Such a pain at times too, since she is still not 100% fully housebroken but doing better every day. The kids love her, the other dogs love her, and the cats just avoid her.

There are pet people and then there aren't. But I'm glad I'm married to someone who lets me be a pet person! And I'm glad I know when to stop "collecting" these animals. Our fur-baby family is complete!