Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Our New Pet and A Little History

We tried the dog thing once.  It did not turn out well.  We don't know a whole lot about dogs, and we knew less then.  Well...let me back up.
I use to be a cat person.  That was all I was allowed to have growing up.  No pets inside at all.  I did not even know what a Guinea Pig was till the movie "G-Force" came out.  So, my pet experience was highly limited.  As most children do who are kept from all kinds of animals they want, I am really fine with my kids trying out pets.  We also started with cats and have had quite a few through the years.  Our first two we got when Victoria was only two.  Mopsy and Tibs were their names.  We had not yet taken them in for shots and one of them got a hold of a bad rodent and began foaming at the mouth.  We did not want to take chances with rabies and because they both ate the rodent (we lived in the country) my dad had to help Rick put them down the old fashion way.  It was very hard for us and especially for Rick but we learned that you can't wait on those sorts of things.  Since it was hard, and we lived in no pet places for a while, we did not have a pet again till Victoria was about six.
The gal who lived next to us knew we were wanting a kitten and her friend had a littler.  Victoria got to go with her and pick one out.  We were told it was a girl and "she" was grey and white.  With the colors and the fact that Victoria was in her princess stage, she named "her" Cinderella.  Upon the first vet visit, it was revealed that "she" was in fact a he and in honor of the good ole Jerry Lewis rendition of the story, he became Cinderfella or Cinder for short.  That cat was awful.  He was moody and would sit on the back of the couch to swipe an open claw at the kids when they passed by.  He got Emma for no reason really bad once when she was sitting on the couch and he went running over her little chest as she sat there in nothing but a diaper and gave her a nasty scar on her left side.  Mommy could have shot him herself.  He got kicked outside because of his mean ways.  One day he did not come back.  I did not feel too bad.
Next we tried a cat that was too feral, her name was Dandy.  She ran away very quickly.  I don't think she ever was meant to be a pet.
Then started our long period of rescuing stray kittens in our modular park.  We had a few years when there were lots of kittens born in town.  Eventually we had six cats outside.  Yikes.  Long story short, the males eventually wonder off too far and for some reason don't come home.  This is normal if you have outdoor cats.  The girls (two of them) stayed close and one just passed away two months ago after being hit by a car in our park.  The other, is still outside but she does no mousing, and is a bit ditsy on many levels.  We still care for her but she can't come in with us because she has never wanted to clean herself.  I just won't do that.  Ewwwww.
Somewhere in there we got a puppy.  She was so cute.  The people we got her from said she would be perfect for our kids and family life.  They knew we lived in a modular park.  I don't know what they were thinking except that they had a whole litter to find homes for.  She was a border collie, beagle, and lab mix.  Loveable as could be but chewed on everything (including the house on the outside), dug huge holes and ruined our yard, herded children that came over by nipping them in the heals, and barked NON-STOP till our neighbors could take no more. We had no idea about dogs remember?  Yeah, border collies need land and are not good house dogs.  She had to find a new home.
Then, as many of you know we then decided to explore the rodent pet life.  That was fun, it really was.  It's just hard to maintain. Rats are smart and make great pets but they can't be allowed to roam (well, we don't let them roam, some do) and they smell up the cage in a few days.  In many ways, I think they were harder to maintain than more interactive animals.  The guinea pigs were so cute, and fun to watch, but they too needed weekly cage changing and unfortunately never really warm up to you.  They will let you hold them but they don't interact much.
So, we found new homes for all but two guineas who are outside in a cage now, the ditsy cat outside, and Caedmon's Gecko Lizard who I almost forget about except when we have to buy crickets.  He is the easiest pet ever.  Caedmon takes him out and holds him but he is in his tank most of the time.
Emma started talking about wanting a kitten again but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I did not want to do that.  Cats are easy to maintain in the house on the potty level but they leave so much hair, their litter smells bad, and they scratch the furniture.  They also are only interactive if they want to be.  Beyond that, they are the boss, not you.  We sat and talked as a family that if we get a pet it needs to be one that is the highest reward for our work and money, and one that we can all be part of and share the load of.  We needed one that would fit our living space.  Our yard is small, our budget is small, and our home is fairly small.  Too small and he runs through the fence, too big and he eats too much and barks too much.  I did not want a bad shedding dog, or a hyper one.  Not one too young as I don't have the patience to train and did not want to see all I owned be destroyed, and not too old to where we were paying for surgeries or meds.
Okay, so my story is getting to long......
We told the kids that when we got back from our vacation (since there was no since getting a dog when we were leaving for two weeks), we would start looking.  We got home, and my best friend had her lovley baby over the weekend.  I had her kids with me yesterday so I thought a trip to the Animal Rescue and Humane Society would be a fun outing.  I did not expect to find anything.  Then, in the second row, staring up at me was exactly the type of dog I was hoping to find.  
 He is a 7 year old shiu tzu shnauzer mix. I think they just call that a pug mix.  We went out to the yard with him with the five kids and he had a ball playing with them all.  He was so loving and spunky without seeming nervous.  We took him home for a two week trial.
 We gave him a bath till he was shiny!
 He loves every single family memeber, even daddy in his mailman uniform.  That was a test right there!
 He loves being up on the couch (which we are fine with and wanted one small enough to snuggle) with the family.
By the end of the evening, he was comfortable enough to conk out while we watched MasterChef.  We love him so far!  He also slept all night in his kennel with only a few whines at first.  Kennel training can be hard on it's own, so I was encouraged to see this.  
Now, he just needs a name.  So, that is of course the hot topic at our house right now.  Ideas welcome. 

1 comment:

  1. Oh, I LOVED seeing the pictures! He looks like a really good fit for you guys, and I love the white fur/hair! I hope all continues to go well. So fun!

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