When #1 son was small, Handsome brought home the cutest puppy, a sheepdog. I named him Baxter (although the three year-old next door referred to him as Bastard). LOLOL. The problem with Baxter was he grew and grew and grew, finally weighing in at 150 pounds!!! I kept asking Handsome if he was supposed to get that big. And being so large also meant he was a handful and really, too big for the kiddoes.
Baxter left us when he was twelve. Most big dogs only make it to that age. And several years went by without dogs. Which was fine, we had cats.
Eventually, Handsome would drop a comment or two or three. He circled ads in newspapers. I found where he had gone looking. Then he finally asked if we could get another dog. I laid down the law about training and care and most importantly--size. We'd discussed beagles because we liked the size and their spunky nature. Then he began telling me about malti-poos, a Maltese and Poodle mix. Poodles are the second smartest dogs (German shepherds are first). They have hair not fur and don't shed. They are pretty good-natured.
He showed me pictures and I was sold. Coal black eyes and nose. Shaggy short hair. A bobbed tail. I agreed.
Onllllyyyy that wasn't what he came home with.
Handsome brought home two dogs--a short white one and a taller gray one. He said he watched the white one run everywhere. He was playful and a great size. Then he noticed the gray one by himself, wanting to be in the fun, but acted shy. He couldn't say no.
I'd been trying out names for a while, but had settled on one because the thought was he would get one dog. So he asked and I said, "Jones," for the gray one. Like Indiana Jones, but no Indy. LOL. The white one had me stumped, but not for long. He's full of might and fun and adorable. I called him Champ. He's the alpha.
Handsome and I took them to training. Jones loves to run and has caught many a squirrel. Champ likes to play fetch with Squeaky and takes him to bed.
What kind of pets do you have and what is their name?
24 comments:
Hi Vicki, I love dogs. Love cats, but my husband is allergic. I can't believe your cat is 21 years old. Wow!! Your dogs are so cute. I have two dachshunds. The new puppy Zeus has kept us hoping. We love him so much, but his puppy antics are really fun. Teething is not so great. So far, two pairs of shoes, several rugs and a dozen toys are missing parts.
I have a 16 year old gray cat named...Smokey (not very original, I know) and she is my babygirl...it was just her and I will all these guys for so long, LOL! About 4 years ago, my son, daughter in law and their 4 kids were living here and I came home from somewhere and there was this little black fur ball on my daughter in laws lap. She looked at me with excitement in those blue eyes and said "His name is Steeler...can we keep him?" Now, I am from Pittsburgh and a HUGE Steeler fan (I think she named him that on purpose)so how could I say no? Even though my hubby wanted a Sheltie, we now have a black Cocker Spaniel! I have wanted to get rid of him on several occasions because I just don't have the time to take care of a long haired dog and it's not fair to him...but my oldest grandson keeps throwing my words back in my face! I had said that taking on ANY animal is like having a child...they are members of the family and you don't just give them away! Ha! He can't remember what his homework is, but he remembers that! (I said that because of someone who repeatedly gets animals and then changes their minds!)
Your 2 are certainly adorable!
Hi, Sylvia! Fortunately, ours didn't teeth much on our belongings. lol. I love reading about your puppy antics.
Hi, Cathy! My first cat when I was six was a huge gray one and named....Smokey! He was born with some siblings between two fences. He lived to be 12 and I just loved him. Then he disappeared. Cats are my soulmates. The doodles are my fun friends.
I grew up with small dogs and also cats. Then I met my husband in 1986 and a few years later we bought at Rhodesian Ridgeback together. He was a handful, weighed 100+ pounds, and ending up being "my" dog and bit my husband 3 or 4 times. So, at 10 years old, we had to put him to sleep because he'd become dangerous and we had a new baby and it wasn't a great combo and no one, including rescue, wanted him. We bid him bye-bye - the hardest thing I have EVER done - and started getting Chocolate Labs. We've never stopped.
Hi, Patricia! Oh my!! I know you were and are still sad over this. I watched Caesar 911 and one family had a dog that attacked everything. Even with his help, they couldn't make the dog work. Caesar took the dog himself. I'm so happy the labs are your family now. What are their names?
Fun post, Vicki. So funny, I'm posting about our dog today, too. He recently adopted us and we've got tests tonight at the training to see if he can do what he's supposed to. Yikes! He can't hear, so it's been a bit more difficult, but he's a sweetie and smart and he love the treats I give him when he does well. You're two pups are darling! Charley is sitting behind me in my chair as I type this and says to tell your two guys howdy! :)
Hi, Marsha! I'll be by to check on your Charley! And the poodoos say hi back.
My kitty is being pesky. She is sitting by my monitor and meowing for different food. *not happening, kitty*
I love your dogs, Vicki! They are so friendly and cute. Hubster and I are dog people, we're both highly allergic to cats. I had a Golden when we first got married and since then we've had 3 other dogs, all mixes. They're a lot of fun!
Thanks for such a cute post!
Oh, I love your dogs, Vicki! Adorable!
I grew up with millions of cats and giant dogs, Irish Wolfhounds and Scottish DeerHounds. So, now that I have a dog of my own, my 100 lb lab, I think, he is small. My teeny doggy and my kitties that rule the house. Such fun!
They are adorable, Vicki. Growing up my father told us nothing with four legs was going to eat his food money.
Then my husband had to have one ... she moved with me and the kids after D-Day.
Sadly, she passed and the years went by until my two were 25 and 23 (boy/girl) and I was retiring. My daughter took the dog, a yellow lab and she lived to age 13.
Over the years I've had three cats and two dogs and in Florida I was the foster mother of six cats.
Nothing living or breathing, including house plants, crosses the threshold of my little cottage, so I still get my jollies as the foster mother to three other cats.
It's like grandchildren ... you can enjoy them and then they go home to their mothers :)
We have a dog, a rescue from a shelter. Her card said "Shepard mix," but quite frankly we have no idea what breeds are included in her background. What she is, though, is a "cuddle bug."
Wonderful to read everyones stories sbout their loves. Thank you for sharong with me.
Great story, VIcki. We had a black lab named Ruby because of a phrase in a favorite song of my husband: "like a Ruby in a black man's ear." She was more like a cat, i.e. you could call her forever, she never responded. Before Ruby died, she let herself be adopted by a little stray kitten who'd been living in a woodpile in our backyard. We called her Little One Eye because of conjunctivitus in her left eye. Once we were able to get her to come inside and got her to a Vet we learned she was a she. Being a big X-files fan at the time, I named her Scully. Scully has a lot of Ruby's ways including not coming when you call her. We now also have an outdoor cat that only lets us feed it. We've named it Little Cat because it was the smaller of two outdoor cats we've were feeding. Unlike Scully and Ruby, Little Cat does come when we call.
I love this story xbout your friends. Its finny how they come in our lives. I would love to see a picture of the kitties. Thank you for being with me.
What a nice article about dogs. I am a cat person myself. For some reason I've been afraid of dogs until my son said he was coming up to visit and bringing his dog. There was no negotiation. It was him and his dog or not seeing him. The first day they got here, his father and he went to watch football at a sports bar because the game wasn't shown locally. I was left with the dog. Slowly we got acquainted and I fell in love. A Grand-dog named Marley. We played hide and seek in our basement but I couldn't get Marley to hide. LOL Marley is old now and won't be around for much longer. I'm glad I got to know him and love him.
I grew up with cats. Never owned a dog. Thanks to hubby's allergies, n pets for us. I ended up including a military working dog into my first two books and my third has a retired military working dog that plays a key role in the book. I named him Champ after the therapy/aid dog for one of the wounded warriors I follow.
This is such a lovely story! Im so glad we have the poos. We took them to the dog park and jones took his leash and walked himself. Everyone giggled
I love that name! My very good bff works on search n rescue team. Dogs are Amazing! But ehat anout pigs? A giy brought one to the fog park today all the dogs checked him out. Thanks for sharing!
I have two rescue dogs, Shih Tzu and Chihauhau. The Chihuahua was my foster dog and she just had to stay furever. My first book has a Chihuahua in it and my last one has a Shih Tzu. I just hope my audience has as much fun reading about them as I did writing about them.
Your hubby is the greatest1
Hi aimless! I think readers love when we add animals, chocolate, cars, whatever. Our characters are more real as a result. Wonderful you rescued two furbabies too!
We have a goldendoodle - combination of golden retriever and standard poodle. He's huge. 105 pounds. He's about 10. He was a rescue and when we got him he was about 8 months old and about 60 pounds. They said he wouldn't get much bigger. Ha! His name is Frankie Doodle. He's a very sweet dog and a lot less nervous than he was when we got him, but he still gets frightened easily.
Hi hannah! Lol your story reminds me of Baxter. Jones is a little nervous and big dogs intimidate him. He did great at the dog park yesterday. More trips in his future. So happy you visited with me!
I love your dogs, not to mention your post in general! A fun read. I'm a cat person (you've probably figured that out by now), but when our boys were growing up, we had a dog too.
We just got our baby 2 months ago. She is now almost 6 months old. She's a miniature Yorkie named Sugar and she has totally captured our hearts 😍
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