Author Vicki Batman on Handbag and Book - My Observations about Dogs #gettingapet #catsanddogs #romanticcomedy

Some of you may be laughing hysterically just from the title of my blog because you know I grew up with cats, not dogs. My mom didn’t want to fence the yard for a dog. Our first cat was a huge gray guy named appropriately Smokey. He was born between our wooden and the neighbor’s chain link fences. 

Over the years, there were others, like Mischief, Fuzzy, Snuffer. Our last two were farm cats from Kansas named Romper, aka Roo, Roo-roo, Romp, and her sister, Scooter, aka Scoo. 

Handsome, however, grew up with dogs. He loves to tell the story of their sheepdog who ate the Thanksgiving turkey (Christmas Story, anyone?). So when #1son was about three, he adopted Baxter, a sheep dog who grew VERY LARGE. Baxter was too big for little kids and no one could walk him well.

After Baxter and Snuffer passed, we adopted the farm girls. They were little and squirmy and perfect for boys’ love. Both had a long shy streak and would hide behind furniture when people came over.

Many years passed and Handsome began to yearn for another dog.

.@VickiBatman - The amazing doodle doos? poodoos? What kind of dogs are those? #poodles #MFRWorg #RLFblog #dogs

I was raised a cat girl. I love 'em. Mine is now twenty-one years old. However, Handsome was raised with dogs. 

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.