Thinking about dogs . . .
The other day, I was watching The Dog Whisperer . The sound of the dogs being trained by Cesar Millan attracted Aria's attention, and she sat up to watch the show with me. In fact, Aria likes to watch TV, in general, as long as there are dogs on (like the National Dog Show).
Our dogs, Aria and Gypsy, are a surprisingly big and happy part of our lives. They are constantly underfoot, greeting us when we return home and hanging out with us while we work.
I've been thinking about dogs a lot lately. Deb wrote recently about her Lucky dog, and Amy's family is mourning the too-short time spent with her pup. For most of our kids' lives, we had a beagle terrier mix named Buster. When he passed away, it was hard. We eventually held a ceremony to say good-bye to him and that did make everything easier. I blogged about it here and made this scrapbook page.
And now we share our lives with two more dogs. Both of them rescued - one from a shelter in Southern California and one of them from the local humane society where Clara and I volunteer. They bring so much comfort and joy to our lives that I often reflect on the question "Who rescued who?"
If you plan to add a furry friend to your family, please consider visiting your local animal shelter. There are so many awesome dogs, cats, bunnies, birds, turtles, lizards and more looking for a new home. If you already share your life with an animal, I'd love to hear about it in the comments today.
You know about our furry friend Coco! We never had a dog while the kids were small, so when our daughter bought a house with her boyfriend and moved into her own place, first thing she did was get a puppy.
ReplyDeleteThen the relationship broke up, She moved home and of course Coco came too. My husband was never keen on dogs, but boy has that puppy melted his heart! He absolutely loves her.
and don't EVER follow Ceasar Millan's training methods. He is just plain cruel and abuses dogs. If you watch the dogs you will see constant lip licking and ear twitching, bot clear signs of distress and wh ever trained any animal with cruelty? He is a nasty man
ReplyDeleteI am not a pet person, but I have enjoyed looking at the wRm relationship between your family and yours today ...
ReplyDeleteMost of our pets have come from the shelter. Except the three cats that were born to a stray on our front porch. The stray vanished when they were a few months old so we kept them.
ReplyDeleteas you know, I unexpectedly ended up with boo...and just can't imagine my life without her!
ReplyDeleteAlison xx
Our elderly cat was brought home as a kitten by DD1 who said she'd found her in a box in a bin.....it was 10 years later that she finally admitted that she was from a friend whose cat had had a litter.....she lied because she knew we'd have said "no" as we already had a dog and 2 cats!!!!
ReplyDeleteOur dogs have always been rescue dogs x they do become a huge part of our lives x
ReplyDeleteMy dear cat Stella came to me from the Kensington (Philadelphia) SPCA over 16 years ago, and she's still a treasure ( a cranky old lady treasure, but still a treasure!). I love the photos of you dog watching doggie TV...awesome!
ReplyDeleteOur Pearl was chosen at the local shelter when she was about 2 months old. Sixteen years later she is almost always by side, still ready for loving and playing :)
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, all of our pets were from farmers my dad knew - let me tell you, it made for some extremely interesting personalities and sometimes challenging relationships.
ReplyDeleteWe are finding it hard not having an animal in the house right now - but the time isn't exactly right for another new pet, a few more months and then you'll see another dog on the scene!
We always had cats growing up. TSO would love one now, but her brother seems to be allergic to pet hair. Poor old Gary the hamster shuffled off this mortal coil a while back..but we now have Craig, hamster number two. He's such a character
ReplyDeleteLucky is the first dog I've ever had and truly loved and I have to say that before him I never really "got" the whole dog-as-a-family-member thing. But he really is and I can't imagine our lives without him now.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to read Laykyis's comment about Caesar Milan... I hadn't known how to interact with a dog, and much of what he teaches just makes such good common sense. It's really helped me to understand Lucky's personality and how to interact with him. It's so cute that Aria watches TV.
Our first dog - Merlin - a flat coated retriever sadly died this summer after a fabulous 10 years with us. We will have another dog but need to do another big holiday first, to NZ and Australia jan 2015. I can't wait to have another dog in our lives!
ReplyDeleteLove hearing about your 4 legged family members and how cute that Aria likes to watch dog tv. We sadly lost our Jethro many years ago when he was 16+ John had had him since he was a very small pup. We haven't had another one because it just wouldn't be fair what with the travelling we do and no one to look after him/her/it but once we stop travelling there will be a new 4-legged family member (dog).
ReplyDeleteI have a rescue Greyhound who loves to watch TV. Any animal programme will suit her. She can hear the sound and see the picture without the sound on. Our last dog, a collie cross couldn't see the pictures. She could hear the noises of animals and constantly looked behind the TV for them! I couldn't imagine my days without my Pepsi even if she is completely bonkers. I love hearing about your two 4 legged friends.
ReplyDeleteWhat a coincidence, that you posted this on the very day we picked up our new friend, Tom from the rescue foster home!
ReplyDeleteI'm here just over a week later now, and Tom is settling in as part of our family. He is cute, amazingly fluffy, so grateful for any care and attention and just a lovely little animal. We're already very fond of him and it feels great to know we are giving him a chance to have a happy family life, rather than struggling to survive as a stray, or spending his life in a cat kennel at the foster home (where he spend a whole year).
Your dogs are beautiful and I'm so pleased that you're enjoying them so much.
Sorry about Buster - we missed Sherlock so much, so I can sympathise about your own loss.