Saturday, March 17, 2007

Dogs

For my 101st post I thought that one about dogs would be a timely topic [get it? hehe ;-) ].

I've always had dogs for pets since I was, well, born, from the old family films. [OK, I concede, cats are good pets & lovable, too, but Mom is allergic to cats.] Recently, we had four dogs - all different breeds. Then we lost two to long-term kidney disease. That was very hard, but we cared for them for about two years with the disease and prolonged their lives many, many months - maybe almost the entire two years for one. They were happy pets all the time, and the effort was worth it. If you do the best you can while they are alive, the loss is more bearable. I know that applies to people & loved ones & friends as well. You have few or no regrets if you do your best while they are living.

With only two dogs, our home felt empty. Two weeks ago we adopted a rescue dog - one that had been abandoned. She's a seven year old rat terrier named "Ava" (20 lbs.) and is settling in well. From her personality, it's clear she was terribly mistreated. We'll slowly get her back to normal. We've been successful doing that before, but it takes about a year or two for them to put the bad times out of their minds.

Next week we are getting a new puppy, a male Kelpie to be named "Sky". We figured that Krypto needed a playmate with some energy and size. This should be an exciting time.

No comments: