Crazy Pets

It's been awhile since I've posted any updates on the furry members of our family, so I thought I'd put in a little recap summary. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe that after so many years of being a strictly no-pet family, we have now have two big dogs, an inside cat, and a fish (which belongs to Hannah).

First up, the dogs.

I came across a couple of pictures that Courtney's teacher gave us last spring when we got the dogs from her. The dogs weren't this little when we got them, but aren't they cute?


Here is Courtney with Bear shortly after we got him in March.


And here are both dogs together after we got Lupin in April.

Now the dogs are much bigger! I would guess they're pretty close to their full-grown size. We never did find out their exact birthday, but based on what the vet said, I also guess that they are getting pretty close to a year old now.

One of their favorite things to do out in the dog yard is "play fight" with each other (this is how the kids describe it).

I try to walk them just about every morning and they are getting awfully strong! They have managed to pull me over a couple of times when I've stepped on loose gravel and I've got some scars on my elbows to prove it. They have lots and lots of energy and could probably run all day. In fact, just a couple of days ago, they did almost that. I went out in the morning to walk them and discovered that they had broken the gate latch and were nowhere to be seen. I had no idea how long they had been gone or which direction they went in, so it was practically impossible to search for them (although I did try for a bit). Several hours later, I get a phone call from a man who had the dogs at his home several miles away along the busy highway (probably close to 5 miles). He managed to keep them there until I could come and pick them up. Crazy dogs! I really don't know if they would have found their way home -- they seem happy to just keep going and going and running and running.

Their dog yard is outside our master bedroom and we keep our windows open at night since the air conditioner isn't working in that part of the house. As evidenced by the episode described above, we have to keep them fenced in all the time. So sometimes Brian and I are awakened in the morning by dog barks (Lupin usually) or whines (Bear almost always) or fighting scuffles. Makes life interesting!

Next up, the cat.

Daisy is 6 months old and is no longer the tiny little kitten we brought home in May. (It's really too bad they don't stay so tiny and adorable.)

She is pretty big now and has the markings of a Siamese cat, although we know none of the other cats born in her litter look like this.

She is an inside cat -- the girls are too scared to let her out for fear she will take off and never come back. But she likes to watch what's going on outside.

I think she is a little bit of a psycho-cat. She will zip around the family room, jumping from one piece of furniture to another at a blazing speed. She jumps on our bed and attacks our toes. She launches herself up onto my shoulders. She is not very big on cuddling -- at least not with me. She is tearing up one of our chairs with her claws so we are working on discouraging her from that. And she puts up with a lot of abuse from the girls. Sometimes I'm amazed that she lets Hayley pick her up and carry her around the ways she does sometimes. Although I think everybody has some scratches and claw marks too. She likes to climb ladders and is quite capable of disappearing somewhere for long stretches of time. The girls love her and I think Brian is even a little attached (but don't tell him I said so).

I'll end with the story of Hannah's pet show-and-tell at school last week. She was allowed to have a parent bring in one or two pets and she really, really wanted to take both Lupin (who does tricks!) and Daisy (her favorite, since she is foremost a cat lover). I was reluctant since we don't own a regular cat carrier, but finally agreed to try because her heart was so set on it.

Hannah planned to put Daisy in a little fabric carrier that came with one of Hayley's stuffed animals. The kids had put her in it before, but she's definitely gotten bigger since the last time she tried, and she did not want to go in there. At the last minute, we spied an old Build-a-Bear box (that looks like a little house and folds into a carrying handle at the top) so we put her in that. We got both animals in the car and off to school we went.

After I dropped the kids off, I had to wait in the parking lot for 20 minutes or so until it was time to go into the school. Lupin enjoyed the car ride and waited very patiently.

Finally it was time to go in. I grabbed Lupin's leash, got out and then picked the cat box up. I shut the van door, took one step when the box handle broke and the box went crashing to the pavement. I was so worried that the cat would jump out of the top of the box and never be seen again, that in my panic I dropped the dog's leash and he proceeded to take off across the parking lot. Definitely some panic going on!

I picked up the cat box, tried to hold the top closed and carry it in my arms while chasing the dog. Then I realized that her weight was making the bottom of the box start to fall out. I finally took her out of the box and tried to hold her tight against my shoulder while I chased after the dog. I'm sure it was quite a sight for anyone watching. Fortunately, Lupin found the school building interesting enough to sniff around for a bit so I was able to get close enough to step on his leash and get him under control again. Whew!

I decided I had no choice but to just put the cat back in the van and leave her locked in there while I took Lupin in to the school. We visited Hannah's classroom (she was very sad about Daisy, but there was not much I could do at that point), then we also stopped in Courtney and Hayley's classrooms which was great fun for them.

It was an interesting ride home with both animals roaming free in the van. I think Daisy spent half the ride perched up in the dashboard.

Crazy, crazy, but we love 'em!