All of the furry animals that I've owned have come from the animal shelters. I miss both my dog, Madison, and a few cats that I've shared a house with the many years. Many people don't like cats but those that I've had were pretty sociable except for Eno. She was a true scaredy cat. Any commotion and she'd hide. But when things quieted down, would come out of her shell. She had double paws (or "mitten" paws) on both front feet.
Had my dog before I had kids, we got him from a shelter when he was just a pup. 5 yrs later we started having kids. Madison, the dog, was a mutt and great family member. When the kids were born and not even out of the hospital yet, the nurses told us to bring home a few of the baby blankets, infant clothes, anything that has the baby's smell on it from the hospital and let the dog sniff them so he knows there's a new member coming home. Upon arrival of getting home and released from the hospital he was curious... He sniffed them out - yep I know that smell.. Welcome home. He was not an intimidating dog, probably 45 lbs. Collie, yellow lab, and whatever mutt mix but he definitely had the pack mentality. When the kids were infants and crying and stuff he didn't like it. He'd would either leave the room or try to lick them to calm them down.
When the kids were toddlers and playing in the back yard, he was outside with them and on point. A neighbor had two rambunctious Portuguese Water Dogs. Neighbors would just open the sliders from the deck and let them run around the neighborhood. If they came into our yard, Madison would cut them off and shoo them away from the kids. When we went for a walk, the kids wanted to hold the leach. Any slight tug on the leash, he'd sit until the slack was taken up (could have easily pulled and dragged the kids down) but he knew the kids were at the other end of the leash so would just sit looking over his shoulder.
At night, as everyone was turning in, daughter in her crib, son in his toddler bed, he'd lay down on the floor of the hallway at the top of the stairs in front of the doors to the kid's bedrooms until they went to sleep. Then, and only then, he'd curl up into his bed in our bed room. Sometimes he'd drag his bed into hall in front of the kids rooms.
I'm not even sure if he knew he was a dog. Did we adopt him or did he adopt us?
Edited by user
3 years ago |
Reason: Not specified