Clean,Non Religious-Reads discussion

My favorites are the green Parakeet I got for my 8th BD and had for 9 years~Petey. Found out later she was a female. Her cage door was only closed at bedtime till morning, so she was always interacting with us.

Then a Boxer` Tasha, about 5 years, till she got cancer, which Boxers are prone to get. Wonderful dog.

Then a free black mutt we got as a pup~ Cricket. So smart and so good. about 5 years, found her a home with a boy about 8 after my husband died, and I was selling our country home and moving to a condo. She had never been chained which is what she would have needed to go out on at the condo, so I found her a home with a fenced yard and a playmate.

I would like to get a kitten and a puppy and raise them together, and thinking of a Boston Terrier.

When I was a teen, we had an Airdale-English Setter cross (we called her an Error, LOL) named Wendy Jo MaGillicuddy. She was huge - better than 80 pounds, and had the biggest personality I've ever seen on a dog. So friendly she'd say hello to everyone, but if it was just us girls and a stranger came up, she'd go nuts barking and growling. We also had to keep the kitchen counters perfectly clear because she could (and would) reach anything left out, even if it was an empty measuring cup, or a whole box of margarine. She died at 8 years old with a tumor in her belly - probably from all the junk we couldn't stop her from eating. She was an amazing dog, even if a major pain in the butt sometimes.

Then there was my sister's dog, Chewbacca, Chewie for short. He was pure Rottweiler and the biggest teddy bear of a dog. Sister rescued him from a guy who'd left him in his back yard with only a 40 pound bag of food and a bucket of water, and (I guess) was just going to forget about him. One time I had him chained in the driveway with just enough lead to stop him before the sidewalk, while I was up on a ladder, painting. This guy - I guess he was a door to door salesman? - walked up the driveway bold as you please, until Chewie lit out after him and chased him back to the sidewalk - I was still up on the ladder, mind you. I acknowledged the man and started down the ladder, and he comes back into the driveway, like a dummy. Chewie took after him again. I just said, "I think you'd better leave." I think Chewie made it to 10 - he had hip problems and the real reason the original guy called him Chewie was because of skin problems that made him chew at himself. (Sister figured out his diet was the problem, and fixed it.)

My last dog was probably my favorite. His name is Buddy and we got him as a pup for Hubby's birthday in 2004. He's black lab, German shepherd cross, and when we had to re-home him, he was 110 pounds. He was super smart - to the point Hubby didn't know it, but he was #3 in the household hierarchy. If we were up on the roof, we could tell Buddy to hold the ladder for us, and he'd stretch up and put his paws on the rungs and lean on it so we could safely start down. He knew hand signals for commands like "come", "sit", "stay", and "down." He is entirely loving and loveable, but also protective. Friendly unless he perceived a threat to me or our household. He once nipped the phone guy for trying to open the phone box on the house. (I put him inside, but told him he was a 'good dog', LOL) When we were on the truck with him, in the sleeper, he would keep watch in the cab and bark like crazy whenever someone came near - but if we were out of the truck, he'd just watch, which I think is a little spookier to have this giant black dog watching your every move. We ended up having to give him up because he wouldn't sleep while the truck was moving, and the truck was always moving. Having a 110 pound sleep-deprived dog going nuts was not a good combination, and it wasn't fair to him. He ended up on a 15,000 acre ranch in Texas, as a best friend to a young boy who's brother died on the highschool football field. They have a special relationship, and he is completely spoiled. I do miss him, sometimes, and I don't like to think about the day I hear he's passed on.

Wow, didn't know I was going to go on quite so long... Hope you enjoyed hearing about my favorite pets. :-)

Yes Kristi, I did enjoy reading about your dogs. I love personal stories like that.

Hello, I've only ever had a dog as a pet, and this was years ago. She was mostly German shepherd, and an absolute trooper.

I have had 3 dogs that I love/loved to death. Trixie, a red mixed breed looked a lot like a fox. She lived to 17. Ginny, (we call her) a Beagle/Spitz, lived to 17 also. Now we have Coco Chanel, who looks just like a coyote. She is 2 1/2 and can be a very naughty girl. We love her to pieces.

Hi all,

I am essentially brand new to social media. I don't even have a FaceBook account. I'm pretty shy and private by nature. But I have loved to read for as long as I can remember. Therefore, Goodreads and this group seem like a great place for me to get started with the best that social media has to offer.

I never really had a pet until our (our = my wife and I) darling, beloved Pooh, a now 17-year-old calico, came into our lives about 10 years ago.

Although she is very sick now, essentially suffering from old age and the ailments that come from being elderly, she is a big part of our lives. Before Pooh (from Winnie the Pooh), I never knew how much a human could love a pet.

More later.

Glenn = G

Love these personal stories. Thank you all for sharing.

Pets can become such important and beloved members of our families.♥♥♥

I had a huge silver and smoke colored tabby cat who thought he was a dog. I accidentally trained him while I was click teaching my mother’s two labs. My cat, Tempest, started joining in and soon he learned to sit and shake for a treat. He also ran to door when someone rang the bell and played fetch. Unfortunately this was long ago and I didn’t think to record it. Now I wish I had videos of him to put on YouTube :)

Misty that would have been great to post a video of your trained cat, for all who think that cats cannot be trained, lol, such a video would have gone "Viral"!

I know!! Ugh, if only I wasn’t so slow to accept technology 😉