It’s Day 2 of the 20 Days of Me series and today is all about animals! Specifically, I am supposed to post a picture of my animals.
Show us your animals!
But first – did you miss Day 1? Click here to read Day 1 – 5 Fun Facts About Me. All caught up now? Okay then let’s move on to Day 2…
There have been (and continue to be) many animals in my life. I love animals of all kinds. I read horse and dog books constantly while growing up and after reading the All Creatures Great and Small trilogy by James Herriott I wanted to be a veterinarian.
Spoiler alert – I am not a veterinarian. (Though I do sometimes consider the help wanted signs posted at the vet’s office.) I am merely an animal lover.
My dogs
While I would love to someday have my own horse, I am happy to have dogs as pets in the meantime. Cheaper and easier than horses for sure.
As a child I had an English setter and then a weimeraner. I can’t find pictures of either of those dogs at the moment so we’ll start with the dog my family adopted when I was in high school.
Rudy
Rudy was also an English Setter. We adopted his sister at the same time. While my brother and I were waiting in the car with the dogs after picking them up at the breeder, my dog gave a big burp. Well, hello there, Rudy! Welcome to the family! Hahaha!
Bailey
Bailey was my first dog as an adult. I wanted a beagle because I thought they were cute. (I now know that I NEVER want another beagle! Not a good match for me.) Bailey was part of a mixed litter that my neighbor’s friend had for sale. She is 25% beagle and 75% mutt. Bailey taught me many lessons.
- Puppies are cute, but a lot of work.
- Puppies are not good for people who work more than 8 hours/day.
- Puppies require dedication to training.
- I like puppies but might not ever get another one – only adult dogs.
- I like quiet, mellow, friendly dogs.
What I ended up with was a cute but completely crazy (not in a good way), barely obedient dog who liked to run away. If she got out, I would ask strangers to call her over because she would run from me (yay! fun game!) but run towards a stranger (yay! new friend!). Things got even more complicated when I had kids and at one point she spent a few years living in my in-laws’ backyard before coming back to us. (Thank you!!!)
Darby
We adopted Darby from a co-worker whose new baby turned out to be allergic to dogs. Darby was a completely laid-back quiet dog with a stomach of steel. By the time he came to live with us, most of his crazy food adventures were over but we heard a lot of stories from his previous family.
Darby was never in a hurry to get anywhere. If he ran away, we could easily catch him because he was meandering so slowly through the neighborhood. We think he was a mix of Chow Chow and Corgi. He had short little legs but a big fluffy body and a tongue that was part black and part pink.
Rocco
Shortly after moving to California, we discovered that Darby had cancer and not long after that crossed the rainbow bridge. We waited a few months then went to the shelter to adopt a new dog. The kids asked for an “exciting dog”, the opposite of Darby’s slow lifestyle. We came home with Mr. Personality, aka Rocco. He was 18 months old when we adopted him. I knew right away that he needed obedience training (thank you Bailey for teaching me that lesson!) so off he went to Doggy Boot Camp.
It turns out that Rocco is a very exciting dog indeed. He has been said to have “personality” which I’m pretty sure is code for quirky and eccentric. He is afraid of strangers and barks viciously at them to keep them away (fear aggression). He doesn’t like to go in the backyard after dark. He plays with his toys while laying on his back. He won’t go into the kitchen if he’s on leash. The list goes on and on… He’s pretty crazy and not always exciting in a good way but we love him anyway. He’s quite a character for sure.
Cody
Cody is a half-dog (that’s like half-brother or stepson!) of ours. He lives up the street but we take care of him when his family travels. He was good friends with Darby so got to stay here a lot while Darby was around. Unfortunately he doesn’t care for Rocco so now he has to stay at his own house when his parents travel and wait for us to stop by. Occasionally we bring him down during thunderstorms so he can sit on the bed with us (while Rocco sulks on the floor) but then we have to take him back home again. If only he would decide that Rocco’s not so bad… then he wouldn’t have to stay home alone. Oh well. What can you do…
My dog-walking dogs
One of my current part-time gigs is that of dog walker. I’ve got two families that I help regularly every week. I really enjoy spending time with the dogs especially since I go right after school. After a morning spent wrangling 5-year-olds, it’s nice to relax with the furry pups before I tackle the rest of my day.
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