The Furry Side of The Family

As a kid growing up animals were always a big part of our family. From before my earliest memories we've had dogs and cats. As my brother, sister and I grew we brought home all sorts of creatures...and...yes...we adopted most if not all of them. Turtles, frogs, kitties, puppies, baby birds (yes we nursed baby birds to health and released them...our favorite and most memorable--a woodpecker!). I even had a spider that I watched grow, spin webs, lay eggs and be devoured by her offspring. I watched caterpillars grow, eat and transform into butterflies. As a teenager I had a ferret that I walked daily to the post office. Point being...I have always loved animals!

So it pretty much goes without saying that we have several furry little family members blessing our cute little family. I saw a sign recently that said, "Pets are just kids with fur." For us that's pretty much true. Not to the degree of fanatical and over-the-top. There is no way in this world that an animal (pet or otherwise) will ever come before my boys and other "people" family members. However...we do love our pets!

Boppo (formerly known as Bosco) is the longest standing furry resident. He is a full blood Boston Terrier dog that we at one time used as a stud for breeding. That was before we had kids. :) He's a pretty good dog. Not the brightest in the world, but he wouldn't hurt anything or anyone. He's tolerant with Ryan but would prefer to just be left alone...unless of course he's sharing his sandwich with him.

Sally
Sammy and Sally. These are the 2 kitties Santa brought Ryan for Christmas. They are awesome cats! Super tolerant of just about everything (or super dumb). Ryan hauls them around the house, stuffs them in boxes and cabinets and other small places. They just go limp. They are great with him and he is (for the most part) great with them. Just this evening he was dancing with one of them laying peacefully in his arms. CUTE!

Sally purrs every time she is picked up. She has a dainty, prissy kind of personality. She tends to hide more quickly than her brother. Sammy is playful and sweet. If you pick him up he is likely to rub his face against yours and lick you. He is a little more spunky, daring and playful.
"Puppy"(Because she doesn't have a name yet) and Sammy
This is my (well she was supposed to be mine but Ryan said she's his) new puppy. I've been wanting to get a new puppy that would one day grow into a "big" dog for my boys to run around with and enjoy. Well she will definitely fulfill the "big" requirement. She is a Newfoundland mix that we rescued from a kill shelter. She was dumped off with her siblings at a local pound with a picture of what looked like a Newfoundland dog. The assumption was the picture was one of the parents. We have no clue what the "mix" is, but she has very strong Newfoundland characteristics...the eyes, webbed feet, broad head, thick-solid body. We figure if the mix is something like a lab then she won't get as big as a full-blood Newfie but if the mix is something like a Saint Bernard then we might as well invest in a saddle because she'll be about as big as a small horse!
She is already adjusting well to her new home. She came in timid, dirty and scared. Now she is clean, happy and learning how to love and be loved. She is also learning how to play. She is in the process of being crate trained and potty trained and is doing amazingly well. She cowers at harsh reprimands and sometimes cowers if you reach out to her too fast, but we are only using mildly harsh reprimands (no hitting) to catch her attention if she squats in the house. She is already going to the door to be let outside and she loves being outdoors in this cold weather. She hasn't quite figured out that you have to go outside every time to potty, but I have been amazed to see her standing at the door a few times and potty as soon as she exits.
We're trying to love her, rub her, play with her, scratch her, brush her and anything else we can do to build her trust and undo whatever may have happened to her early on. She responds very well to positive gentle praises. Hopefully we'll be able to start getting her around as many different people as possible soon so she can learn to trust and accept all people. She is great with the boys...a little rough with Evan because he's "puppy size" and she thinks of him as a puppy. She doesn't show any signs of timidness around Ryan and loves to play with him. She calmly exits and escapes if he gets too rambunctious. I think she's going to be an awesome dog!
Now she just needs a name!