Furry Family

I was reading Miriam's blog today and she writes about her family's pets. She also invited other bloggers to post about their pets, so I think I will :). I've written before about my ancestors' pets, so I won't bore you with a repeat. However, for a refresher, feel free to jump back in time and read all about them.

Here are some questions Miriam asked, and my answers to them.

"Have you ever had pets, what kind, what were their names and why?"

When I was about 2 years old, we got an Irish Setter/Golden Retriever/Collie mix. His name was Skipper, and I have no idea why. He was a great dog! As a pup he roamed our "Erma Bombeck-ish" neighborhood, just like a big Benji, to get treats from the neighbors. Once leash laws came about we struggled to find a way to contain him in our yard (we didn't have fences where I grew up, except for a few short chain link fences). We finally managed, and he adapted pretty well. Here is Skipper, at about 13 years old after we'd moved to Arizona and had a fenced yard.One year my dad got my mom a French Poodle for a gift. We named him Pepe. Sorry to say this dog was HORRID. He bit, he scratched through two solid wood doors, he destroyed the house ... we'd always been decent at training our dogs to behave, but this one was over our heads and we had to give him away. I can't find the picture I have of Pepe :(.

When we'd moved to Arizona, and Skipper had run of the fenced back yard and was 14 years old, my brother brought home young female dog named Mandy. Her original owner was going to shoot her, so my brother took her home instead. Mandy was also a great dog, though very timid for a long time (we believe she was abused). There was a debate about her breeds; the two lines of thought were either Greyhound/Lab mix or Greyhound/German Shorthaired Pointer mix. She was FAST, had the "swoop" of a greyhound, and had the pose of a pointer when treeing birds. Here's one of my all time favorite pictures: Mandy as a playful youngseter (about 1) and Skipper as a 14-year-old geyser who apparently just wanted to be left alone.

Now, as an adult several times older, I have adopted a Cocker Spaniel/Pomeranian mix named Izzie. Izzie was a rescue dog originally named Iseaha. I thought he needed a name with an attitude so somehow I came up with Izzie, and it fits him perfectly. You can check out Izzie's blog (yes he has his own) at www.izziesworld.blogspot.com.

"Did you have to house-train or leash train your pets?"

Skipper hated leashes, chains, etc. He roamed as a pup, then was chained outside when not inside the house. He had long leads. He was housetrained from the time I can remember, but we got him as a pup so I'm sure my parents had to train him. Mandy was house trained when we got her for the most part, and we leash-trained her. I don't know how, but she was easy to train. I had to housetrain Izzie when I got him at 13 months of age. THAT was a challenge; it took about 6 months for him to "get it", but once he got it, he got it down pat. I leash trained him by leaving the leash on him in the home under my supervision until he got used to it. For the first 6 months that I had him I lived in an apt. so he had to be walked on a leash several times a day.

Okay, this has been a long post so I will end it here. What about your family's pets?