Together on Tuesday: Pets

The topic for this week is: Pets-do you have them? Why or why not? Dogs, cats, birds, snakes? What do they provide for you...affection, a sense of security, a playmate for your kids? Provide pics please.

Okay, so I know most of you know we have a chocolate Labrador retriever. She's nine years old and her name is Kona.  Quags' Kona Coffee is her registered name-bet you guys would never guess where we spent our honeymoon shortly before getting a dog. lol.  For a long time after we got her, she had the nickname Kona Jeanne or KJ.  I had a good friend in college named Jessie, and the professors always called her Jessie Jeanne. I don't know how or why I transferred the name to Kona, but I did, and it stuck.  We actually haven't called her that in a long time.  I called her Kona Jeanne the other night, and the kids looked at me like I was crazy.  Anyways, her birthday is August 20th, and we got her on October 20th, the day before my birthday.  She was a tiny little thing, and she yipped and yowled the entire night.  Jake, my husband, had no idea what he was in for as far as owning a dog is concerned. He'd never had any kind of pet growing up.  Let's just say-he's still not really a dog person.  He tolerates her.  The kids tolerate her as well, but I really think that's from how they see Jake treat her.  Sometimes they will love on her, but most of the time she's ignored. I'm the only one that actually likes having the dog around.  She's my sense of security, and my eye in the sky so to speak.  When I'm having a tough day, she is right by my side.  She's always watching my every move, and sometimes I swear she can read my mind.  She gives me a look that just says, "I know, I know, it's hard right now, but it will pass."  I don't know if we will own another dog after her.  I know we will not own a cat, and I can't say that I care to have any reptiles, fish, or other creatures in the house, but who knows what the future holds.  So, there you have it for pets present and future.  Now on to pets past.


Kona as a puppy.

I won't bore you with long stories about every pet that I've owned.  Here is a short list:
1. Patches-Pitbull (I was fourish)
2. Joe-Chow Chow (I was about 5)
3. Terri-rat terrier (I think I was in 2nd grade and we had him until I was in junior high)
4. Misty  Blue-Chow (this dog was my dog. she was the sweetest, best dog I've ever owned. Unfortunately, she got out one day when I was feeding them, and we never saw her again). We had her from the time I was in 3rd grade until I was in high school.


Misty Blue

5. Black Jack: Chow (I was in high school when we got him.)
6. Shay-Pitbull (high school-adulthood. she was a rescue)
7. Puder-pitbull/mix (shay's puppy-high school-adulthood)

Puder

Those are just the dogs!! There were even a couple of dogs I left out because they were rescues, and only stayed with us until we could find a better home for them. I also had a cat growing up for about a six month stint.  My dad let me get it, but I lived with my mom, who hated cats.  She said I could keep it in my room! Ha!! That didn't last long. The cat's name was Riley.  She ended up going to my dad's house, and still lives there today. I had numerous amounts of goldfish. I had a small herd (not sure what the term is for a group of gerbils) of gerbils.  That was a nightmare.  I was in 5th or 6th grade.  I got them from a friend who assured my mom that they were two boys.  Well, lo and behold, Robin Hood and Azeem (I was obsessed with Robin hood Prince of Thieves at the time) had themselves some babies (5 to be exact). Then those babies had babies. Then one of the "moms"  or bigger gerbils ate some of the babies!!! About 10 gerbils later, my mom said, "enough!!"  We gave them away to good homes.  Jake and I also owned a few turtles right after we got married. I guess that was actually his first stint as a pet owner-besides a beta fish named Imani Coppola.  The turtles names were Ollie and hmmm...I can't remember the other one's name.  One of them didn't make it too long. They were about the size of a half dollar when we got them.  We ended up getting another one to keep the first one company.  We kept them out in our garage after we got Kona.  One had a tragic accident because it got out of the tank. The other one ended up going to a daughter of one of Jake's friends.  He ended up doubling in size because they fed him so much. Amazing.

Riley the kitty.

So there you have it, a quick run down of pets. What kind of pets have you had? What kind of pets do you want to have? Check out some pet stories from the other ToT ladies.