Flashback Friday Is Back!

And today's Flashback Friday theme is pet stories.

I have had 11 dogs, one cat, 15 (I think) hamsters, hundreds of gold fish, 2 beta's, and one guinea pig.

The fish are boring at times but can be soothing after a long stressful day. I would just sit there and watch the fish swim and listen to the water go through the filter. That would be the goldfish. The beta's are a totally different story. I had them at two different times so they didn't share a bowl. I would clean their bowls at least once a week, most of the time more, and fed them once a day and followed all the directions they came with. Both of them committed suicide by jumping out of their bowls. Instead of drowning themselves they aired themselves. Bad joke, sorry.

I inherited 2 hamsters from my boyfriend when he left for boot camp, I was a senior in high school at the time. He didn't tell me they were a boy and a girl and I didn't know enough to ask. I thought it would be cool to buy a tunnel and link their cages so they could 'visit' each other. I don't remember how long I'd had them before I noticed one getting very fat. And not long after that there were babies. I thought that was so cute and still had no idea how to care for hamsters. The babies were alive one morning when I left for school and by the time I got home that night, after doing homework at the library, going to a Theta Rho meeting, and eating dinner the poor babies were chewed into hundreds of pieces and scattered over both cages. It was, of course, very disgusting and so hard to clean up. I learned my lesson and kept them separated from then on. Then the poor things died when I went on a weekend camping trip and my mom forgot about them and left them in our spare bedroom with the door shut. They had plenty of food and water but the room was freezing cold and I'm pretty sure that's how they died. Mom felt horrible!

We have 2 hamsters right now and so far no babies. My SIL didn't know if they were both boys or girls or one of each sex. We've had them long enough that we would have seen babies by now if we had one of each. They are horny little devils though. Scott and I have caught them in many positions and try to think of creative things to tell the kids when they ask what Siegfried and Roy (lovely names don't you think? one is blond and one is brunette) and doing. So far we haven't been too successful and just tell the kids the hamsters are playing.
Harley keeps trying to offer the hamsters his oreos. But, he only offers the cookie after he has taken apart the cookie and eaten all the cream out of the middle. My baby isn't stupid! No I don't let the hamsters actually eat the cookies. The cookies sit on the dresser right in front of the cage, probably beckoning the poor things; Eat Me little hamster, Eat Me. They can see them but they can't touch them.

Kirby is the first guinea pig I've ever owned. He runs around and kicks and bucks and looks like a mini bull. He does bite and he squeals so very loud if he doesn't get his daily treat on time.

My one and only cat was multi-colored and I named her Caramel. She was a pyscho kitty and loved to climb up into the Christmas tree every year and wait until one of us or one of the dogs walked by and then she would jump out on our heads. She would hide behind doors, under couches and beds to attack your feet, and sleep on my pillow every night. It really bugged my ex-husband. The day she had kittens is the day I found out I was pregnant with Ethan. I ended up finding a good home for her and the kittens when I was told I should be on bed rest and not taking care of anything, let alone chaning a litter box every day.

My first dog was a poodle and I named her Doffi. I got her for my 4th birthday so please don't ask me where I got that name because I don't know what my 4 year old brain was thinking. She died right before my 7th birthday from leukemia. She was sick for about a year before she left us. My mom took her to the vet for a round of medication and made me stay home this time. I don't remember why now but I'm glad she did. While the vet was out of the room getting the meds ready mom said that she just keeled over in her arms and was gone. I cried for days and still miss her.

The 2nd and 3rd dogs were Chihuahuas and my grandma named them Chaco and Chiquito. Chaco loved to climb up on me when I was lying down and bite my nose. I'm surprised I don't have scars from the stupid dog. They were definitely my grandmas dogs and really didn't like me.

The fourth dog was Shaman, my pure-bred Chow-Chow. I loved him so much and only had him 3 years. I got Shaman when he was 7 weeks old and he was doggie door trained within a week. He was smart and loved to goof off. He was a pretty champagne color and every time I took him to the vet's office my vet would offer to buy him from me. He wanted to breed him and the day I took Shaman in to be fixed he got so upset he almost refused to perform the surgery.

My fifth dog was Muffin, our poodle that we had for 14 1 /2 years before she passed away a few days before granny died. She loved to race through the doggie door and race around the house. Especially in the winter, she would hit the door running and speed through each room I'm guessing until she was warm. Or she just loved to amuse us.

Then there was Sunny. He was a black Lab mixed with some other really big dog because he came up to my waist standing on all four feet. When he stood on his hind legs he was taller than me. Poor guy thought he was a lap dog but he was so hyper and he would bound up on you and sit for a few seconds and then leap down to chase something only seen by his eyes. I gave him to a family that was moving across the country because their little boy just adored him and they were brave enough to take this huge lug of a dog on the trip from Novato California to Maine. I wonder about him every once in a while...

Pongo is our Black Lab mix and just a loveable guy who loves to lay on your feet. He loves Harley and follows him around the house and will just lay there and let Harley lay on him, pull his ears, give him kisses, and lean against him while he watches the Backyardigans.

The last dog is Callie, our beautiful brindle Australian shepherd mix. She can jump a 6ft fence from a stand still. She will climb a chain link fence like a human. She barely tolerates Harley but if the older kids play too rough around him she will growl and put herself in between Harley and the others. She was afraid of men when we rescued her and it took her about 2 months to get used to Scott and Ethan. Now she won't leave Scott's side. She sleeps on the floor on his side of the bed and for the longest time I swore she was plotting to kill me in my sleep and eat me so she could have Scott all to herself.

There were three dogs that I rescued from the two different humane society's in the Bay Area but all three were very ill and I ended up taking them back after a couple days and found out that they were put down. I felt horrible but two of them threw up all over my apartment and one had the runs and tried to make it outside in time but just couldn't. I'm not sure what they had but I knew that I couldn't have cared for them properly. Plus the vomit and poo was Not good for my roaming baby.

So that is my pet history more than pet story. I had too many stories all rushing through my brain at one time to reach in and pick one to tell everyone about.