On Pets and other wildlife

We've been fortunate to have 2 goldfish and 3 great dogs. Starting with the world's greatest female Pembroke Welsh Corgi, unoriginally named Corie. We got her from a breeder in Hudson, OH, when the boys were about 6 and 8. She loved to play catch with a tennis ball. The game she taught us was to take it to the top of the stairs, push it down with her nose & then we would throw it back up to her. 9 times out of 10 she would catch it. Some baseball teams would have been lucky to have her as shortstop. Unfortunately, she died of bone cancer when she was 10 and broke all our hearts. But they were 10 joyful people/dog years. Our next dog was an "oops" - but meant to be. I saw her on an early morning news show (which I never watched) as the dog of the week featured from the Nashville Humane. She and her brothers and sisters had been left in a box at a fire station. I could tell she was part welsh corgi (as it turned out probably part beagle as well and maybe part shar-pei, the latter according to the vet, but who sees shar-pei's running around loose on the street?). I went to the Humane center on my lunch hour and that closed the deal. What person who is leaning can resist a puppy? Bill was on a business trip at the time, and when he came home, it happened to be my late night at the library. I left Little Debbie, hence forth to be known as Lucy, in the computer room with a big "Happy Valentine's Day, Bill" sign (he hadn't wanted another dog, but those are the kinds of gifts he can expect, if one at all, on Valentine's Day). A year or so later, after noticing that many of our neighbors had 2 dogs, and feeling guilty about leaving Lucy home alone all day, we starting searching the pounds for a friend. We tried out a pug named Henley, who never pee'd on a walk. We'll leave you to surmise where he did like to do it. He also drooled and wanted to play ball 24/7. Our hearts bled for poor Henley, but he had to go back. We were then chosen at a Humane event when we asked to look at a mini dachsund. When they let her out of the cage, she came right into our laps, rolled on her back, and showed us what a drama queen she could be. She was 2-1/2 at the time and came with the name Gracie, which we loved, and gave us two female comedians. Which they were for the ten years they both lived till succumbing to blindness (I couldn't stand to see Gracie walk into walls) and probably cancer again for Lucy ($400 to the vet with no diagnosis, but eventually she just quit eating anything) . Terrible decisions as dog lovers know to decide when the time has come. But, in their prime, they had great fun chasing each other around the circle in the house - Gracie always in the lead, Lucy looking for lazy ways to head her off. Lucy became quite the little guard dog, usually stationed on the table at the living room window, checking out who had the nerve to walk or even drive on her street. We spent a lot of time saying "quiet, Lucy." Gracie always loved to get under the covers with us or under an afghan. I swear I don't know how they breathe. Gracie was not big on sharing our affection with Lucy and had an ugly little snarl she reserved for those occasions. Lucy, of course, looked away and pretended not to see it. Bill religiously walked them every evening when he came home from work (while I was getting dinner ready, folks) and misses doing that to this day. Frequently he would come home and tell me about the deer they saw on their walks, Lucy's barking at them having no visible effect. Bill has said I can get another dog if it's a Welsh Corgi, but for now I am not missing the dog hair and my consistent (not constant) worrying about the dog's psyche every time we go somewhere. We are glad to have two grand-dogs, so to speak. Keri and Grant have a Welsh Corgi (female) named Magi, and Erin and David have a black lab/Irish Setter/Golden? mixture named Lucky because he walked into their yard when he was about 6 mo. old, terribly malnurished and mangy. He was Lucky he found them. Now he loves to swim off their boat and, like many big dogs, thinks he too is a lap dog. Magi is very smart and Grant has taught her how to play with a ball on the steps. It's nice to know your kids occasionally take something with them from their childhoods.