PETS

Of course when I was little, I loved animals of all kinds!   We lived in a neighborhood zoned for large animals.  Most of the neighborhood kids were in 4H and  raised animals to show at the county fair each year as part of their 4H responsibilities.  Raising  pets is very expensive so we didn't get to have too many.  I remember that my dad brought me home a kid (baby goat) from the swap meet once for me to take care of.  I got to bottle feed it and I thought it was the neatest thing!  I named it Blossom...I have no idea if it was a boy or girl.  I'm afraid it was either sick when I got it, or it was taken away from its mother too soon.  It wasn't very strong & died a week later - I  was  traumatized by that experience. 

I also had a couple of kittens once; a grey cat named Tom & a black & white named Jerry.  (Tom & Jerry was a popular cartoon when  I was a kid that featured a grey cat named Tom & a trouble-making  mouse named Jerry.)  I watched my neighbors pit-bull shred Tom to pieces right before my very eyes & Jerry ran away shortly after that.  Again, it was a traumatic experience.

Dickie withTarzan, Me with Jerry

Dad brought home a little mutt puppy once, he looked like a little rat - he looked like a mix between a chihuahua & a dachshund - we named him Tarzan.  He was in the family for about 8 years (56 dog years).  He was so old  & feeble, he could barely see & didn't move very fast.  Shortly after my brother passed away, I saw Tarzan get ran over by a car in front of our house.   It was very traumatic.  

Tarzan the Wonder Dog

When Ben turned 8,  Jeff let him pick out a German Shepherd puppy.  He was the cutest little fur ball I had ever seen.  Ben wanted to name him Chewbacca & call him Chewy, but Jeff didn't think that was distinguished enough for a registered German Shepherd so he ended up with Bruno as his name...I don't even remember his exact registered name, but it was fancy.   Bruno however was not a fancy dog.  He was a nuisance!  German Shepherds grow to be quite big very quickly.  That cute little fur ball, Bruno, soon became an awkward & clumsy 2 year old pesky puppy.  We couldn't afford to have him trained.  Ty & Terri were terrified of him - he towered over them & licked them in the face, knocking them over whenever he was near them. 

I insisted that Bruno be an outside dog, but one particularly cold winter, it was 2 degrees outside so I agreed to let Bruno into the utility room for the night.  I tried to put anything I thought he would destroy out of reach - puppies like to chew on  everything they can get a  hold  of & he could do  some serious damage (Chewy would have been the  perfect  name for  him!).  Well, not realizing  he was in the utility room, one  of the kids accidentally  let him into the house....he  was  so  excited he came charging around the corner of the kitchen into the front room & plowed over the Christmas tree.  I was really glad that we didn't have any presents under the tree yet!   It was a disaster.  We finally sent Bruno out to the Carter's big home in the country where he had  plenty of room to run around without terrorizing babies.  One night, he didn't come home & we never saw him again...we were all very sad...even me.  He was the cutest little fur ball that made the cutest little 8 year old boy so very happy - probably Ben's best birthday ever.

Pets are too much trouble & heartache.