My husband and I both grew up with plenty of critters in our lives. Back in Indiana, at our parents' homes, he has 2 dogs and a cat while I have at my dad's 10 horses, 4 dogs, and 10+ barn cats and at my mom's 4 dogs and 1 cat. Yes, that's a lot of critters! I also grew up with an even wider variety from corn snakes to iguanas to tanks full of fish. I was very fortunate to have parents that loved animals as much as I did and allowed me to save all the strays I brought home.
When we we dating back in college, my husband got his first taste of me bringing a critter home. I was working at The Greater Lafayette Cat Hospital and every year the vet tech's cat would have kittens which would come in to be adopted by the clinic's clients. They were always a big hit. While I was there one little kitten came in with a group of his brothers and sisters. Everyone else was getting adopted but for some reason this little man was getting left behind which I could not understand because he was the sweetest little dude ever! Well, I could not take it anymore and finally had to bring the little man home for a trial run with my dog, Sadie, who was up at school with me at the time. Hubs, then boyfriend, came back to my apartment to quite the surprise! "Hey, look who I adopted!" I kept him through the weekend and him, now dubbed Iccabod, and Sadie got along great! So he was staying. Now, my husband was never a big "cat person" and he was skeptical at first but then he came to see how awesome little Iccabod was and fell in love with him just like I knew he would!
Iccabod became the subject of all my photography, giving poor Sadie a break for a while, and he was just the most photogenic little dude ever! I swear, he loves the camera! He also had to get used to wearing the shirts I bought him...those he still is not too sure about. Iccabod has moved with us from Indiana to Florida to Texas and now resides with us in Rhode Island. Little miss Sadie is currently in Indiana but she will be joining us when we move to San Diego. Yey!
While we were in Texas, we decided that Mr. Iccabod needed a friend. I began my search for a friend for little man and came across a little female kitten on Craigslist. The family that had her had literally gotten her 24 hrs before getting rid of her and she was absolutely terrified of the kids. If someone did not take her, they were just going to put her out so I knew she was the one we had to take in! I went and picked her up and she was given the name Daenarys (from Game of Thrones). Icky was curious about Dany and it took them a few days to warm up to one another but, in the end, we could tell that Ick was happy to have a friend to pounce on!
All this time, here I am adopting cats and my husband really wants to get a dog. We just could not really get one while we were in Florida or Texas and were unsure if we would be able to get one while we were in Rhode Island. From almost the day we moved here, we were searching for a dog, just in case we were able to get one. We had vastly different opinions on what made a "cute" dog but when we finally agreed on a pooch we would probably get him/her.
We visited shelters almost every weekend and finally one time when we were at The Potter League for Animals, we saw the dog we both wanted. She was an adorable little "German Shepherd Mix" that is the GSD liver color. She looked EXACTLY like my dad's shepherd Otis! My hubs had fallen in love with Otis the first time he went to my dad's and wanted to steal him from day one. =) Imagine both of our happiness when we found this adorable little lady!
We could not get her right away because she had just arrived at the shelter from South Carolina (They have such an amazing turnover rate that they have to ship in adoptable critters from other states!) She had to be quarantined for (I think) a week before she could be put up for adoption. We waited patiently, visiting her every couple of days and making sure we let the shelter know we were interested in her. My husband also volunteered there while he attended Supply Corps School so they knew both him and I because we were there so often.
When we could finally adopt our little miss, I went back to see her and play with her (the day that I was able to be off crutches from my foot surgery) and took her out to have a quick play session. To my delight, she LOVED playing fetch! I knew this is something my husband really wanted so I was happy she liked playing.
Later that day, after my husband got out of school, we went back to see our future pooch again. My husband loved her! I was so happy he liked her as much as I did. We liked her so much, we decided to take her home that night! I was beyond excited. We were getting a dog!! Yey! Yes, we had our kitties and we will love them forever, but there is just something about having a dog. Being able to take her hiking with us, for walks, and playing fetch in the park.
We got our new little lady home and settled on the name Penny (from Big Bang Theory, of course). She is seriously the best dog ever! She is super smart, knows how to sit, fetch, drop it, and comes when called. All of this was basically "built in" and we did not have to teach her anything! Crazy smart dog. We have not taught her anything else yet but I am sure she would have no trouble learning anything. She does, however, have a vice. She loves to eat cat poop. Ugh. With our two cats there is plenty of it to go around too. If we do not clean out the litter boxes immediately after a fresh poop then Penny is there to take care of it for us. We need to work on that one.
Since getting Penny, we have taken her hiking more than once, to Niagara Falls, out to many parks, in crowds of many people, to dogs parks, and across country when we moved from Rhode Island to California. She did amazing each and every time. She is seriously the best dog and we could not have gotten any luckier when we adopted her!
Stay tuned for the many adventures of Miss Penny, Daenarys, Iccabod, and Sadie!
When we we dating back in college, my husband got his first taste of me bringing a critter home. I was working at The Greater Lafayette Cat Hospital and every year the vet tech's cat would have kittens which would come in to be adopted by the clinic's clients. They were always a big hit. While I was there one little kitten came in with a group of his brothers and sisters. Everyone else was getting adopted but for some reason this little man was getting left behind which I could not understand because he was the sweetest little dude ever! Well, I could not take it anymore and finally had to bring the little man home for a trial run with my dog, Sadie, who was up at school with me at the time. Hubs, then boyfriend, came back to my apartment to quite the surprise! "Hey, look who I adopted!" I kept him through the weekend and him, now dubbed Iccabod, and Sadie got along great! So he was staying. Now, my husband was never a big "cat person" and he was skeptical at first but then he came to see how awesome little Iccabod was and fell in love with him just like I knew he would!
Iccabod became the subject of all my photography, giving poor Sadie a break for a while, and he was just the most photogenic little dude ever! I swear, he loves the camera! He also had to get used to wearing the shirts I bought him...those he still is not too sure about. Iccabod has moved with us from Indiana to Florida to Texas and now resides with us in Rhode Island. Little miss Sadie is currently in Indiana but she will be joining us when we move to San Diego. Yey!
While we were in Texas, we decided that Mr. Iccabod needed a friend. I began my search for a friend for little man and came across a little female kitten on Craigslist. The family that had her had literally gotten her 24 hrs before getting rid of her and she was absolutely terrified of the kids. If someone did not take her, they were just going to put her out so I knew she was the one we had to take in! I went and picked her up and she was given the name Daenarys (from Game of Thrones). Icky was curious about Dany and it took them a few days to warm up to one another but, in the end, we could tell that Ick was happy to have a friend to pounce on!All this time, here I am adopting cats and my husband really wants to get a dog. We just could not really get one while we were in Florida or Texas and were unsure if we would be able to get one while we were in Rhode Island. From almost the day we moved here, we were searching for a dog, just in case we were able to get one. We had vastly different opinions on what made a "cute" dog but when we finally agreed on a pooch we would probably get him/her.
We visited shelters almost every weekend and finally one time when we were at The Potter League for Animals, we saw the dog we both wanted. She was an adorable little "German Shepherd Mix" that is the GSD liver color. She looked EXACTLY like my dad's shepherd Otis! My hubs had fallen in love with Otis the first time he went to my dad's and wanted to steal him from day one. =) Imagine both of our happiness when we found this adorable little lady!
We could not get her right away because she had just arrived at the shelter from South Carolina (They have such an amazing turnover rate that they have to ship in adoptable critters from other states!) She had to be quarantined for (I think) a week before she could be put up for adoption. We waited patiently, visiting her every couple of days and making sure we let the shelter know we were interested in her. My husband also volunteered there while he attended Supply Corps School so they knew both him and I because we were there so often.When we could finally adopt our little miss, I went back to see her and play with her (the day that I was able to be off crutches from my foot surgery) and took her out to have a quick play session. To my delight, she LOVED playing fetch! I knew this is something my husband really wanted so I was happy she liked playing.
Later that day, after my husband got out of school, we went back to see our future pooch again. My husband loved her! I was so happy he liked her as much as I did. We liked her so much, we decided to take her home that night! I was beyond excited. We were getting a dog!! Yey! Yes, we had our kitties and we will love them forever, but there is just something about having a dog. Being able to take her hiking with us, for walks, and playing fetch in the park.
We got our new little lady home and settled on the name Penny (from Big Bang Theory, of course). She is seriously the best dog ever! She is super smart, knows how to sit, fetch, drop it, and comes when called. All of this was basically "built in" and we did not have to teach her anything! Crazy smart dog. We have not taught her anything else yet but I am sure she would have no trouble learning anything. She does, however, have a vice. She loves to eat cat poop. Ugh. With our two cats there is plenty of it to go around too. If we do not clean out the litter boxes immediately after a fresh poop then Penny is there to take care of it for us. We need to work on that one.
Since getting Penny, we have taken her hiking more than once, to Niagara Falls, out to many parks, in crowds of many people, to dogs parks, and across country when we moved from Rhode Island to California. She did amazing each and every time. She is seriously the best dog and we could not have gotten any luckier when we adopted her!
Stay tuned for the many adventures of Miss Penny, Daenarys, Iccabod, and Sadie!
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