I’m just back from another trip out of town (best part of any trip? coming home to my herd!), so I’m a little bit behind. Thus, the late, short post!
Oh, and… today’s the day I’m tackling the big clean out for Project Pet Care Organization. I’m pulling everything out of cabinets, drawers, and boxes to figure out what’s what. More on that tomorrow!
In the meantime, on my flight, I was drafting answers to the questions that have come in (still time to submit!) and then I was thinking about you guys, and I started to wonder…
Years ago, I read a statistic that said something like 1% of all readers ever leave a comment, and I think that is even a little high! I totally get it. There are so many blogs and sites I read every day and so rarely leave a comment.
But, I invite you to step out from behind your screens today! I have a very important question for y’all! (My first y’all! Now that I live in the south, I figured it was time.)
What sparked your love for dogs? Was it a childhood dog? Volunteering at a shelter? Perhaps a friend or family member introduced you to a lovable pup? What started you on this journey of doggy love?
Do tell!! Leave a comment! I can’t wait to read everyone’s love story!
Growing up we had a cat. Now – I do and always have loved cats. But my Uncle and his family across the street had a dog. Puffer was her name and she looked just like the white poof in your picture! Puffer being the great dog she was letting me as a toddler chase, pull, push and of course snuggle all I want made me an instant lover. From that point on I have loved all dogs and probably should be a little more careful. If there is a dog on the side of the road – yup…I stop. Just last week there was one at the end of a long driveway and it made me nervous – too close to the street – so I parked on the side of the street – walked up to the scary house at the end of the long gravel driveway – and made sure that dog got in the house….only after the fact to I think that may have been a bad idea! The guy was a little creepy……
Anyway – I think you have it or you don’t. Not many would have 3 and not many would even consider having 3. I think we are our own breed 🙂
I love this question and I’m happy to say our first dog found us quite by accident. We were just about to purchase a dog from a breeder when a friend found a homeless puppy on a soccer field. It opened our eyes and heart to animal rescue and I wrote a children’s book about it. “JJ The American Street Dog and How He Came to Live in Our House.” JJ changed our lives and now I’m a friend to all animals!
A long story for me. It has been an evolution. As a child we always had a family dog in the back yard, never in the house. I guess my love for animals grew once I left home and acquired animals that were truely mine. Now I am considered, to those who know me, an animal rescuer. My love is deep for those who have no voice. I have offered to pay for spay/neuter services to my students, when refused I then took the ten babies home with me when they were born. Through help with our local Fuzzy Friends, all were adopted out, with the last unadoptable one going back home with me. My stories are so many, one you may enjoy is my ride with an unknown pit bull in my back seat for an hour, through working with a local pit bull rescue agency a loving home was found. I can go on and on(pulling 15 abscessed teeth from my ShortyBarker, a rescued dachshund), but my last rescue was my precious Rowdy, a red heeler, who fell out of the back of a pick up truck at 90 mph on I-35. Lots of stitches were involved and pads on her feet had to grow back. I don’t even look for them, God simply places them in my lap. My love and campassion is deep.
I’ve had, at the least, a dog in my life since birth. There’s a picture of me, just a few months old, asleep with my legs wrapped around our small black poodle. & I have a picture, of pretty much every year, with me posing with some animal or other! My parents both loved animals. & they are the biggest reason that all 7 of us kids have a soft spot for animals. When I was young, we had a dog that slept outside (it was the 70’s…we didnt know any better then!) When it was cold, my dad worried about her in her dog house. He would heat up a very large rock, cover it in a blanket, & put it in the back of her dog house every cold night. I remember we tried to save a day old kitten found in our yard, & we had cats, dogs, hamsters, a rabbit, & a bird throughout the years.
When dad started getting Alzheimer’s, one thing he never forgot about was his dog, Ginger. If she wasn’t where he could see her, he fretted, & asked everyone where she was, & if she was okay. 🙂
You can see this trait in all of us ‘kids.’ I have 2 rescued pit bulls, & volunteer at a dog rescue. My oldest 2 brothers feed/take care of stray & feral cats (with the oldest also having 4 dogs) My 2 sisters each have a dog, & my 2 middle brothers, one has had pets over the years, & the other currently has a dog & 2 cats.
Yes, you could say our love of animals is a family affair…
Close to my birth, my father took a Labrador & collie cross from some travellers…and totally sticking with tradition called it Gyp (lol)…so I grew up with dogs since birth. It’s funny, because my memory going back to my childhood kinda ends at 7, maybe 6? Yet I have a fair few memories from before that only of riding my dog around the living room, sharing his dog bed etc. It was a very sad day when he left us. An amazing dog and I truly believe every child should be granted the experience of growing up with a companion like that.
To be honest, Maggie, it was you, John, Lucas and Emmett! I’ve always really loved dogs, but it was seeing your love and committment to the boys, your passion for ending BSL, and seeing Emmett as a therapy dog that really taught me to *appreciate* dogs and how much they enrich our lives.
I grew up with dogs. Both sets of my parents and all my siblings have dogs. But Neeko taught me what it really means to love a dog.
We had dogs growing up but it wasn’t till I was in my late 30s that I began my love affair with a dog for whom I was the primary caregiver. Her mother, a husky mix, was abandoned in the yard of a foreclosed home. The neighbors were taking care of her by bringing her food and water everyday and the neighborhood (un-neutered) Newfoundland was happy to keep her company.
When the puppies were born one of those nurturing neighbors contacted animal control and a rescue group got involved and brought her into our lives. She has inspired so much love in our lives and our community, an entire company, and a fundraising program for organizations like the one who rescued her. And yes, she’s sleeping with her head on my lap right now. She’s a constant companion and is never far away! We named her Koszi because (assuming we read the wiki right) means thank you and we are always thankful for her.
I can’t remember hardly any time in my life where there wasn’t a dog. Some of my first memories are of my dad’s white-GSD Cindy. Then there came a black & tan GSD Rebel. I got my first dog of my own when I was twelve–a miniature Schnauzer that I named Fritz von Braun after the scientist who was credited with being “The Father of Rocket Science.” (Yes. I’ve always been a geek.) I’ve had 4 personal dogs (3 others belonged to sons or hub) since then, and the longest I’ve ever been without a dog was 9 months of looking after I lost Fritzy. We’d had our 2nd son during that time, and I just didn’t feel I could handle it all until the baby got older. That’s the longest I’ve ever been without a dog at all in my life.
They’ve always been such a big part of my life, that I don’t think I can live without them. I’ve loved every single one of them, and it’s killed me each time when we’ve lost one, but I found with Fritzy that waiting didn’t make my heart feel any differently for the loss. I can’t come up with one specific reason, “Why?” I just know they’re an ingrained part of my being and not having them there leaves a hole in my chest.
That’s one of my favorite questions to answer! I even wrote a post about it when I first started (titled “A Spiritual Awakening of Sorts”). I never had dogs growing up, and didn’t even really like them much to be honest (anyone who knows me now can’t believe that). My hubby grew up with dogs though and loved them. When we moved back to NH, we rented a house and the landlords next door had 3 labs of different colors. The chocolate one, named Moses, used to come over and join us on walks. He was the biggest sweetie and I fell totally in love with him. That’s why we named our golden retriever Moses. As soon as we had our own home, we got a dog!