YOUR DOGS, CATS & Other Domestic Fauna - Cute, sad, buff or silly

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This is our cat, Weasley, the original grumpy cat, who kept a diary of his captivity on and off for many years as a way to ruminate on methods of escape as well as comment on our unfathomable dimness. I would often send entries to "the boy" while he was away at boarding school and, later, USMA. Weasley's observations were a favorite of his company. Here are a few entries:

Day 1,827 of my captivity
The house is quiet with the boy off at camp. I can sit on the window seat in his room undisturbed except for that rotten stuffed cat who thinks he owns the boy's bed. He swiped at me the other day and has no idea that I could rip him to shreds with my hind claws and bite his stuffed head off with my lion-like teeth. In fact, I think I will do that. Right after I finish staring out the shutters at the insane little dog who is doing his business on the fake front lawn. The man and the woman hate this but can't figure out who is doing it or how to stop it. I keep telling them, but they never listen. The woman just says Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Who can understand this?

Day 1,828 of my captivity
The woman's crazy music is driving me nuts. I think it drives the man nuts, too, and that is why he is away so much. I don't mind the man. He is kind of furry, so I think he may be a relative. The woman stares at paper a lot and refuses to brush me as often as I require. So I drop balls of fur on her carpet and sit on her paper which causes her to say, Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. She is dim. Perhaps I will rip her to shreds with my hind feet, too. Oh wait, she is petting me. Ahhhh. I especially like the chin rub. I will wait and destroy her tomorrow.



Day 2,192 of my captivity
Spent the night prowling for bugs. There never are any. Bugs fear me and stay away. Jumped up on the bed and poked at the woman during the night. She does not move. I can't reach the boy at night as he is behind a door. He doesn't open the door until mid-day, and then he comes looking for me. He will never find me. I am clever. Eventually, he provokes the monsters in the box on the wall. They will never go away if he does this. The monsters only stay in the box because they fear me. The boy does not understand this.

Day 2,193 of my captivity
The boy chases me around the house with a long, pointy noisemaker. I run under the bed as he is too tall to go there, but he lurks. I run to other places, but he continues to chase. Who can understand this behavior? Eventually he tires and turns on the big box where the monsters live. He is in danger. I will bite the monsters and rip them to shreds with my hind feet if they ever venture outside of the box. The boy should not provoke them.

(…as our son left for boarding school)

Day 2,194 of my captivity
I sleep and keep watch from the top of the dining room buffet. They do not see me here, but I see all they do. In my sleep, I plan my escape. I have abandonded the suitcase plan. They keep removing me. I don't understand why this works for the boy's stuffed animals and not for me. I lay just as still, but they they always discover me. Oddly, there are no stuffed animals this time. They now live in a box on a shelf in the boy's room. They do not understand that this box never leaves. They are very dim. I am pretty sure the bear made his escape in a large box that left the house last week. I must think about how he pulled this off.

Day 2,196 of my captivity
The boy has been sleeping on the couch lately, in the same room with the monster box. They don’t appear if he is not staring at the box. I keep watch, nonetheless. Monsters are crafty.

(…when DS returned on a break)

Day 2,544 of my captivity
The boy has returned!!!! The bear has returned!!!! The man and the woman are crazy happy. What is this? I thought they had escaped forever. The boy must have left in search of the bear and found him. I knew the bear was dim. He must not have hidden himself very well. The boy is always victorious. He has been gone long enough to grow as tall as the man. This makes the woman sad. She thought the boy would stay small. She is dim.

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The diary continued until Weasley was 14, and we had to make the hard decision to put him down due to kidney disease during our son's Cow year. He got a final FaceTime with his beloved pet. I think it was the first time he'd cried in years.

Thank you for making me go back and relive some of these memories. And thanks to @Capt MJ for the link to the "Henri, Le Chat Noir” videos. I loved every one of them. Weasley was not so sophisticated.
Clearly, eloquent and observant Weasley was related to the late, justly lauded diarist Sir Sameowuel Pawpys.
 
I had three dogs that have affected my life greatly. The first (which I can't find a picture of) was a beagle named Speckles due to her markings. We got her when I was about 7. Best darn rabbit dog I've seen before or since. On several occasions she would catch up with the rabbit and kill it herself. Many dogs would then maul the rabbit and make it inedible. Speckles didn't. She would come back and get us and then lead us to the rabbit. Speckles provided us with many "What is it Lassie?" moments.

This one is our Scottie Caraugh Jean. We had her for 14 years. DS wanted a dog so bad and when he turned 12 he convinced me. Read the following from a book to me: "A boy can be many things but he will never be complete without a dog, and the best dog for a boy is a Scottish Terrier". At that point I told him..... "Let me see that book!". Sure enough he read it word for word. Couldn't say no anymore. The Christmas before she passed, Caraugh became a "Calendar Girl". A Scottie rescue group was looking for pics for their annual fund-raising calendar and Caraugh's pic was one of the one's selected. So glad we have that calendar of her on the beach in Hilton Head now.

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This one is our current Scottie Simpson Leigh. We got her as a pup just before Christmas this year, hoping to fill the hole in our hearts that Caraugh left the previous Valentine's Day. She's a great dog, but I forgot how demanding a puppy can be. At 8 months now she is mellowing out and is a total loving dog. She loves to bat a ball around the house with a bat/hockey stick (another toy) to keep herself entertained while we're busy. I'm so glad we have her, but she is definitely Mama's dog. She's all about the mama. Simpson is my wife's maiden name and if we had a girl she always wanted to name her Simpson... so meet our girl.

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Oh, you'll notice our dogs have middle names. We do that so they will know when we're upset with them!!!!
 
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This is such an enjoyable thread. I bet we are the type who are disappointed, audibly, when the annual Super Bowl Budweiser ads do not include sufficient Clydesdale and dog footage.
 
In the category of Other Domestic Fauna, two of DH’s horses. The Thoroughbred dapple gray is a rescued race horse that DH used as an eventer, but he and she aged out of that fun. She is now fully retired. The leopard Appaloosa is his active Western pleasure show horse, a high-spirited feller.

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This is Jewel, our 21-year-old Morgan mare. We purchased her in 2010 to help our older Egyptian Arabian stallion (23 years old) get over mourning for his life-long companion, an Arabian mare who passed away due to an accident during a thunderstorm; she was 19 at the time. We had raised her from a baby since we had her mother as well before we moved to Missouri. He had given up and would only stand by the gate you see in this picture; he was quickly going down hill. As soon as he saw his new pasture-mate, it was love at first sight. He acted like a 2-year old colt. She kept him spry and alive until he was 30 1/2 years old. He had been with us since he was 6 months old. It was a hard loss.
She is pouting in this photo because she wants more grain. As you can tell, she doesn't really need it.
 

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Growing up I had two friends with horses and I learned to ride quickly and well I would say. I attribute that to all the cowboy movies I watched. When I was in 4th grade the local Sinclair gas station did a raffle with a horse as the prize. I wanted that horse so bad. I actually had a ticket and carried it with me and protected it. I’m sure my parents hoped I didn’t win as we had no place to keep a horse or money to feed one. The day of the drawing came and we went to the gas station and stood in the crowd. My name wasn’t called so we drove home. A few days later I found out the winner was a girl who lived around Washington Circle from my grandparents. Her name was Nan. Damn you Nan.
 
I’m in Florida visiting my daughter and SIL so I thought I’d share a pic of my grand dog. This is a very special Belgian Malinois that they adopted. He has an unknown history, but has damaged ears and is missing part of his upper lip. They took him in as a project and in two years have transformed him from a scared and unpredictable stray into one of the most loving pups in the world. They also discovered that he knows all of his commands in German so his history is even more intriguing. He loves to be spoiled when we visit and we love to do it.

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Please tell me the clam and fish have names. There have been some wonderful names on this thread. That’s a challenge keeping a reef tank!
Haha yes they have names. Clam is “Squirt” and the flame hawk is “Red Leader” from Star Wars. It’s a challenge keeping them but after a years of growth its very rewarding. I have had my clam for 3.5 years now (not long compared to its lifespan) and it had been awesome seeing it grow from mini to about 8”. Top down photo using a cool acrylic box i made
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my third favorite guy is banana, my foxfish. It reminds me of a horse in water with his beautiful snout
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