Special Kitty of the Day for March 22


Name:	Autumn	Age:	Five years old
Gender:	Female	Kind:	Tortoiseshell
Home:	New Jersey, USA
Ihad lost my previous cat after sixteen years and she was actually the Cat of the Day on Oct. 5, 1998, her name wasMisty. I was so heartbroken and devastated that I wanted to adopt another kitty, it was just too lonely for me. I went to a shelter and saw Autumn and fell in love with her, always wanted a Tortie. She was almost three years old at the time. I looked at the other kitties but my mind was still on Autumn so she came home with me a few days later. The hurt of losing Misty is still with me but having Autumn has helped mend my broken heart. This is what makes her special, she helped me give love to another kitty. Autumn was not an easy cat to get close too. She was very shy and very afraid of everything. I could not even walk towards her without her running and hiding. She has been with me for three years now and still runs from me at times, she doesn’t trust anyone. She will sit on my lap and watch TV with me and she loves to play with the feather wand. The worst thing is I cannot get her into the carrier when going to the vet. I have had to cancel many appointments because of this. She is a very tough kitty, but I love her very much.

Special Kitties of the Day for March 21


Name:	Mr. Tinkles, Garfield	Age:	One and a half years old
Gender:	Male	Kind:	Persian, Exotic short hair
Home:	Burbank, California, USA
Ihave two beautiful kittens. Well, not kittens anymore, but for me they are! Here are some of their pictures and I hope you enjoy. They are one and a half years old brothers from the same littler. One is a completely white from head to tail, and the other one is an Orange persian. Garfield is the Orange and Mr. Tinkles (who got his name from the movie “Cats and Dogs”) is white. Even though they are brothers, the sure have different personalities. Garfield is more outgoing and more friendly! More a people’s cat and according to himself the king! of the house. The other one is more shy and not so much a people’s cat. Only with my partner is he not shy. Both cats are sweet boys and we just love them to death. Mr. Tinkles, the white cat, is shy with other people except with us. He’s a sweet loving cat and loves to play with stick that has a feather. He always tries to take it with him and hide it. He also loves playing with the sheets and he has a weird way of drinking water. He likes to lay on the floor and drink it while kicking the water container. He loves to pay with his brother Garfield and he loves to sleep during the day in my underwear drawer. He is a big jumper and can jump really high if he wants too. Garfield is the orange one, and is more energetic, extremely playful and he thinks he is the king of the house. He loves to run around the house with his brother. He loves getting pampered and loves getting into closets and boxes. He’s a loving cat and every time I get home. he’s waiting for me. He also loves to pose for pictures and he knows it when people take pictures of him. He loves to play with the stick and the feather thing, they both goes nuts over that. As you see even though they are brothers, they sure have different personalities but one thing is certain. They love each other and I don’t think they can ever be apart from each other and US!

Doggie of the Day for Wednesday, March 21


Name:	Mollie	Age:	Eight years old
Gender:	Female	Breed:	Akita
Home:	Coupeville, Washington, USA
This is Mollie. She is a sweet and loyal dog. Mollie is always glad to see me and she has both dog and cat friends. When she’s not out hiking in the woods, she works out at Whidbey General Hospital in cardiac rehab (okay, she only sat on the non-moving treadmill for for a photo op. I have a friend that works there). She’s been to the Canine College and knows how to speak, sit, stay, come, lie down, shake, and roll over. When she gets really excited she will run in circles and/or howl. She likes to bite fish oil caps and eat cheese. When she’s excited she gives you little nips. Mollie is 8 years old but has a youthful appearance. She lets me check her ears for infection and she likes to hold my hand with her mouth. Mollie is very personable and will work the crowd whenever she can.

Ah, What A Special Little Lad Decked Out In His Irish Finery!


Name:	Cyrus	Age:	Two years old
Gender:	Male	Kind:	Domestic Medium, Long Hair
Home:	Mexico
Cyrus came as a stray… and from day one it was like if he’d lived here all along. He got along totally awesomely with adults, kids and even dogs… small ones anyway, and was a total dream cat. He appeared one day out of nowhere, and I felt sad and fed him once, well… I guess he liked it and stayed. He was an outside cat, by his own insistence, and often times I had to go look for him, only to find him in the next block in the house in the exact location as ours… I guess he “almost” got it right, just missed by a block! Such a sweet kitty… as you can see by the picture, he didn’t even mind the hat one bit! He seems happy at his new home, so I did not try to convince him to come back to mine. I have two Huskies who are not exactly ‘cat-friendly’ but at his new home he is fed and loved. As he picked my house in the first place when he was a stray, I couldn’t feel too possessive when he decided to move in on the next block. He is such a friendly cat that he charmed them at once, and is well loved there. And as you can see, he is a very cute Leprecat, a good tempered kitty, and wishes everyone a Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Dog-gone Doggie of the Day for March 16th


Name:	Buster	Age:	Three years old
Gender:	Male	Breed:	German Shepherd Dog
Home:	Roscoe, Illinois, USA
Buster was just thirteen pounds at six weeks of age when we brought him into our family. He was shy, timid, yet playful and full of energy. By the time he turned one, he was near 100 pounds and had become very protective of the four kids. He knows when it is time for the school bus to drop off the kids because then he gets to play his favorite game – FRISBEE. He will wait for you to throw his Frisbee, catch it, bring it back to you, and do this again and again without ever stopping. Nothing can distract him when he is playing Frisbee. You can try to give him his favorite treats — carrots, green beans, apples, and he will just turn up his nose because all he wants to do is play Frisbee. He won’t forget about the treats because when he’s done playing, he comes back in the house looking all over for the treats. He knows a lot of tricks. He can open doors. Although we are trying to teach him how to close the door behind him. He wakes each one of the kids up with kisses and nibbles on the bed. After each one is awake and ready to go to school, he lays down because his job is done. If there is any water outside, you will see Buster laying in it. He loves to play and swim in water. He’s not particular if it’s his pool or a mud puddle. Buster is such a huge part of our family. We love our Buster!

Precious Pup of the Day for March 15th


Name:	Freya	Age:	Six years old
Gender:	Female	Breed:	American Eskimo Dog
Home:	Valley Stream, New York, USA
I was mourning the loss of my dog (an American Eskimo – fourteen years old) for two weeks six year ago, when my friends bought me a three-month-old dog, Freya. She is so good with me and stays by my side all day. I am home every day because of my disability. She helps me to get through the days. I love her. Freya is extremely affectionate. When I don’t feel well, she sense it and will curl up next to me and stroke me with her paw. She is so intuitive. I have problems with my legs and she will lay next to me and lick my legs. When she is happy to see someone she doesn’t bark she “croons” in such a way to say “I’m happy to see you!” Freya isn’t much of a trick girl. She is all about family. She loves to push her toys across the floor with her nose and then pops it in the air with her nose. She makes us smile every day!

Ok, Who Sent In Their Familiar’s Pic, lol? Special Kitty of the Day for March 11th


Name:	Morli	Age:	Four years old
Gender:	Female	Kind:	Domestic Cat
Home:	Glauchau, Germany
This is my cat Morli. She is a beautiful domestic cat. Her fur color is black, with some white hairs. She loves to cuddle. Most of the time, she is with me on the sofa. Morli is a very shy cat. In summer she catches mice and birds often, and is a good hunter in our garden. She is afraid of other animals, though, very afraid. She likes to sharpen her claws, but always does it on a tree. Morli is very clean and grooms often. She loves to sleep in her basket in the basement, when I am not home to be on the sofa with her. I love Morli.

Special Kitty of the Day for March 10th


Name:	Zazou	Age:	Seven years old
Gender:	Female	Kind:	Tuxedo Longhair
Home:	Belgium
This is our beauty, our tuxie Zazou!! Two years after we got out cat Inka, we realized that our house and our hearts were big enough for another cat! We went to a cat shelter where we found Zazou! She was not beautiful at all then, since she had just had kittens, was malnourished and covered with fleas. The shelter owner told us she had been delivered to the door of the shelter in a closed icebox, together with her kittens. Luckily the dog of the house heard this, or every cat in the box would have died! Zazou, sadly, was the only survivor. We chose her because as soon I sat down on a chair which stood in the middle of the cat place, she jumped on my lap and started purring! I have no idea how we came on her name, it just popped in our mind and we loved it right away! Zazou is a very sweet and friendly cat! She gets along with all three other cats we have! At first she was allowed to play in the garden, just her sisters. But we saw she always ran right to our backyard neighbor’s, and would go in the stables. That neighbor is a mean man, because once, even after more than a week, he never told us he had locked up our cat in there. Only after he accused her of damaging the oldtimer cars which were also there, did he call us to come and get her. After this scenario happened twice, we didn’t allow her outside anymore for her own safety. Together with our Snoopy she is now a happy indoor cat. Zazou loves wet food and loves playing with little fake fur mice; but she is sooo lazy! She wants the mice to come to her instead of chasing them! She is very shy towards others, especially loud people, but once she trusts you, she is the sweetest cat you’ll ever know!

Unusual Pets of the Day for March 9th – Introducing Max & Luna!


Name:	Max and Luna	Age:	Eight months old
Gender:	Unknown	Kind:	Dalmatian Tortoises
Home:	Germany
Hi, this are my two tortoises. Their names are Max and Luna. They are Dalmatian tortoises. Both have black eyes and a yellow, black and brown tank. I do not know their genders yet, as they are too young to tell. When I give them salad every day, they eat it happily and quickly. The tortoises live in a terrarium with a lots of plants. I like it, when they eat the salad and the tomatoes. The tortoises like it when I stroke their heads. Max is more active than Luna, but Luna’s shell is bigger than Max’s shell. They don’t like getting their picture taken, though, you can tell because they pulled their heads in! I love both my tortoises very much.

Precious Pup of the Day for March 6th


Name:	Hexi	Age:	Two years old
Gender:	Female	Breed:	Doberman Pinscher
Home:	Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, USA
When I was just a little girl I was visiting with my Great Auntie Barb and Great Uncle Gene. They had Dobermans and I just loved them. I grew up with one named Hexe. She was a beautiful black and rust. When I was about five years old I promised my Great Uncle Gene that when I grew up I would have a pretty Doberman just like his Hexe and I would name my girl Hexi too. My uncle passed away just three weeks after my 6th birthday. I miss him dearly. When I turned ten, his Hexe passed away. I never ever forgot that promise I made to him. Well on Feb. 13th, 2010 I brought home my first Doberman girl. I named her Diesel’s B&G Hexi Promise. Hexi’s dad’s name was Diesel, and just seven months before I got Hexi my pitbull named Diesel passed away and I know that he meant for me to bring this girl in my life to help me heal from losing him. So that’s where the name Diesel comes in to play with her registered name. The B&G of course stands for Barb and Gene my great auntie and uncle. Then Hexi is after his Hexe. I just decided to put the I at the end instead of the e. And then Promise is for the promise I made to him all those years ago. My sweet Hexi is nearly perfect in my eyes. She makes a great companion. She is on her way to taking her CGC(canine good citizen) test so I can take her into nursing homes and around special needs children. As of right now, she helps me with my PTSD. She is a clown, I couldn’t ask for much more. She is cross-eyed which isn’t something you see often in dogs. The vets said it should go away and they said that when she was a pup and she still has it. I think it adds to her charater. She is just a joy to be around. She likes to lick everything … yep, everything. Windows, floors, people, the bed, my other dog, you name it. She is very, very affectionate. When I was looking at getting one I remember people telling me that Dobermans are well known for being Velcro dogs and very vocal both of which my Hexi is. She doesn’t really have a favorite treat, she will eat just about anything you offer her. She is very smart, too. We have taught her to do high fives, it’s funny. She doesn’t swim if the water is deep, she panics. Generally she goes ’til it touches her chest and out she comes. We bought a life jacket for her for when she goes on the pontoon with us. She loves back massages, and she will put her foot in your lap for you to rub. What can I say, she is pampered. She also doesn’t handle the cold in Wisconsin very well so we bought her boots and a couple of sweat shirts and even a winter jacket. She doesn’t mind us putting them on her. We often joke about it because we have never seen anybody dress their big dogs up like we do. She enjoys when we buy her new collars either. She shows them off as if she were a model. She very much enjoys being in the spotlight and loves her photos taken – she poses often. If we have her out running in the fields and she sees me get my camera out she will sometimes stop and pose and then go on with her playing. She is 82.5 pounds of baby. I don’t think she knows just how big she really is. She is the best dog in the whole world 🙂

Kozy Kitten of the Day for March 5th


Name:	Cookie	Age:	Three years old
Gender:	Male	Kind:	Domestic shorthair
Home:	Newnan, Georgia, USA
About three and a half years ago, a small, kinda rough-looking little Tuxedo cat appeared in my neighborhood- my roommate and I named her Sophie. Sophie was almost completely feral, wouldn’t let people get near her, but she was very appreciative of the food and fresh water we put out. And, in due course, around late March 2008, Sophie produced a litter of two tiny kittens – a larger black-and-white guy whom you see here, by the name of Cookie, and a much tinier little girl-cat sister, all black except for two white spots on her chest, whom we named Mookie. Cookie, even outside as a ‘feral’ kitten, was a sweetheart, you could tell. His Mom would be showing him how to stalk something and he’d lose it in mid-stalk, just get too carried away with being a kitten, and start rolling around on the lawn, while Sophie glared at him. And when we caught him and his little sister, they got nothing but sweeter. (Incidentally, Sophie and all her other kittens, as well as most of her boyfriends, were alleventually caught, fixed, vaccinated and found loving homes.) Mookie has stayed a petite little girl-kitten, over the last three years- but Cookie grew! Cookie is now a very handsome eighteen-pounder of a tomcat, a big huge bundle of love- his mostly-symmetrical markings make him very handsome, and the crowning touch is the tiny black spot on his white nose and a tiny white firefly tip on his black tail. He’s still a totally friendly, affectionate guy, for being born “feral”- in fact he’s purring in my lap as I write this. We’re very glad Cookie allowed himself to be captured and ‘domesticated’- and he survived the relocation to Georgia from New Jersey without incident. He’s still buds with all the rest of the members of the Pride. One photo shows him sharing a window-seat with Birdie, another, presumably-unrelated feral tuxedo-cat we caught. We hope he stays with us for many, many years to come. He and I have “cuddle time” every morning when I check Cat of the Day and other sites- he curls in my lap and purrs and kneads and nuzzles- it’s a daily ritual. We’ve always thought he was especially handsome, and really ought to be in commercials or something – he’s smart enough to train, and he’s a beautiful boy, to be sure.

Dog-gone Doggie of the Day for March 3rd


Name:	Nelson	Age:	Eight months old
Gender:	Male	Breed:	Toy Poodle
Home:	Rochester, New York, USA
After our eighteen year old poodle died I thought I could never love another dog. A few months later I was browsing on the internet and saw an ad for a Toy Poodle puppy. Even though I didn’t want another dog I kept looking at that ad. Finally I decided I had to meet this little puppy. Well I took one look at that adorable face and immediately fell in love. We’ve had Nelson for six months and he has brought so much joy into our lives. He loves to snuggle with me on the couch and there is never a shortage of kisses. When we come home he is always waiting at the door to greet us with a wagging tail and and a happy howl. Even though Nelson is only 5 1/2 pounds he’s a terrific watchdog and protects our yard from pesky squirrels. He has also become a wonderful big brother to our Dusky Conure Rocky. Nelson has proven that a house really is not a home without a Toy Poodle! We have a web site at A Conure, A Poodle, and Two Parakeets! with more pictures!

Dog-gone Doggie of the Day for Feb. 24th


Name:	Franny	Age:	Three years old
Gender:	Female	Breed:	Boxer
Home:	Oak Creek, Wisconsin, USA
Hello! This is my adorable furkid, Francesca, a.k.a. Franny! She’s also known as Wiggle Buns, Fat Head, Peanut Head, Francini, and Fran Fran. I fell in love with Franny the second I saw her profile on Green Acres Boxer Rescue’s website. I checked their website daily, some times multiples times a day, for almost five months until I could no longer resist and I sent in an adoption application. I still can’t believe she was there that long! She was very underweight and had a litter of puppies when she was surrendered. She is now very muscular but petite; I think she is the perfect size! She’s now approximately three years old. Franny has been a member of our family since April 10, 2011 and every day since then ahs been comical – she provides a lot of laughs. Every day when I come home from work she is so excited to see me that she does her bean dancing (it’s a boxer thing …) spastically for five minutes as if I was gone for weeks on end. I love it! The best thing about Franny is her long tail. She loves to spin it really fast stick straight in a perfect circle – I always shout “watch out! preparing for take off!”, because it looks a lot like a helicopter blade. I never want to own a boxer with a nub tail now; there is a lot of personality that shines through her whip of a tail. Franny is the best snuggle buddy ever! Some of her favorite things to do are chase (and eat) flies that are in the house, watch the squirrels and deer that come in our yard, run around super fast with her butt really low to the ground (I call those Nascar laps), play with her squeaky rubber chicken, chase laser pointers, and go for car rides. Thank you Franny for being such a wonderful k9 companion. Momma (and Daddy!) loves you so much!

Dog-gone Doggie of the Day for February 17th


Name:	Dixie	Age:	Fifteen months old
Gender:	Female	Breed:	Boxer, German Shorthaired Pointer
Home:	Pennsylvania, USA
This is Dixie. She is such a fun loving dog and brings joy to everyone in the house. She shares a birthday with my younger sister, which makes her even more special to the rest of the family. We have two other dogs in the house as well, a female lab named Sandy who is only a week older than Dixie, and an elderly black lab mix named Bear. They all get along just fine, especially the younger two, who will wrestle and play all day long if we let them. Dixie is a great companion, and she goes with me everywhere I can possibly take her, including school! I am studying to be a Veterinary Technician, and I often bring her to my campus with me; dogs are welcomed there with open arms. She loves going for rides in the truck, no matter how far, and she especially likes the small fries I sometimes get her at the drive through. She is a very active dog and enjoys going for walks and her favorite form of exercise is swimming! She could swim for hours upon hours if I didn’t call her out of the water so she could rest. I love going fishing, and she is always by my side-as you can see in the picture with water in the background. She is very curious about the fish I catch though – not quite sure what to make of them. Dixie also makes me laugh every day, whether she won’t stop licking me or she is burying her body under my blankets in a game of hide and seek, I always get a kick out her. I love Dixie with all of my heart and she brings so much joy and excitement to my otherwise pretty ordinary life.

WOTC’s Spell of the Day for Feb. 17th – Cat Dreams

Cat Dreams

This spell teaches you how to energetically shape shift into a cat in your dreams. Shape shifting allows you merge with a particular animal spirit and to bring the power and wisdom of this spirit into your own being. It means you can be as sleek, sure-footed, and cunning as a cat when you need to be. These can be very good traits which is why cats are so adaptive and prone to survival. Their ancestors have been around for thousands and thousands of years.

You will need pictures of cats and sandalwood incense. Cats come in many different colors, sizes and personality types. Become familiar with these many faces of cats, and in particular, what face most closely resembles who you are as a person. Take time to observe as many cats as you can. Watch how they interact with other cats and how they interact with humans. Merge with the cat spirit and become one with the cat Goddess, Bast.

Tonight before you go to sleep, put the pictures of cats on your altar and light the sandalwood incense. Call out to the cat Goddess Bast:

Dear Bast, Goddess of the divine feline

Please come to me tonight during dreamtime.

Blessed dreams! Blessed Be!

As you close your eyes to go to sleep, let the images of cats move through your mind’s eye. Merge with the cat spirit, and repeat to yourself as you drift to sleep:

Tonight I dream with the cat spirit. Blessed be, Bast!

Special Kitty of the Day for Feb. 14th


Name:	UtchieB	Age:	Eighteen months old
Gender:	Male	Kind:	Sphynx
Home:	East Hartford, Connecticut, USA
UtchiB, as I call him, came from a backyard breeder. She was a very young woman who didn’t know what she was doing. I had lost my beautiful ten-year-old soulmate Sphynx, MooShoo on my birthday, February 13th from thrombosis. I swore I would always have a beautiful Sphynx in my life, but only a rescue will do. I searched for over a year to find AustinButchie. When I took the hour-long road trip, I didn’t know what to expect. The breeder told me she was in over her head, and proceeded to bring a cat carrier full of beautiful nekkids down for me to see. Out popped UtchieB!!! He was a wild man, running all over the place. He was older than the other kittens, but I found his playfulness intriguing. Later on, I realized that he was probably the runt of his litter, as he is very small for his age. He is goofy, charming and a purr machine. UtchieB wanted nothing to do with his carrier, insisting on riding on my shoulders, purring all the way home. As far as gradually introducing him to my fur crew? Well, let’s just say he kept climbing over the babygates I had stacked in my bedroom door to be with the gang. The rest is history. UtchieB was entered into his first cat show shortly after that. While he did “okay” in the Household Pet category of the TICA show, a judge friend said he definitely needs to be shown as a purebred alter. Unfortunately, I do not have his papers so that wasn’t an option. He is happiest being housecat, though. And that’s okay with me!!

Special Kitty of the Day for February 5th


Name:	Moonlight	Age:	Deceased, Three years old
Gender:	Male	Kind:	Cat
Home:	Tustin, California, USA
Inominate Moonlight the Stray, who came to accept me as his friend. About three years ago I noticed that the cat food I was leaving out in the evening for my cat Smokey to snack on was disappearing. Then soon after I caught a glimpse of a ragged black and white cat scurrying away into the darkness at just the slightest movement of the wind. Just a spooky little guy. So I began to leave more food out and in no time I had a nightly visitor. Every evening when the sun set this scrawny cat would appear, and so he became known as Moonlight. Moonlight made great strides in accepting me as his friend. From the malnourished thief of a cat who would steal Smokey’s food under the cover of darkness to that of an occasional lap cat whose purr sounded like thunder. Smokey tolerated him with an occasional nose boop. No longer a wisp of a feline but a big hunk of a tom and as soon as the sun had set I would hear Moonlight make his way upon the tops of the fences with a loud meow announcing his arrival. He would then dine upon two cans of food and a plate of crunchies before stepping inside for an hour long nap on the couch and an occasional brushing. Afterward he would return to the back porch and enjoy the evening for a few hours safe inside my yard. Sometime later he would venture off to make his nightly rounds but would always return the next night as sure as the moon would rise. For three years this feral cat and I understood each other and respected our places in the world. He lived his life and I lived mine, but for a few hours every evening we enjoyed each other’s company. Then one evening he did not keep his dinner date. Nor did he the next night. Worried I would walk the neighborhood looking for any signs but never saw one. A week passed and nothing. On the ninth day I woke to find Moonlight sitting at the back door and since the sun was up I knew something was terribly wrong. I sat my injured friend in my lap for an hour and listened to his broken purr as he tried to get comfortable, but the look in his eyes told me a story that words could not. Sadly, Moonlights injuries were too severe and he did not survive. Thank you my friend, you will be missed. I’m honored you accepted me as one of your own.

I couldn’t find a groundhog as “Pet Of The Day.” How ’bout a cute little bunny instead?


Name:	Rudi	Age:	Unknown
Gender:	Male	Kind:	German Giant Rabbit
Home:	Benneckenstein, Germany
This is my rabbit Rudi. He has this name because he is so big, like a little dog. He is a “Deutscher Riese” – a German Giant Rabbit. We got Rudi in 2009. He came to us as a stray. One evening my dad said: “There is something white on the road.” And the next morning, my mum went into our garden and Rudi sat there! We knew that he came from our neighbours, but there he would have been slaughtered. Our neighbour told us: “You can keep him.” And so Rudi was and is still our rabbit. When it is warm, my sister and I let Rudi out in the garden and play with him. Then Rudi is very happy. He knocks with his feets and jumps into the sky. That is very funny and fun to watch. Rudi likes to eat very much and sometimes he grunts when we put some new food in his hutch. His favorite food is carrots. Sometimes he is impatient and so he nips but we know he is not bad tempered. I love Rudi very much!!!

Dog-gone Doggie of the Day for Jan. 30


Name:	Shii-Anna	Age:	Nine years old
Gender:	Female	Breed:	Siberian Husky
Home:	Northern Michigan, USA
Shii-Anna is also known as Shii-shii, Shii-bear, Bear-bear, and Shii-Ann. Shii-Ann is my gift from the heavens; It was two years ago when my Mom got a call from a family member asking if she would take a dog, and a cat because they could not keep them in their current situation. My Mom began uttering the word “no” when I asked her to let them know that I would take their husky. Shii-Ann is named for her personality, she is an extremely skittish dog, if a person she does not know walks into the room she hides. From the moment I met Shii-Ann, she and I both knew that she was meant to be my pet. She is a couch loving pup, with a passion for chasing tennis balls, and going for runs. She Loves to howl “I love you,” and runs away when it’s pill time. I love her as most people love their children, and I feel blessed to have her.

Embarrassing Secrets of Pet Parents

Nicolas, selected from petMD

Dr. Vivian Cardoso-Carroll, PetMD

The other day I was in an exam room with a client and she sheepishly admitted that her dog sleeps with his head on her pillow. My tech looked over at me and said, “That would be a good blog topic: What’s the most embarrassing thing you do with, for, or about your pet?”

I thought it was a great idea. You guys have the benefit of being relatively anonymous. I, on the other hand, have to stand tall in front of you faceless masses to admit my doggie dirty-laundry. But that’s okay — I don’t think I’ve got anything too scandalous going on!

So after some thought, I’ve come up with a my most embarrassing dog confession. You can start thinking of your embarrassing moments now, too.

First, Two of my three dogs are dubiously housetrained. Katelin, my Min Pin, became my dog precisely because she’s potty training-deficient.

It was during my first job post-vet school, as I was walking through the kennels, that I saw her lying on a little bed in the back of a run. Katelin was simply the cutest dog I had ever seen. Supposedly her owners were pretty sure she was a Min Pin (Miniature Pinscher), but they had bought her at a garage sale for $35, so who knows? I told them that if they ever wanted to get rid of her, I’d take her.

The little voice in my head said, “Hey newlywed girl, maybe you should run that by the new husband first?”

I ignored it, naively thinking nothing would come of my offer.

Well, Katelyn’s issues became a problem. Her owners offered her up and my receptionist took her. I realized my folly and figured I wouldn’t make my never-had-a-dog-before husband have to deal with a second dog. However, the receptionist couldn’t potty train her — this wasn’t her excuse for not keeping her, but I don’t remember what was.

She gave Katelin to a lady with cancer. This lady pretty much sat around all day with Katelin in her lap, so it was perfect. Except for the fact that Katelin peed over every inch of her house (or so I presume). The story was that the lady was too sick to take care of her. I’m sure that was the case, even a perfectly healthy person tires of cleaning dog excrement all the time.

Then Katelin went to my friend’s friend, Marty. Marty had been looking for a Min Pin. Perfect! He took her for approximately 24 hours.

You can guess what she did.

He said that, well, actually he wanted a Min Pin that fetches, and Katelin didn’t fetch. This I know is untrue because she loves to fetch; she bounces after the ball like a little red gazelle! She really just peed all over his house.

So I picked her up from Marty’s house and brought her home, telling my husband it would just be for the weekend until I could take her back to work on Monday. My secret plan, though, was for him to fall in love with her and let me keep her.

Well, he’s not really a dog lover. He likes them okay, I guess, but ultimately dogs are my thing. So I subsequently appealed to his engineer side: I wanted a cat, but couldn’t have one because of his allergies. Katelin was about the size of a cat so… I should be able to keep her instead of a cat!

“Fine,” he relented. “She’s our substitute cat.”

Cats are far easier to housetrain than our stubborn little Katelin. She was extremely talented at peeing and pooping in areas of the house we didn’t frequent; the formal dining room and the game room, for example. These places were like little graveyards with poop headstones all over the place.

We finally had to resort to the “umbilical cord” method of potty training: you keep her on a leash on your person at all times. She has to go out every 30 minutes (praise when she potties). If she has an accident in the house, we provided negative reinforcement — shake a can with coins in it, etc. to startle her. This way you can catch her in the act. It took about 48 hours, but she got it.

If you give her one little inch, though, she takes it. She also forgets her potty training every winter, when it’s too cold or wet to bother using the great outdoors.

We have gates everywhere to block her from potty locales.

Currently, her favorite place to potty is my closet. It’s the only place in the house with any carpet left that isn’t gated. We’re putting springs on the doors so that they close themselves.

I’m not sure why we’re bothering, she’ll just find some other place to go.

But we love her, so we keep trying to stay one step ahead of her “accidents.”

So that’s confession #1; my poor potty training ability.

My second confession I came up with right off the bat, when my tech mentioned the subject: I have a tendency to tell my dogs I love them more often than I tell my family.

How ’bout you?

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