Blogging Buddies: Tank, Yeti & Nova

We adopted Yeti around five years ago from a pet store. He was in the ‘rescued from the animal shelter’ adult animal section. He’s a huge, pure white cat with one blue and one yellow eye and he somehow fooled us into thinking he was a nice gentlemanly kitty. So we took him home. Soon enough we learned that he must have had a horrible life before us. He was jumpy, afraid of everything, angry and … a girl!

That's right, somehow the vet and/or the pet shop made a mistake and sold us a lady cat under the guise of a man cat. Hahaha whatever.

Yeti was overweight and traumatized and to this day she takes a lot of patience to be around. It takes her a long time to warm up to someone. She loves me like a momma and she likes Ryan okay and tolerates the kids as long as they move slowly and don’t touch her very much, but, fair warning, look out if you’re visiting our house.

And then we got Tank about a year ago. He is awesome. You could say he was a rescue doggy too, because technically he was, but I don’t think he’d have any trouble at all being adopted. We found him on the Victoria Bulldog Society website, his previous family was going to have to give him up because they were having their fourth kid and couldn’t take care of a dog as well. Lucky us!

He’s a purebred British Bulldog (which, we have been recently informed by a breeder family are very different from Old English Bulldogs) and he came with papers and … testicles. For a couple of weeks we considered not neutering him because his babies would be worth so much money, but eventually we decided to do the right thing and brought him down to the vet. 

Tank is probably the awesomest dog I have ever met. He’s hilarious and very even tempered. He doesn’t get hyperactive very often and never snaps or growls unless there are fireworks happening outside or the washing machine is off-balance. The only one in the family who was not stoked about Tank joining the family was Yeti. This picture was taken the day we brought Tank home, haha.

Yeti literally would not leave our bedroom for almost nine months after we brought Tank home, and it’s only been a few weeks since she’s braved coming into the same room as the dog. There’s constant (and so far harmless) hissing and barking. Cat vs. Dog - it’s straight out of a cartoon.

Most of the fighting these days comes from a weird habit Yeti has developed. She MUST drink all the water out of every receptacle there is, except her own bowl. Just had a shower? Bam, there’s Yeti. Poured yourself a cup of water? Yeti’s on the case. Dog dish full of water with no dog guarding it? You get the picture.

And Tank does not take kindly to Yeti drinking out of his dish, but somehow Yeti has established herself as the Alpha animal in the house. So Tank just stands nearby grumbling until she’s finished, and then he chases her, hissing, all the way back to our bedroom.

As far as animal advice goes, cats are pretty easy but I do have some words of caution for people considering adopting a bulldog.

The thing about bulldogs is they are sensitive little muffins. They look all tough but you have to be careful. They have breathing issues, skin issues, short life spans, tummy issues, they can't swim, they overheat easily, they get foot problems if you don't cut their toenails, you have to bathe them yourself ... and more! Tank's quite a little princess sometimes. He loves the blow-dryer after he gets a bath though which is the cutest thing ever.

In the summer heat, Bulldogs will literally choke to death on their own saliva if they pant too much. Can you believe it? That would be an extreme case, obviously, but I'm still careful. I still don't want him to get doggie heat-stroke, so our walks have to be either early in the morning or late at night during the summer.

And, I mean, it's not like we were running around, this was from walking at what I would consider a pretty slow pace. It still probably took him half an hour of lying on the floor, drinking water and panting to get back to normal.

So, in conclusion, if you find yourself taking care of a bulldog for any amount of time, please do your research and be aware of all their issues. As far as doggies go, they take a lot of work and care. But it's worth it, they're the best dogs in the world, I swear.

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Thanks Nova for sharing your story and being the final Blogging Buddies participant of 2011!

We are currently seeking submissions for the 2012 Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com

Blogging Buddies: Emmett and us

As you may know if you are a long time reader, I have been OBSESSED with the idea of getting a Bulldog puppy for well over a year now. This past spring, M and I took a lot of walks, and on one walk I commented on how badly I wished we had a little Bulldog accompanying us on our walks. That ache didn't go away, and once we got home I went to the website of the breeder we had chosen to torture myself by looking at the dogs. That's when I saw that they were planning to breed the male that we wanted to the female that we wanted. I emailed the breeder to see when they were planning for the litter and we were told that the litter would be born in July, and that there were no deposits so we could have first pick if we put down a deposit. I talked it over with M, and we decided we could put a deposit down and if we decided we weren't ready, we could hold off for another litter.

I was so excited, all spring and summer I couldn't wait for word that the pups were born. Then the due date passed, no word. A few days later no word. About a week after the due date I signed in to Facebook to see that the breeder had posted "Sad news, there are no puppies, it was a false pregnancy." I went from shocked to angry very quickly. If you are breeding dogs, you have your pregnant dogs to the vet several times to make sure everything is ok, they should have known about this weeks prior, and they should have emailed deposit holders instead of just randomly posting on Facebook. We had the option of rolling our deposit to their next available litter. But we had wanted a puppy from those dogs specifically. And after seeing this breeders less than professional actions, we decided to pull our deposit. The 45 day claim period had expired on PayPal, and the breeder wouldn't willingly refund our money at first. So I had to file all kinds of claims and call PayPal and my bank. It was a nightmare. Finally after several weeks, we were able to get our deposit back. We thought that this was all for the better. We were buying our house, and moving with a new puppy would have been really difficult.

So for a while, my focus moved from puppies to getting our house set up and fixed. Once most of that action died down, I got the fever worse than ever. I was scouring craigslist and petfinder for older bulldogs that needed adoption, but nothing seemed to work out. I started to give up on my bulldog dream and considered getting a Pit, like M wanted. Then one night while laying in bed I had the idea to check the Want Ad Digest on my phone to see if there were any local listings for Pit puppies because I didn't want to wait til spring. After searching "puppies," the first ad that popped up had the headline "Bulldog / Pug Pups" and they would be ready to go the following weekend. I felt like it was fate. I didn't say anything to M right away, but I knew that our puppy was in that litter. The next day I sent him a picture text of one of the pups and his response was "k." So I called the number and told the guy we would be there on Sunday to pick up a pup. At first M was hesitant about it all, thought that we were jumping the gun and should maybe hold out for a bulldog like I really wanted. But I told him that this was it, our dog was in that litter.

We drove out 2 hours that weekend to pick our puppy. They had 1 male and 2 females left out of a litter of 7. We considered taking one of the females, and had a really tough time deciding, but ultimately went with the male. And then it took us about 2 weeks before we finally settled on his name: Emmett.

I have to say that getting an 8 week old puppy is a lot more work than I had anticipated. I had been reading a really great book in preparation called "The Art of Raising a Puppy," and thought I had everything totally down. When I adopted my last dog, Milo, he was 6 months old, crate trained, and sleeping through the night. Emmett was doing none of these things. I would get up 2-3 times a night to take him out and I was a sleep starved zombie. I also didn't realize how all consuming a young puppy would be, that I wouldn't get anything done because he needed to be constantly monitored. Now, at 14 weeks, he is just starting to leave the stage where I have to watch him every second. He can be trusted for short times to play around the house, he's mostly housebroken, save for a few accidents, and has been sleeping though the night for about 4 weeks now. I'm really loving this new stage of puppyhood!

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We are currently seeking submissions for the Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com

blogging buddies: Lil Mamma and Jinny

This is Lil'Mama.

Well, she actually started out as "Tink" or something equally unfitting. She once belonged to our hillbilly next door neighbors. They kept her as a strictly outdoor cat and even though I cannot 100% confirm this...I'm pprreettyy sure they never fed her.

During the summer, which was the most BRUTAL summer I can ever remember, she became a regular visitor to our back porch. It was covered and the concrete was cool. She would lay under the coffee table and just pant. What else could I do but start giving her water?

As the summer went on and "Tink" was still hanging out. And I noticed that she was just so skinny. SSooo, I kind of..sort of..started feeding her..just a little bit. Jeremy will tell you..she was so thin. Except for her growing belly. That's right. She was pregnant. Which is when I took to calling her Lil'Mama.

She had her kittens but kept them over at the next door neighbor's house. We only saw the kittens a handful of times. There were three..and then two..and then only one. Until there were none. I don't know what happened to them. I sort of don't want to think about what probably happened to them.

Our hillbilly neighbors eventually disappeared. Oh, their stuff was still at the house...still is...but they have stopped living in the house. But Lil'Mama is still here...on our back porch. We are now feeding her on the regular. She comes when I call her. I'd say she has decided to stay.

I thought, at first, that we would sort of just foster her. Feed her and care for her until we could find her a good home. That was my TRUE intentions. I even put it out there on facebook. BBuutt..she has sort of grown on me...damn it. So we have recently made the decision to keep her.

We haven't been able to take her to the vet just yet. For one, it's right before the holidays and our extra money is tied up in other things. And two, we are still waiting for the hillbilly neighbors to officially move out. We don't want to put in the effort of vetting her if they decide to come and grab her. I really don't think they will ever come back for her..at least I hope they won't.

So, for now, until we can make sure she is healthy and safe to be around our other animals, we've set her up a little house on our back porch. It isn't much, but it gives her some place to go as the weather gets colder. I actually made her a rice pillow...from scratch..with a sewing machine. I don't sew, people. But I sure did stitch a rice pillow that I can warm up for this little kitty.

I did not want another animal. I was quite adamant that we NOT keep her. I mean, just take a look at the brood of animals we already have living in this little love cottage..just to your left there. That is FIVE animals..Lil'Mama makes six. That is just insane. But it wasn't really up to me. She picked US to be her people. And how can I argue with that?

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Thanks Jinny for sharing your story!!

We are currently seeking submissions for the Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com

Blogging Buddies: Ella and Stephanie

I had been asking Nick for another dog (a buddy for Guillermo) for MONTHS (seriously, since November!). He kept telling me no because our then apartment was already too small for the one dog and cat. I was relentless.

I was working at PetsMart both as a training instructor and a bather in the salon. PetSmart hosts an adoption/rescue group every Saturday and Sunday, and on May 21, I watched as the teeniest, tiniest Pekingese-Chihuahua puppy was dragged (literally, dragged on the ground) in by a leash and collar to be surrendered by her owner. I fell in love instantly.

I immediately began sending Nick countless pictures of her, and after a week of badgering him, he FINALLY gave in (I would be moving soon, anyways). We brought her home the very next weekend, and of course she was instantaneously a daddy’s girl. When we brought her home, her name was Shi-Shi (how AWFUL), we quickly changed it to Elladora. She goes by Ella, Ellaphant, Smellaphant, and Smelly, lovingly. 

One of my favorite memories of Ella has to do with when we first got her. She had been fixed by the rescue group (at much too small a weight, 2.5 lbs) and the surgery had been botched. Her stomach was infected and the incision would not close up for weeks. At first she was very, very hesitant for us to get anywhere near such a tender area, but eventually she began to trust us enough to scrub it twice a day. It healed in no time. I remember being SO happy that she was okay, and so incredibly relieved.

-tell me about any advice you have for people who are considering getting a pet similar to the one(s) you're writing about.

The hardest part about taking care of a dog so small (especially a Chihuahua) is that they are prone to having open fontanels when they are born, and sometimes they do not grow out of this. A lot of vets and trainers joke that this is the “off button,” but it really is! If you are thinking about getting a Chihuahua, this can be a very dangerous condition that you would have to watch out for. They are great, loving companions!

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Thank you Stephanie, for sharing your story!!

We are currently seeking submissions for the Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com

Blogging Buddies: Pie, Sovereign, Foggy and Juliette

Hi! I am Juliette from the Thoroughbred retraining blog, Honeysuckle Faire.  I live with my husband, Brian, and our daughter, Maizie Jane, our adorable kitty, Noodlebug, and our three sweet and silly Thoroughbreds, Pie, Sovereign, and Foggy. 

Many people do not know this sad fact, but when Thoroughbreds are done racing, most are sent to be slaughtered. Thankfully, there are rescue organizations cropping up all over the US and UK who are able to save the lives of some of the horses. I found one such organization, Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) out of Saratoga Springs, New York and I requested to foster two horses in December of 2008.  

Racehorses know very little about being safe riding horses when they come from the racetrack. They have to be "retrained" to walk nicely on a lead, be groomed safely, be tacked up in cross-ties, and walk, trot, and canter with a rider aboard at safe speeds. My original idea was to foster and retrain two horses from TRF and help them get adopted. So in February of 2009, Sly Pioneer (Pie) and Suave Lord (Sovereign), two ex-race horses from Philadelphia Park Racetrack arrived at our farm. 

Pie was only three years old and Sovereign had just turned four when they arrived, but both had already been trained to race. Sovereign had raced 26 times (!) which isn't very much when compared to most Thoroughbreds on the track. Racehorses are trained to take the bit in their mouths and go, so I started retraining them by never putting a bit in their mouth. I taught both horses to be ridden in a bitless bridle. This helps racehorses "forget" all that they learned before. In addition, long grazing and grooming sessions and many hours of good quality hay and free pasture time helps to "erase" the memories of racing.  Mostly, kindness and love helps retrain these smart, athletic horses.

Of course, we all fell in love with the two big boys and we decided to adopt them as our own almost as soon as they arrived.  Can you blame us?  Here I am on my sweet, gentle giant, Pie, and Sovereign is following with my friend, Kathy riding him.

One evening in July of 2010 I was wondering about the pedigree of our two wonderful horses and I found out online that Sovereign had a full brother named "Found in the Fog" and he was still racing at Philadelphia Park!!! We live two hours from Philadelphia so I immediately contacted his owners to see if we could meet him. He wasn't going to race again that summer and there seemed to be no way to see him, but I kept thinking about this horse.  In November his owners contacted me to see if I wanted to adopt him because they were done racing him!  

Brian and I went to Philly to meet "Found in the Fog" (Foggy) and, again, we fell instantly in love. Foggy is the absolute sweetest horse that ever lived.  Here I am (below) on the day I met him. He came home to live with us permanently in January of 2011!  

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Thank you Juliette, for sharing your story!!

We are currently seeking submissions for the Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com

Blogging Buddies: Leroy and Sara

Hey everyone. Sara here from Sarbear’s Journey. I’m so glad to have the opportunity to tell you about one of my furry kiddos. We share our home with many four-footers, one cat and three dogs, but today I’d like to tell you about our most recent adoptee, Leroy.

My home state of Missouri has an unfortunate title of being the puppy mill capital and during my months working at an animal shelter an important piece of legislation was on the table in attempts to change this.

One very large breeder that had drawn a lot of negative attention decided to prepare for the passing of Proposition B, as this legislation was called, and held a dog auction. In order to keep these animals from going back into a life of living in cages, many rescues joined forces and funds to try to bring as many of these sweeties home as possible.

That’s where my little Leroy comes in. It was the night before Halloween 2010 and I left a party to go help bath and settle the incoming pooches. Around 10pm I was photographing injuries when a long-haired Chihuahua came into view. The moment he came into my arms I knew that’s where he would stay. I snipped his numbered tag from his neck and game him the name of Leroy.

For the following week I brought him back and forth to work with me and to appointments with the veterinarian. He had 10 rotten teeth and cleaning of the others and a long overdue appointment to be neutered. I felt such relief knowing that after four years of life his breeding days were finally over. We’ve been loving life together ever since and this little guy is like my furry soul mate. If any pair was ever meant to be together, it’s us.

There is no one favorite moment we have shared because every day I find such pride in his progress. He’s only been with us 11 months and every time I see him trust a little more or fear a little less I feel my heart swelling just a little bit bigger. It’s been such a joy seeing his transformation and I’ll always be his number one supporter, there for him to hide behind if this big ol’ world becomes just a little too much. For that love he gives back to me ten fold.

As for advice, I am a huge supporter of pet adoption and of providing a home for these many puppy mill refugees, but you must know what you’re getting into. Before Leroy came to us he had only lived in a wire cage. This has led to many health issues that we’ll always have to keep in eye on as well as potty training issues. He’s fairly comfortable with other animals, but human socialization will be a life-long journey as he learns to trust. These critters take a lot of patience, a lot of love, and the ability to be understanding of their fears and insecurities, but they give back more love and loyalty than one heart can contain.

If you have any questions about pet adoption or want to see the rest of our crew feel free to swing by for a visit. I’m always up for talking animals and helping anyone on their pet guardian journey.

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Thank you Sara, for sharing your story!!

We are currently seeking submissions for the Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com

Blogging Buddies: Scruff and Fee

Hi! I’m Fee from Cakes and Cuddles. I’m a Scottish 21 year old living in England, and I am learning to bake and blogging about it. I live with my lovely boyfriend and our little ragga-kitty, Scruff.

When my boyfriend and I moved into this flat, the next door neighbour had two cats. We didn’t know their names, so we called them Kneepads (because she had white legs with what looked like black ‘kneepads’ on them) and Nico (because I’m in love with the Broken Sword series and my boyfriend did an impression of the kitty and randomly did it in a French accent!). Unfortunately, Nico was hit by a car only a few months after she came into our lives, and as Kneepads became lonely having lost her sister, she began to spend more and more time at our house. It got to the stage where, if I would outstretch my arm when I was in bed, she would come and lay on her back, under the duvet, and sleep like a little human cuddling up to us. It was adorable. We didn’t know her owner, and she’d leave every day when her real owner got home so that she could be fed, but she was round our house all day and all night apart from that.

When our neighbour moved unexpectedly, I was devastated. I never got to say goodbye to Kneepads. She used to lay with a paw on each side of your tummy like she was cuddling you, and I was really missing having her adorable little cuddles. My boyfriend and I decided we’d adopt another cat, and that we’d name it Cooper, after our favourite character from The Big Bang Theory. 

I went to the shops one day, and as I was walking home a cat walked directly up to me, then turned around when it reached me and walked by my side. I remember smiling at it, because it looked exactly like a cat I’d had (Merlin) when I was a little girl, except that he had tufts of fur sticking up all over the place and his ear was ripped in half. He kept circling my feet as I walked home, so I took a photo and sent it to my boyfriend via Whatsapp, with a message along the lines of “I WANT TO KEEP THIS CAT.” Here is the exact picture I sent him, all those months ago!

He followed me all the way home, then slowly crept inside behind me. My boyfriend said he had no problem with us keeping him, but that it wasn’t up to us; owners don’t choose cats, cats choose their owners. We had absolutely nothing for a cat, so had to use a bowl and saucer for feeding him and improvised a bed for him by stacking old couch cushions, making a bed shape out of a hoodie then laying a towel over it. Luckily, he settled right in and he’s been with us every day ever since. He didn’t have a collar, but for the first week I was terrified that he’d go back ‘home’ and I’d never see him again. Nobody in the area (5 minute walk from my house) had ever seen him before or reported him missing and he was so scraggly that he’d clearly been a stray for a while, so we decided that we’d give him a home here. As he was so raggedy and had his poor little torn ear, I knew from the moment I saw him that his name was Scruff. As homage to our previous name choice, I bought him a little kitty brush and wrote ‘Scruffdon Cooper’ across the base.

He’s quite an old (starting to grey!) boy – we acquired a cat toy for him and he just stared between us and the toy as if to say “Really? Toys? They are beneath me”. I’m not sure how old, really, but his age absolutely presents problems. His tummy is very sensitive and whenever he eats anything too rich we’ve got an entire kitchen of grossness to clean up. He also gets bored of food really easily; he’ll scoff his food up the moment he’s got a new flavour, but by the second day he’ll refuse to eat it because it has become mundane. He also won’t eat anything unless he actually sees us put it in the bowl. Sometimes he’ll have a bowlful of food sitting there and he’ll stare at it until one of us pretends to put an imaginary handful of food in! He moves quite slowly a lot of the time, and sometimes looks off-balanced when he starts to talk. Apparently this is all part of the process of getting older, and it makes me sad that we’ve come in to his life so late in it, but I’m pleased that we can give him a happy home to live out the remainder of his days.

He has adorable little quirks. He walks on his hind legs if you offer him a slice of ham (pictured is my boyfriend holding ham up for an action shot) and he is the most ridiculously camera shy cat ever! The moment he sees a camera he looks away really quickly and moves his face away from the lens no matter what angle you’re trying to get a picture from – which makes it really hard to get pictures of his face! He also answers to MANY nicknames, including “Scroff” (we Woll Scroffed him!!!) and “Diddle”, short for “Scruffadiddle”.  He loves stealing your seat, turning the volume up and down on the TV and pressing buttons on the controller if you’re playing a game on the xbox360 or ps3 instead of giving him all of your attention. His favourite place to sit is across your arms when you’re trying to type, and second favourite seems to be on your chest with his butt in your face! He loves being brushed, too, and even loves the little blue diamante collar we got him as a joke. We thought he’d hate it and want to take it off immediately, but it seems like he really suits being a “pimp kitty”!!

I’ve managed to get a proper photo of him from the front ONCE, and it was when he was sitting on my boyfriend’s lap and we made a little hat for him out of a rolled up sock. The moment we placed it on his head, it was like he was totally immobilised! As cute as it was, I started to feel bad for laughing at him so took the hat off; I didn’t feel bad enough not to take photos and post them on the internet though!

If I have learned anything from having Scruff, it is that you can’t compare one cat to another; they all absolutely have their own personalities, in the same way that you and I do. Kneepads loved cuddling and having his paws stroked, while Scruff will put his paw on you on HIS terms, but if you acknowledge it he’ll hastily take it away. Be prepared for a bit of trial and error before you find the food that agrees with your kitty, too, and don’t be afraid to look online when you’re not sure what to do; just make sure you don’t listen to some crazed feline-extremist who wants to scare all of us cat owners by trying to pass off an ill-informed comment as fact!

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Thank you Fee, for sharing your story!!

We are currently seeking submissions for the Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com

Blogging Buddies: Anya & Kaycie

Hello Windshield Diaries readers! My name is Kaycie (from Redhead Memories) and is this is my new Siamese kitten, Anya. 

Lately I’ve been pretty lonely at home, since my husband has to take the car to work and stays there for most of the day. After some thought and some saving (gotta love newlywed budgets!), we decided to adopt a kitten!

When we went to the Humane Society and saw her there, I knew she was the one I wanted. Her coloring was so beautiful and I couldn’t resist. She keeps me company while I do things at home and I seriously worry about her all the time. I wonder if she’ll be okay being alone for a few hours. I love her a lot, ha ha.

We have bought Anya a blanket, a giant cat scratcher, with levels so she can climb, and tons of toys. And yet, the sink is still her favorite place to cuddle up.

 I would definitely recommend getting a cat. They are very self-sufficient. They lick themselves to stay clean, use their litter box and eat whenever. They still love attention, but can take care of themselves if you’re gone part of the day.

Thanks for letting me share my precious kitten with you!

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Thank you Kaycie, for sharing your story!!

We are currently seeking submissions for the Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com

Blogging Buddies: Cypress, Rob & Caitlin

Hi all! My name is Caitlin and I blog at To Make Love Stay and I'm so excited to be a part of the Blogging Buddies feature!

My husband, Rob, and I moved in together in May of 2008, after being apart for his entire four-year Army enlistment.  In October, we finally gathered up the courage to ask our landlord to get a dog, and you can't imagine how thrilled we were when she consented.

We took the whole day one Saturday visiting local animal shelters until we finally stumbled upon our little beast Cypress.  She was in a cage with her brother, Aries, and honestly I didn't give her a second look because she was such a large dog and our apartment was relatively small.  My husband was instantly taken with her, however, and I can still picture her sitting against the cage looking up at us with her big, brown, Husky-Rottweiler eyes.  The following Monday we brought her home with us and we were totally on cloud 9 with her (minus the vomit in the car on the way home...poor beastie still gets car-sick). 

I knew right away that Cypress understood me when our downstairs neighbor complained about her walking too loud the day we got her, and our landlord told us that if it continued we'd have to get rid of her.  I'd only had her for 5 or 6 hours but I absolutely lost it.  Cypress, who had been a happy, goofy beast up to that point, came up to me and licked my cheek and wouldn't leave my side.  Now, whenever I feel anxious or depressed, Cypress literally will follow me everywhere I go and will often refuse to go on walks with my husband if I don't go.  She and I are both high strung but I think we complement each other quite well. 

Cypress has also been the perfect therapy dog for my husband, who served for 13 months during the bloodiest time of the war in Iraq. She's helped to teach him patience and has kept him company while I travel for my software consulting job.  They both require extensive exercise so I think they work pretty well together! :) 

We've had our lovely little beastie with us for 3 and a half years now, and she has become an absolutely invaluable member of our little family. We've had bumps along the way just like any family member (like when she decided to destroy a picture of me that my husband carried with him in Iraq), but we truly can't imagine our life without her.

To anyone considering getting a dog I would highly recommend adopting from a shelter or from a rescue.  For one, Cypress came to us completely housetrained and knowing a lot of commands.  For another, it's great to know that we rescued her and gave her a good home; we know that if we had not adopted her she may not have as happy a life as she does (she is spoiled, that's for sure!).  So many dogs, particularly in urban areas, face euthanization every day, which is absolutely heartbreaking to me.  My husband and I agree that all of our future dogs will come from shelters or breed rescues and I recommend this to anyone looking for a dog.  If you do choose to get a particular breed, research and find a reputable breeder. Please, please do not buy a dog from a pet store - too many get their dogs from puppy mills and aside from the cruelty aspect, you could be setting yourself up for a whole host of breed-related ailments.  I know it's been said many times before, but I'm constantly surprised by the number of people in my Facebook or Twitter feed still buying dogs from pet stores. Whatever you choose to do, make sure to give your beastie lots of love and you will get plenty of it in return!

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Thank you Caitlin, for sharing your story!!

We are currently seeking submissions for the Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com

Blogging Buddies: Mr Littlejeans & Susannah

Hi everyone! My name is Susannah, and I blog over at susannahbean.com about life, crafts, and of course, my little furry son, Mr. Littlejeans. I'm so excited to tell you all about him, he's certainly a unique and quirky cat and I think he's perfect!

I brought Mr. Littlejeans home in September of 2008. I was away at college, living with my boyfriend, Chris,  in a little two bedroom apartment off campus. I had finally convinced Chris that we needed a cat, and I went to the local Humane Society after class, just to look around. I had my heart set on finding a little orange kitten with a pink nose, but they didn't have any at the shelter that day. I saw Jeans, who's shelter name was O'Malley, in a little cage in the corner. I asked to take him out, and I was able to play with him in a room full of toys for a while. I knew that I needed this cat, THIS was my baby, when he snuggled up around my neck and started purring. I just had to bring Chris in to make sure they got along and that he was on board still, and he was ours!

We brought him home, and things went well for the first few days. We changed his name from O'Malley to Earl ('cause he's gray, like the tea), and then from Early to Mr. Earl Marshall Littlejeans (there's a very small part at the end of the movie Rushmore that features Mr. Littlejeans, and it just stuck). He had some behavioral issues that we chalked up to adjusting to a new home, but when they didn't go away after a few weeks we started to get concerned. He was a little terror, constantly biting and scratching us, and he just would not sleep. He was up all night, attacking us and knocking things down. It was pretty awful. After a few months of dealing with him like that, I was at my wits end. I honestly considered bringing him back to the shelter because I couldn't cope with his craziness. But then one day, and it sounds like I'm making this up, but one day a sweater saved our relationship.

I bought Jeans a sweater for a dollar, thinking I could snap a few cute photos before he chewed it to shreds. I put it on him, and he was instantly calm. He laid down and started purring, and was just the nicest kitten you could ever imagine. After a while, we started putting the sweater on him when he was behaving badly, and we would put it on him at night before bed. He started to learn what things he couldn't do, and over the course of the next year his behavior improved by leaps and bounds. Now, he never wears shirts during the day, and only sometimes has to wear his pajamas to bed. I think the tightness of the sweaters and shirts calm him down, much like children with behavioral issues are given weighted vests to calm them. Learning the magic t-shirt trick, moving into a bigger apartment where he has more room to roam, and plain and simple growing older really helped us have a better life together.

After we got over all the negative stuff about having Mr. Littlejeans join our family, we've figured out how truly awesome his personality is. He's not your typical cat. He likes to play, but it's more like how you play with a puppy. He likes to wrestle, and play fetch, and he loves to jump and race around the house after the laser pointer. He's best frenemies with the printer (we honestly can't decide if he loves it or hates it, we just know he tries to get in it when it's printing!). He likes popcorn, and the first sips out of a newly opened water bottle, and he looooovvvvvessss his blankies. He's taken over ownership of a few super soft throw blankets we have, and you can usually find him cuddled up on one on the couch. He sleeps in the weirdest positions, and usually his tongue sticks out a little. He's missing a front tooth from that time we were playing with a cardboard tube from inside a roll of gift wrap, and he spends the entire day begging for his dinner. Seriously. I can fill his bowl with his dinner, and five minutes later he's whining at me for more (even if his bowl's still full!). He's the best match for us we could've ever found!

If you're looking to get a kitten, especially if it's your first one, I think you should be prepared for any sort of unexpected behavior. Not all cats are going to sleep and purr all day! I think if I could give any advice it would be to just be patient, and know that cats go through growing stages much like humans do. You never know what trick you can find to help you deal with a certain situation. Maybe you'll find that a spray bottle works best at keeping Mittens off the bookshelf, or that Fluffy will only drink out of a running faucet. Or maybe you'll find that your cat needs to wear pajamas to bed! If you're patient and you try different was to fix the problem, you'll figure it out and make the best life for you and your pet.

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Thank you Susannah, for sharing your story!!

We are currently seeking submissions for the Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com

Blogging Buddies: Milo and Me

When I was living in Brooklyn I really, really, REALLY wanted to get my first dog. I spent hours researching breeds online to find the right match for me. One day I came across an online quiz that asked you what traits you wanted in a dog, and matched you with breeds that fit your descriptions. My number one match was Japanese Chin. I had NEVER heard of the breed before that quiz, but started looking into Rescue groups and learning more about them. Eventually, I found a rescue group who needed a home for a 6 month old Japanese Chin pup they were calling "Higgins." I took one look at his photo and knew he was the pup for me.

This photo was taken the day he came home. I had to drive from Brookyn to Pennsylvania to pick him up. He had been a pet store puppy that a woman purchased, intending to breed him to another pet store purchased female. She changed her mind and gave him to the rescue, and I'm so glad she did!

Milo is the best dog I've ever met. I would take him Upstate to my parents' house for visits, and he love running around their yard! When it came time for me to leave Brooklyn, I knew the only place Milo would be happy would be my parents' house. They took both of us in for a few months, and eventually I went back to school and got an apartment. He stayed behind, and has lived with them for the past 5 years. 

Japanese Chin are very cat-like dogs. They like to be clean, they like to lay on the back of the couch and look out the window. They are very mellow, in a cat-like way about 90% of the time. They are very smart and love their families very much, though with strangers they can be aloof. They are a long coated dog, but are often referred to as "wash and wear" because their coats rarely matt, and they require minimal grooming. If you're looking for a real "doggy" dog who chews, barks, likes to roughhouse, the Japanese Chin isn't for you. If you're looking for a quiet, calm, funny companion, you've found the breed for you!

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We are currently seeking submissions for the Blogging Buddies series, and we would love to hear all about your pet or pets, please email us!

windshielddiaries at gmail dot com