I’ve had pets ever since I was a little girl. In fact I remember my first pet, a little black and white spotted terrier that in my part of the South we called a fiest. Her name was Peanut and she’s the dog in the picture with the little girl. Of course the little girl is me. I remember what a good mama that dog was. She had a little of puppies that died, and she took our cat’s kittens away and tried to raise them herself.
One of my favorite pets was a little Siamese cat called Spooky because we got her at Halloween. She was more like a dog than you’d believe. She loved playing fetch with a small ball. One night I woke in the night to the sound of someone in the bathroom. My husband was still in bed so I went in there to see who it was, and I saw Spooky using the toilet. No one had taught her to do this. It was just something she did.
I think my all time favorite pet was a white dog called Rascal. Rascal was as smart as a whip. He knew how to open the door, and if it caught it just right with his paw, he could do it. He ran faster than any dog we’d ever had, and could jump almost as high as my head. He died eighteen months ago when he jumped out of the car and hit his head on the pavement.
So have I ever had an exotic pet? No, I haven’t, and I don’t have much desire to do so. Dogs and cats offer such love and devotion that I’ve never even been tempted to look at other creatures. I saw a meme on Facebook the other day that said, ‘What did we do to deserve dogs?’ What indeed. As long as my dog and cat love me as they do, I won’t be looking at any other animal.
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
We had a white dog named Rascal also. Wonderful dog. Had awful medical problems near the end so we had to put him down, but he lived a good long life. I’ll speak more about Rascal tomorrow.
Any idea why Peanut’s litter all died? was she too young to have pups?
LikeLike
I was too young at the time so I don’t have any idea why.
LikeLike
My daughter has raised several female dogs and has considered breeding them at various times. In her research, she heard of a theory that if a female gets pregnant during her first cycle, that the pups have much more of a challenge to be healthy and whole. In other words, she was being advised to let that female have at least a couple of normal cycles without any risk of impregnation.
LikeLike
That could be what happened. I just can’t remember.
LikeLike
Your pets certainly had interesting personalities! I can’t imagine a cat using the toilet.
LikeLike
It was the coolest thing ever.
LikeLike
Wow a cat that taught itself to use the toilet would be great!
We had a kitten that adopted us on Christmas morning one year. We opened the door to let the dog in before we opened gifts and he wouldn’t come inside. So we (my sister and I) stepped out to see what was going on and a little kitten ran into the house. Once the kitten was inside our dog trotted happily in. The two of them curled up together and slept after the kitten ate. My daughter was so thrilled that Santa brought her a kitten that we had to keep it.
LikeLike