Has any of your animals created good memories you would like to share?

Well one of our dogs we found when we were living in Guyana. She was just this skinny little thing covered in bugs chewing on a mango seed by one of the 7 public garbage cans in the whole city.

We took her home but our landlady didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Most people own guard dogs in Guyana and the streets of Georgetown are crawling with feral strays – few people think of keeping an animal as a pet. Using my wife’s potent powers of persuasion, we managed to hang on to the little rascal though she had to stay outside most of the time.

We were there during one of the two annual rainy seasons and we woke up to a few nights to whining only to find our little pup in her kennel floating around in a pool of backed up sewage and rainwater. Eventually we just began sneaking her in to our place and putting the end of her rope inside her kennel outside to fool our landlady. I don’t think it worked very often but she never pointed it out.

The few times we braved the outdoors to walk her, she was petrified. People scared the lights out of her and so did the insane drivers. Though, as I mentioned before, most pets are actually guard dogs so even our tiny puppy managed to make even tough looking people keep a distance. It was always quite funny to see the tough rastas at the market get all jittery around a harmless little dog.

Eventually my wife’s contract ended and we had to return to Canada. The whole process of flying her out of the Caribbean was enough to age me 10 years over the course of a month. As most people who’ve visited the region can attest, rarely do things happen as they are promised and almost never do they happen on time. Dealing with the bureaucracy of arranging the flight and the permits was hell. Our only route out was from Gergetown to Port of Spain (Trinidad & Tobago) to Miami then up to Toronto. Interestingly enough, we breezed through customs at both Miami and Toronto. Considering how many times I’ve been held up in a US airport this was almost comical. The security people were so busy petting and cooing over our dog that they didn’t even check the kennel. I digress.

We eventually got her back and exposed her to life in central Alberta in the middle of winter (read: cold). The little thing was used to 35°C+ and now had to deal with -15°C on a good day. She has basically adjusted to the weather but she is not the most obedient of dogs. Most vets tells us that because of her first two months in life were so rough she will always be a tough little bastard. She certainly is.

Anyway, there’s not much point to my story but its one I love to tell. I’ll always remember it, that’s for certain.

Yes, but there’s not enough room here for me to post them all!!!

My pet cockatiel loves being scratched in the neck at night. I’d be lying in bed with my lamp on, and he’d just waddle up to me. I know what he wants, so I get scratchin’. Soon enough, he falls asleep. I turn the lamp off and doze off with my puffed-up and sleeping pet.

It isn’t until I toss and turn does he move to a more stable spot. =)

I had a cat who used to enjoy licking peoples earlobes. He was a great cat.