The Furkids

While parenthood has taken up a lot of life these days, our four-legged friends bring a lot of joy to us in our house. We share our home with three furkids and since I am thinking a lot about them right now, I thought I would introduce them.

Our veteran, literally, is Chelsea (a.k.a., Am/Cdn Ch. MischiefJaci's Chelsea F.C. FD CDX). She came to us in 2001 and is almost eight. That is hard to believe. We got her on the suggestion of a good friend of mine - I have always been a dog person but losing the dog who got me through my adolscence, Flora, was so tragic that at that point, I said I would never have another. I was suffering from really awful S.A.D. and a good friend, Liz, suggested getting a dog. At first, I thought she was crazy but the more we talked about it, the more we thought it was a good idea. We have never looked back.

Chelsea ("Miss Buns", Princess) introduced us to all kinds of things - dog parks, endless hikes, dog shows, hunt tests, obedience, theft at a new level and love beyond compare. She is calm, easy, soft, affectionate without being needy, gentle, stoic and the world's worst thief. With her, we fell into so many things that we thought we would never do - if you had told me ten years ago that we would be going inoto the middle of nowhere so that dh could plant birds for dogs to find, I would have laughed in your face. She introduced us to the secret society that is dogwalkers in the city, we were invited to a dog birthday party (seriously - there were games and a cake from Three Dog Bakery and treat bags), we began to travel to dog shows in the U.S. and we made friends we would never have otherwise met. The most wonderful thing about Chelsea is her ability to just "be"with you. She loves a walk in the woods but she is equally happy lying on the couch beside you, having a cosy afternoon nap. I haven't figured out how to post pics yet (anyone who can help me with that, it would be appreciated) but she has the loveliest, old-style Brittany head and she even has her own page on a website:
http://bearpointfarm.com/index.asp?ID=27
My good friend borrows her for obedience (since motherhood, the competitive dog stuff has had to get a rest) and my friend has given her a page on her site.

Our second addition is Lucie (Cdn Ch. Tonan-Rao's Night at the Opera FDJ). She is the absolute opposite of Chelsea. She is what some people picture as a Brittany. She is hyper, wild, rude, noisy and frustrating beyond belief. I feel for Lucie, I really do, she tries so hard but she just doesn't get it. She is a hunting machine and has done really well in the field so far and may end up being a great field dog if we don't kill her first. She has had as much obedience as Chelsea did at that age but to no avail - the only way to walk her without a dislocated shoulder is a pointer hitch (we really have tried everything) and her manners are appalling. She has done really wel li the show ring with very limited showing but that says as much about her breeder as it does about her - while Lucie has her good points, Chelsea is much truer to what a brittany should be. She is usually friendly but has a knack for deciding she has to pick a fight with the biggest, meanest, roughest dog around (at her last dog show, she was totally fine with everyone other than a Giant Schnauzer - a death sentence for sure). My father says he needs to wear a jock when Lucie is around - enough said. We love her and she has been great with Pk for the most part but she really does frustrate us.

Over the Christmas holidays, we added a third furkid - a cat. We have had cats that we loved in the past but there is a certain amount of frustration and heartache that goes with a cat and we weren't sure that we could risk the spraying that we had with our boys. We were also a bit worried about allergies since Pk is young but, given that her sitter has a cat which Pk adores and isn't allergic to, we thought it would be a nice addition. Sadie (that's her name, we didn't name her, she came that way), joined us on Dec. 29 and she was a wonderful addition. I felt like a shallow person who wanted to match the cat to the furniture when I called the cat rescue to ask about whether they had any orange and whites. Given that all the other women in the house are orange and white, it just seemed the natural choice. Sadie is friendly without being a nuisance, playful and extremely tolerant of Pk and her constant "Saaaadieeeee Cat!" calls. Pk often starts her day talking about the cat and ends the day the same way. She came from a wonderful local cat rescue:
http://www.kateandmecatrescue.com/
We are still getting used to each other but we are really enjoying her - I had forgotten how wonderful it is to sit and read with a cat purring beside you. She has developed a love for a stuffed panda that Pk has in the rec room, it will be interesting to see what comes of that relationship!

I will see if I can figure out how to post pics later today. Thanks for listening to me ramble about my loves.