I was asked about the various pet members in our extended family. I don’t seem to have a picture of our son’s cat, but here are all the others:
- three Labrador Retrievers
- a Brittany Spaniel
- an Australian Shepherd puppy
There’s always a little canine chaos when any of them get together — running, cavorting, playing with each other’s toys (yes, they all have lots of toys; some of them even know how to put their toys away when asked), and eventually collapsing into various corners of the room when their energy runs out. (Check out the picture of one of their ‘collapsed’ moments in this earlier post.)
Right now “Ebby” is the distinguished one in the crowd — a venerable twelve years old and holder of both an obedience trial C.D. degree and a ‘Canine Good Citizen’ title. “Java” is the only chocolate among the Labs and is the only one who coexists with a feline friend. “Mac” gets to go jogging most days with his mistress, often along the ocean shore. You don’t want to know about his fascination with starfish! “Cooper” is the newest member of the clan… barely five months old and already intimidating the other dogs with his penetrating crystal blue eyes. And our “Tynan”, well, I’ve mentioned him before… alternately a gazelle and a couch potato, always a helpful companion, and an avid swimmer just like “Mac”.
That’s all of them… for now. I keep telling my DH that I miss the Shelties we had for 35 years, but he keeps saying that “one is enough” at this point in our lives. We’ll see.
MUSINGS 
They are beautiful! Dogs are the best of friends!
Aw, look at all those gorgeous dogs. 🙂
Awwwww, thanks for sharing the pics, especially the one of Cooper. Such beautiful eyes!
Christi
http://christicorbett.wordpress.com
Aw, they’re so cute. I love dogs. Wish I had a brother or sister for Bandit. Gads, what am I saying! We have 4 cats and a dog and that’s plenty.
Thanks for sharing, Carol. Hope you’re having tons of fun.
Thanks, everyone! Our families all love their four-footed beasties. I’ve had as many as five Shelties at one time, Joylene. Multiple pets do complicate one’s lifestyle at times, but I would happily have at least a second dog again because they’re good companions for each other.
Wow. Putting toys away on command is a great talent. I bet you could hire that one out to teach kids.
It’s not a reliable trick, Jeanette. Three of the dogs have toy boxes but Tynan is the only one who can be coerced into picking up his toys and dropping them into his box. Sometimes the one-at-a-time cleanup takes more time than it’s worth.
What does he mean, “one is enough”? He certainly can’t mean one at a time???? ha ha—I say bring them on! I loved this blog— or course I’m a sucker for dogs! Someone I’d just met recently asked if I had pictures of “my boys” that I kept talking about. Her jaw dropped a foot when I pulled out my portfolio of Meko and Bailey—my Westie and Maltese! What was she thinking? 😀
Hugs and blessings
Katt
I missed your comment earlier, Katt… sorry! Yes, our pets play prominent roles in our lives and not everyone understands our relationship with them. Some people simply “have dogs” while others like us make them a part of the family. In 40+ years we’ve lived with 13 dogs, all Shelties or Labs, sometimes one at a time, sometimes two, three, four or even five at a time as they overlapped. Every one was special and oh, so loved.