December Talking Meme Master List

Day 11 suggested by kate: Can I get thoughts about pets? Your own, your fictional characters, other people's fictional characters... anything.

OMG PETS. I love pets. I currently have a dog I adopted from a rescue shelter in summer 2013. They knew nothing about her history; she basically turned up in their yard (the shelter has an amazing facility, lots of space for the dogs to run). Izzy is about four years old now; she's an Australia cattle dog and beagle mix. Her face is pretty much all beagle, and she has her beagle moments, but mostly she's cattle dog all the way.

I wanted a beagle. I had one growing up, Scooter, who my siblings found as a tiny puppy in the barn. We had his mother for awhile, too, but he was the only puppy who ended up surviving, and she wasn't around long either. He was floppy and ridiculous and he was with us from when I was young until I went off to university, and then he got sick and had to be put down while I was away.

Anyway, I'd been looking at this particular shelter for a few years, checking out their online dog listings, but I'd never been out there before. That summer I had to take a month of medical leave because of the bipolar (and the crash I had after all the deaths in the family), but by the end of the summer, I was feeling healthy enough I thought I might be able to take care of another living thing. I went out to the shelter to look at two dogs in particular, both older beagles. One had been adopted already, and the other had quite a bit of health problems. I wasn't sure I could handle the death of a pet in the next couple years (I mean, it's always possible, yes, but far more likely with that dog), so I went looking at all the other dogs in the facility, and I found this ridiculous, adorable little girl.

When we did our meet and great, the volunteer tried to get her to run and play a little, but she crawled right into my lap and wouldn't move. There was zero percent chance I wasn't adopting her after that, and the only reason I didn't take her home that night was because she hadn't been fixed yet, and they had to do that first. The timing on all this was amazing. I just randomly decided to finally go out after work and take a look, I didn't plan on adopting a dog that day, and literally the next person on the list after me for meet and greets had her listed as their first choice (and, funny enough, my second choice was also their second choice, a male beagle who was super fun too). If I'd been a minute later in signing up, I wouldn't have got her, because they took their second choice home. (We were filling out our paperwork at the same time.)

Here's a picture of Izzy the day we met:







Since then, she's gained about 15 pounds (vet recommended), and she's become so much better socialized. Still, she's still very protective of me (and of Nephew), and while she likes other dogs at the dog park or at our homes (except when they try to mount her), she does not like other dogs when she's "working," which is basically any time she's leash walking, hanging out in the yard, or in the car. (Other things she doesn't like, possibly because she thinks they're giant dogs: cows, horses, busses, concrete sculptures of bigfoot).

Cattle dogs are known for bonding with their person and being very loyal. Owners often call them shadow dogs because they always want to be RIGHTTHERENEXTTOYOU, and Izzy is no different. She's asleep against my thigh as I type this. Her favorite spot is near me wherever I go. She sleeps pressed up against my back. She follows me everywhere. She loves road trips and hanging out while I write and running around the yard with giant branches in her mouth. She's fifty pounds, and both thinks she's a lap dog (and, to be fair to her, J's a giant, so she is a lap dog for him) and big enough to take on dogs two or three times her size. (Or cows. Or horses. Or busses.) I'm hoping I can find a friend with cows, because I'm curious to know exactly what she thinks she'll do with them if she gets them. (How ingrained is that herding instinct anyway?)

I think pets are wonderful. She absolutely is the best thing ever for my mental health, even more than my meds, because the meds lose effectiveness, but Izzy is a delight forever. (Even when she's trying to kill other dogs or protecting Nephew from his BFF who is trying to rough house with him or shitting in the house.) There are plenty of days where the only thing that's kept me alive is the fact she needs me.

My family has had dogs, horses, goldfish, and a guinea pig before, plus after I'd gone off to university, a basement cat (because my dad doesn't really like cats -- and neither do I, plus I'm allergic -- but they didn't want to just leave it outside when it turned up). Right now, Dad has a tiny little poodle who bosses around all the other animals, I have Izzy, and all my siblings have pets, generally cats and/or dogs (with a couple other pets running around, like a turtle who has gone from one sibling to another).

A+ for pets.

I like pets in fiction, too, but because I love horror stories and mysteries, pets are not always a great idea, so I don't usually see them much.