I never had a dog like “Tilla” before.  I won his loyalty by rubbing his belly any time he wants, which is often.  Dogs don’t live forever.  I never thought another dog would replace the first dog I raised from a pet, which was “Daisy” a black mutt.  One stubborn dog.  Tilla wants to please.  I trained Daisy when she was an adult.  When I was in a room with her, she never took my eyes off of me.  Tilla often comes to my pad when I am watching TV and my wife has gone to bed.  Then he usually nudges the door shut as if to say, “I now have you all to myself.”  Tilla has quirks.  He is unpredictable.  I never know exactly how he is going to act.  Sometimes he will lock himself in the bathroom and wait for us to discover that and then be so pleased when we open the door.  He is more aggressive then the other three dogs we have.  If you throw four snacks in front of our four dogs, he will get three.  He is quick.  His mom a female golden retriever (appropriately named “Sweetie”) usually defers to him as well as his to his (???) sister–Coco.  Tilla is streamlined–one lean muscular black dog.  He is the reason we had to build our fence higher.  He could jump over it.  I will love Tilla while I have him.  I know he is only on “loan.”

I went to bed by nine thirty PM and Tilla took advantage of it immediately and crept in the Lazy Boy chair I just vacated and fell asleep.  I checked on him a little later:  he would not raise his head.  He was out for the night.  My TV room is where he goes to sleep every night.  All animals are creatures of habit.

His sister, Coco always sleeps in my bedroom in the far end of the bed at the foot of the bed.  She likes her privacy and will retire to that room if she is inside.  Other times she may be the last one in from the yard.  She is a real sweet dog and has the personality of her mother, Sweetie, the golden retriever.  Unlike her, though, she can be really insistent if she wants something, like for instance, to go out into the yard.  I have one other dog, Pax, Coco’s and Tilla’s, dad.  He is a real character but I will talk about him, again, in another time.

My seven cats and four dogs enrich my life.  I have to admit only one cat (Cool Hand Luke), a completely black scrawny cat, seeks me out and snuggles up to me occasionally.  Maybe, that is because she is the only pet I had before I met my wife over ten years ago.  I have always taken care of her.  She has a favorite spot in my room, where she curls up by the window on the books I have placed there.  When she is not there at night she sleeps on my bed catercorner from me.  She does not get along too well with the other cats.

My relationship with the other six cats are all different.  Cheyenne, a beautiful long haired cat, usually does not let me pet him.  In fact, if I approach him; he goes the opposite way and looks at me with the expression “how dare you go near me.”  Jasmine, a tiny delicate female, the mother of four of our cats, does not seek me out but does not object if I pet her.

China, a long haired exotically colored black and white cat is one cool cat, supremely confidently poised cat will, also, not seek me out but certainly not turn down an hug from me.  Tiger will also not turn me down.  He has the softest fur.  Even the vet commented how soft his fur was.

Pumpkin, the only cat from Jasmine’s first litter, is just a nice cat and gets along with all the other cats.  And then there is Buttons, somewhat similar in coloring to Tiger.  He was the last cat to enter this household.  He showed up at our front door.  He is about as wild as you can be and still be a domestic cat.  He hides under our bed.  And usually goes the other way if I dare approach him.  That takes care of the cats and now I will talk briefly about our four dogs.

There is Pax, the elder, who is a ninety pound scary dog but a real scaredy cat.  He likes the sound of his own voice and will demonstrate that if he runs into the yard and seeks out the furthest right corner of the fence barking every step of the way.  He comes up to me if he wants something for he knows I will not ignore him and act quicker than my wife.  He is getting up in age–now twelve.

Now there is the golden retriever appropriately named Sweetie.  She is very tactile, loves to have something in her mouth and just can not get enough attention.  In fact, she will demand it and sit there all day while you pet her.  She is the mom of the last two dogs (Pax is the Dad) Tilla and Coco.

Coco is a long haired female who is black with a touch of red in there.  She has the most adorable fluffy ears.  She likes her privacy.  She will often go into the bed room by herself and just stay there for hours.  She will lie down there front paws crossed so delicate like completely feminine like.

The last animal I have is Tilla originally called Atilla The Hun and The Olympian.  He is the only dog who could jump the fence we had built around a large section of the yard and necessitated us building it even higher.  He is lean, aggressive and completely black and the most athletic of our four dogs.

He keeps me company as I watch TV in the evening and then sleeps in the Lazy Boy I vacate when I go to bed.  I won his love by giving him a belly rub almost every time he wanted it.  He and I have a special relationship.  He is the only dog I have given walks.  That is a brief description of my relationships I have with my eleven animals.  Each one is different.

Some Quick Pictures

Author: siggy

I went into town and looked across the road by the bank of the river and the neighboring isle.  Two hawks were in the air and alighting on the slivers of land.  I really did not know what kind they were but they did not behave like the ubiquitous turkey hawk although they were about the same size.  Their flight pattern was different.  I hope to identify them in my hawk book.

“Sweetie” my golden retriever always likes having something in her mouth.  She was outside gnawing on a large chunk of a branch.  She brought it in the house and I put it outside.  I did not want her to “mulch” it in making a big mess I would have to clean up.

I was coming home today and just to the right of me were, maybe, several hundred small blackbirds feeding on the ground separated from each other by several inches.  Twice a year flocks of small blackbirds come through –the spring and fall.  They must be migrating.  These are a few quick “pictures”.

I read a Christian organization was sending ten golden retrievers to the Connecticut school where twenty children were gunned down.  The dogs will love the children and comfort them in a way humans couldn’t.  I know.  I have a golden retriever.  They are extreme tactile.  They love to be touched and hugged.  What a wonderful idea–to send those dogs to that school.

Pax is the bemused elder, a Rottweiler mix almost twelve years old.  The other three dogs are approximately five.  He is the dad of two of our dogs and Mom is our golden retriever.  He kind of looks at me with this odd look almost cockeyed.  He is the only one left from the three dogs we had when I entered this marriage nine years ago.  He no longer moves too quickly on his arthritic legs.  I have stepped on him too often although he has never bitten me for doing this.  He is now cautious when I walk nearby.  My nickname for him is “Woof”:  he is the most vocal of our four dogs.  He does his business in the yard quickly and indicate to us very (???) with a quick bark or two that he wants in the house.  He likes to run in the far right corner of our yard and barks at anyone who has the temerity to pass by.  He is one intimidating dog but he really is a sweetheart.  He is the only dog who is really my wife’s although he does listen to me.  He is the one dog I really do not want to get out:  he is plain scary looking.  He weighs about ninety pounds.

There were two baby rabbit in a nest in our tall grass.  Someone was cutting the grass and discovered the two baby rabbits.  We wanted to give them a fighting chance and relocate them out side our enclosed yard but the dogs found one first and of course they killed it.  Every time Sweetie, the golden retriever and her two kids went out into the yard they were tracking their scent.  Pax, our fourth dog, wasn’t interested at all in the rabbits.  Now I know why I spotted a cottontail once slipping into our yard at night.  She had a brood to take care of.

Coco Is A Real Lady

Author: siggy

Coco is a long haired eighty pound dog completely black with a splash of white on her throat.  She is a real lady.  When she wants a belly rub, she will raise her leg slowly and demurely to indicate it.  She will sit there crossing her front legs real lady-like.  At the moment she is the only one outside.  She likes her privacy.  She is out cradling her bone.  No one is going to get it.  She knows our bedroom routine and almost every night is found lying on one side of the bed.  She is extremely gentle although when she gets excited she will “mouth” you although she has never bitten anyone.  She is one sweet dog.  Sweetie, her Mom, always defers to her (and her brother Tilla).  Her Mom does not have one aggressive bone in her body.  Her Mom is a golden retriever so Coco’s gentle nature is not that surprising although Coco can be quite insistent when she wants to go out–a quality her Mom would never have.

There are differences between Sweetie, my female golden retriever, and Coco, her daughter, who is completely black with a small white splash on her throat.  Sweetie does not have an angry bone in her body.  She is just that–sweet.  Coco is also very sweet but can be very insistent when she wants to go out.  Sweetie always defers to her kids–Coco and her other kid Tilla.  Coco likes her privacy:  sometimes she will go to another room by herself or if the dogs come in from the yard she may decide to stay behind.  Coco knows my bedroom routine.  By the time I make it to bed there she is lying on the floor on one side of the bed.  Coco when she gets excited may “mouth” you.  She never bites but she is the only dog to do that.  I love both of them.

A pet’s love is nothing you can earn.  Sure, you can feed it and give it water.  Nevertheless they have their own ways and proclivities.  I don’t know why Cheyenne, one of my cats, usually goes in the opposite direction when I approach him but he does.  Each animal has their own personality and likes and dislikes.  Tilla, one of my black dogs, and I have a special relationship.  When he wants a hug, he puts his paws and chest on me when I am sitting–all eighty pounds of him.

Some of my seven cats ignore me.  Buttons is one.  He is about as wild as you can be and still be an indoor cat.  He is also another that goes the opposite direction when I approach him.  Catching him to take to the vet is near impossible.  He is a tiger looking cat and we have two of them.  The other appropriately called Tiger will let me pet him.  Cool hand Luke is the last animal I brought into this marriage and he is the closest cat I have to being mine.  He usually sleeps on our bed.  The other three dogs we have are all different.

Pax loves bread and is a thief.  Don’t leave your bagel unattended.  Coco will appear at your lap if you are eating anything crunchy and demand her share.  Sweetie does have a lovable nature.  And she is a golden retriever.  She will insist on you giving you her (???) attention.  She is almost needy and probably gets lost in the mix of dogs.  If she was the only dog, she would get more attention but she is not.  I have not even talked about all the cats.  We have five others–all unique.  China is an exotically black and white colored cat, who is one laid back cat.  Her mom Jasmine is a diminutive, demure cat who holds her own with all the other cats.  There is nothing you can do to earn their love.  Sure you feed them.  They either like you or don’t.

The dog I encountered near my house loose was a spitting image of my golden retriever.  I thought that somehow Sweetie had gotten out.  I was trying desperately to unlock my passenger door so she could hop in.  I was not successful.  The dog briefly headed toward me and then disappeared.  I told my wife about the discovery.  Well, Sweetie was in the house.  I almost brought home a strange dog.  We both laughed.  I had other encounters on the way home that night.  I had to brake a little.  A baby opossum scurried frantically across the road right in front of me and when I got home I flushed a cottontail in my driveway.

“Coco”, my adult female “pup” was cute.  “Coco” is a midsized long-haired black dog (about eighty pounds).  She was quietly and comfortably sitting on my wife’s Lazy Boy chair cradling her eight inch bone to her chest.  No one was going to take it away.  I just smiled looking at her.  She was all female sitting there so demurely.  When she wants her belly rubbed, she rolls slowly on her back–ever so slowly raises her one front paw to indicate that.  She is definitely sweet but can be quite demanding when she wants to go out into our fenced yard and we are not so quick to comply.  She definitely has the sweet and good natured personality of her Mom, a golden retriever, appropriately named “Sweetie”.