Pets and why we love them

[Darth SS]

How many 'round these parts either have or have had a pet? A dog or cat or rabbit or guinea pig or velociraptor? Ever notice how they always have "that one story" which always make them stick out in your mind? What's "that story" about your pet which everyone should know?

A good friend of mine recently got a cat. I like this cat. He's well natured, friendly, doesn't really seem very interested in my prescence. This cat also hates her boyfriend so hard, just so hard. This cat once walked up and puked on his shoe, then stared straight at him. Anyways, I was recently informed about how unbelievably devious this cat is. When it has decided that it wants to be played with, usually whilst my friend is studying, it has begun jumping onto her desk before staring straight into her eyes and pushing something off the desk. Most recently, it has stopped just pushing stuff off the desk and has instead begun to slowly push stuff off, staring into her eyes the whole time. Clearly, her cat is a reborn mafia member.

For me, my family has had dogs broken up by a brief period when we had 4 guinea pigs. The dog who my family had before I was born was named Homer. One day my parents brought home the tiny, squealing bundle that was me. Having divined his purpose in life, Homer proceeded to spend every moment by my side. If I cried, he howled. If I slept, he stood guard or curled up next to me. When new people came to the house, he would glue himself to my side, carefully observing every person that came near me. Only recently my parents told me about how the day I went to school for the first time, he lied down at the door, just staring at it. Sadly, he died at the age of 16, which was 13 years ago.

This tale comes to mind because I recently met a friend's newborn baby girl. This family also has a 3 year old Newfoundland. For those of you unfamiliar with the Newfoundland breed, this dog is about 150lbs, and the entire time I was over it was never more than a foot from the baby, and never stopped watching me. If anyone makes a move on that baby, I get the impression that the otherwise sweet natured family pet will switch from "Rupert the big red dog" to "Garmr" and shit will go down.


How about you NPF? Have you enjoyed furry companionship?