My Animal Pals

In a previous post, I wrote about my pal Gus, that poor little chihuahua at the gas station, well as it turned out, someone did bring him in, and I do hope he's in a good home, and in a safe place. This led me to think of the best friends, in the truest and most natural sense, are the animals, the pets, the dogs and cats (and even others!) I have known and lived with.

NICKY - He was a male Beagle, when I first met him, I was 9 years old and he was only 10 weeks old, but he became my 'brother' as he became part of our family. Nicky was a very smart dog, and, as a hound, he would escape all the time and just roam....sometimes he would be gone for days at a time, and as a family we would worry....I remember crying at night, wondering if he would ever come back...but then he always made it back home.

SHASTA - This was an Australian Shepard who was basically our 'mascot' in our house in Chico during college days, EXTREMELY smart, as that breed is, he would stop at street corners and wait until we signaled him that was okay to cross. Shasta was my good buddy in college, and I was happy to hear after I had left, that he fathered puppies that carried on his traits.

YURI - An Alaskan Malamute, with all his wolfen characteristics when I moved in with Jeff in Pleasant Hill around 1986. Yuri was basically undisciplined, but nevertheless a sweet, and very majestic and beautiful animal. His howling, his endless licking of me when I went outside to read, and his catching of birds in the backyard was like living with a tamed wolf.

JAKE - When Yuri lived with us, my roommate got a little golden retriever pup named Jake. he was a bundle of enegy and I watched grow up before my eyes. He was so playful, we would have our little 'games' we would play. When I sat outside, he would endlessy go chase his tennis ball and bring it back to me, but wouldn't just give it to me, I had to snatch the ball because he would dodge his head away. He could play catch for hours. He would also pop his head up at my window and I'd throw him a biscuit and he'd catch it. He also liked to play tug-of-war with anything. When I moved away, I went back to visit a couple of times, and there was Jake, ready to play.

SIMONE - She was my best pet ever, a cat that survived the Oakland Hills Fire of 1991, she was a refugee, so I adopted her and took her in right after that when I lived in Oakland, and she immediately became my best pal. It was obvious that she was a 'princess' always climbing on my shoulder when I picked her up. I had never before owned a cat, I had always thought of cats as being aloof, but Simone was a wonderful and affectionate kitty. We spent 12 years together, through thick and thin...and then she finally died in my arms...it was heartbreaking to let her go....

HARRISON - I remember when he was 8 weeks old, a tiny little puppy who streaked around the living room, Harrison was a Corgi who was a very intellegent and somewhat sensitve dog, when the telephone would ring, he would retreat to a corner, knowing that the attention would no longer be centered around him....but what a wonderful little dog he was! He was my buddy!....He succumed to a dibilitating condition in which he needed a wheelchair. Even in his final days, It was good to see the 'Tacohead'....
I just wish they lived longer...

GABBY - This kitty has had a hard road, she was chased away from her original home, and had some hardships...I took her in last year, and she and I became instant buddies...she's got some 'street' in her, but she is a definitely a sweet kitty, and now she has a safe place to live, and to eat and sleep, and when she hops up on the bed and purrs, she knows she's with a friend.