The Humane Society Years...

The eighties were "The Humane Society Years" because for a short time, I volunteered to run trouble calls for the local Society. There were a number of animals which joined my family as a result of this. Not all came via that route however.

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Bert Bert was a quaker parakeet. I had moved in with someone in an apartment and we couldn't have a dog or a cat. So instead we got this noisy ol' bird. *laughing* We decided on the name "Bert", in the hopes that he would learn his name. It sounded a lot like "bird" and the theory was that people would say "Hi, bird" to him, and he would eventually repeat it, sounding as if he were saying his name. In theory, anyway.

He never learned, though. We came home one evening to find him at the bottom of his cage. I have absolutely no idea what happened. I have since learned how fragile birds are and know that there are a number of things it could have been.

Whiskers

Whiskers was a little mutt, with some sort of wire-hair terrier in her. I don't even remember where she originally came from (I hadn't yet started volunteering with the Humane Society). Despite the prohibition, we brought Whiskers into our apartment. She was a good little girl and didn't get us into too much trouble.

When we bought a house, she naturally went with us. However, not soon after this move, the woman and I broke up. By then, we also had Mandy. Whiskers went with her mommy. There were accusations made that I dumped her, but nothing could be further from the truth. I loved this girl - my first dog as an independent adult. I don't know what became of her. I hope she stayed with her mommy until the end.

Mandy

     Another wire-haired terrier mutt, Mandy joined us in our new home. With an extreme underbite, she was a real cutie. And she certainly didn't lack for attitude. At the break-up, mentioned above, she and Bert stayed with me.

     Soon after I met another woman who became Mandy and Bert's new mommy. With her came a brother, Brandy. Our little family moved back to my home town and that's when I starting volunteering with the Humane Society. As new pet after new pet joined us, Mandy continued to be alpha of the pack.

     Until Penny grew up. The two of them were constantly at one another's throats. I had hopes that they would work it out between them. However, it got to be blood fights (and some of that blood was mine!). I realized that they could not remain together. And I was having a difficult time taking care of everyone by that time (Once again, their mommy and I had broken up). A heart-wrenching decision to break up the family was made. Mandy, along with her brothers Brandy, Royal and Tiggy, as well as her sisters Sugar and Fancy, went to live with their mommy. Again, I hope they had good lives and were happy until the end.

Brandy

Brandy was a purebred Cocker Spaniel. Remember this was back in 1981, and I knew nothing of the concept of puppy mills. I bought him at a pet store. At least give me a little credit, as it was better that I bought him instead of the monkey they had at the store. Trust me, I was tempted.

     A very smart boy, Brandy was paper-trained the first week we got him. And he was just a baby! So proud of this little ball of fur. He and Mandy were good buddies and played together all the time.

     When we first moved into our house, I was having a discussion with our new neighbor and she was talking about how she didn't like dogs. Uh, oh. At this time, we only had Mandy and Brandy, but . . . It was funny, actually, as if on cue, when she said this, Brandy crawled under the fence and into her yard. I was mortified at the time. Years later, as we were preparing to move to Florida, I went over to say good-bye to her. I apologized for all the dogs over the years, and she said she hadn't minded, as she felt they were protecting her house as well as mine. She cried, I cried. Thank you, Dorothy, for being our friend.

     Brandy was such a fur ball for a long time. Finally it was time for his first grooming. When he came back, he looked like a totally different dog. He'd left home as a puppy, and came back an adult dog. I missed the puppy he was.

     Since I had bought him for his mama, it was only natural when the time to split the family came that he go with her. Let me remind you that this separation was extremely painful for me. I never saw him again.

Cracker A male canary, Cracker was also his mama's baby. It wasn't that he wasn't insignificant. I honestly don't believe any life is. However, I can't remember much about him. I know we got him what we thought was a fancy-dancy bamboo cage. And we know he was male, because he did sing a lot. Did he go with his mommy when we broke up? Did he die before that? I just don't know. My apologies, Cracker.

Champ Champ came into my life mostly because of his size. I'd received a trouble call about a dog not being taken proper care of, so I drove out to where he lived at the time. I've seen worse conditions, but his still were not very good. His owners decided to let us take him rather than give him adequate care.

Fancy, Peaches, Royal, Spike and Tiggy I've lumped these five together, as I'm not sure in what order they joined the menagerie. They all were kittens when we got them, so they were able to grow up together. Fancy, for whatever reason, was the leader of this group of five kitties. She just took to it.

     I don't have a good picture of Tiggy, he was solid black and thus hard to photograph. Even though none of my pets were allowed to wander around outside, we still kept a special eye out on Tiggy around Halloween.

     Royal was so young when we got him that he still had blue eyes. Hence the name Royal, as in Royal Blue. He was kind of sickly when we first got him. But, with a good vet and a good mommy, he came through it and grew into a good looking cat.

     Peaches was such a little thing. And she actually never grew much. Even as an adult, she looked like a kitten. She and Spike stayed with me after the break-up.

     Spike came to us via an impromptu visit to the Humane Society. My girlfriend and I had decided if there were an all white cat, we'd bring it home. This was in honor of Big Kitty. Wouldn't you know it, there he was. And he was with me for 10 years.

Mommydog and Pups

Mommydog was another Humane Society dog. She was pregnant when she came to my home, where she stayed due to the fear that she would be put down for that pregnancy. On October 16, 1981, she gave birth to four puppies. One female did not survive. The other female, Penny became my baby girl. One boy, JP, went to my sister's family. He was killed by a truck not long after. The last pup, a male, Ethan, went to someone outside the family and I don't know his ultimate fate.

Mommydog went to a friend's home. Unfortunately, I lost touch with her and, again, I don't know what happened to her. I sure hope she had a good life.

Trixie A birthday present, a young (appx. 12 weeks) Trixie joined us in November of 1981. By this time we had many dogs and cats. We didn't really need another one. However, how could I turn her away? So, she stayed, for almost 15 years.

Cisco Cisco was an unexpected acquisition. Born in the middle of the bedroom floor, his arrival was truly a surprise. He, too, was a gift, in more ways than one. I never expected to actually like a chihuahua, let alone love one. A bad experience with my grandma's chihuahua colored my view of the breed. But, I came to love this sweet little boy.

Sugar

Why, at this point, my girlfriend wanted another dog, I don't know. But I'm such a sucker, I got her Sugar, a toy poodle. At this point, we had five dogs and six cats. Sugar made it even at six.

Less than three years later, we broke up. Sugar, of course, went with her mama. Not long after, my ex called me and told me Sugar had died in her sleep. I haven't any idea what happened. I just know she was way too young to go the Bridge.

Spanky Having fallen in love with Cisco, I had no problem accepting another chihuahua, Spanky. She came from the same breeder, but was totally different from him. I didn't love her any less, though.

Slick There was a long span between Spanky and Slick. Around six years. By this time I'd quit volunteering at the Humane Society and I was living alone (well, if you don't count the dogs and cats). My nephew and I were in a pet store, and decided to get him (her?). Slick would live with me, but be "ours".

Conan

From the same pet store as Slick, Conan, a ball python, was also mine and my nephew's, after Slick's unexpected death. As my nephew was too young to keep him at the time, Conan moved to Florida with me. He was stolen around 1993, by my roommate, no less. I have no idea where he is, if he's alive or anything more about him. I haven't seen that roommate since, either. (She would have been more than happy to come back, I'm sure, but I told her to never return, upon threat of death. I got over the death part, however, I certainly hope I never see her again.)

Abbott The last to join me in the eighties, Abbott was my first dachshund. I'd gone to the same store where we'd gotten Slick and Conan, telling myself if there was a dachshund there, I would get him. Well . . .

The story of The Rainbow Bridge
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