Bailee Boo, our dog, is a mixed German shepherd, black lab, and golden retriever. I adore her lollipops. She came with us in the SUV one day, and we had to leave her inside the running car while we ran into the store to get something. A child had purchased a number of these strawberry suckers with a natural flavor. Upon returning to the car, we heard a sucking sound. I turned to face Bailee and shouted, “Bailee,” and she emerged from the back seat, a sucker protruding from her lips. She was eating it up. Seeing her with it hanging out of her mouth was hilarious! They are her love. The lollipops are the reason she adores Halloween.
To us, she is a really precious canine. When she was five months old, a large SUV ran her over, and the veterinarian claimed he had never seen a dog so determined to live and so devoted to her family. She suffered from shattered ribs, internal hemorrhage, a dislocated hip, and other injuries. She has an amazing personality and lived through three days on oxygen. loves to grin when lying on its back. She sneezes, sits beautifully, gives high fives, and shakes both paws.
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Ulicka, my cat, was acquired during my time in Prague. I couldn’t bear to part with her, so Uli traveled back to the States with me (the entire trip took about twenty-four hours). She’s a character, anyhow.
Uli would frequently wake me up an hour before I had to get up when I lived in Portland, so I would put her in the bathroom with her food, drink, and litter box. This was a brief routine. Uli went into the toilet one morning when she wanted to play fetch and I had an hour to sleep. When seven o’clock a.m. arrived, I tried to open the bathroom door after making my coffee. I was locked out by Uli! I couldn’t open the door because, for whatever reason, she had pushed the drawer nearest to it open. I had to go in there to get ready for work, so I was panicking.
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My shih tzu is cute, but not very intelligent! Being a true mama’s boy, he always wants to sample whatever I eat. Tippy never begs—he just pokes holes in people with his eyes—but one day, as I sat at the dining room table, he was calmly sitting next to me and every hair on his body was standing on end!
I had a mandarin orange in my salad, so I cut off a little piece and tossed it to him even though I knew he wouldn’t eat any greens. He continued to whine and sniff about on the floor, leading me to believe that he had eaten it after catching it. I was unsure of what more he desired. When I spoke to him, he glanced up at me and his nose was pressed on the fur just above a bite of mandarin orange! Though he couldn’t find it, he could smell it. I laughed so hard I almost fell off the chair, but then I grabbed the camera and snapped a photo. My grandchildren adored it!
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Titan is the dog that nearly caused an airport to close. Titan, my small westie, wore a camouflage “uniform” I received from a teddy bear when he was the Cal-State Fullerton ROTC mascot. I said, “Attention,” and he obeyed. He got to his feet, paws in the air, and said, “Present Arms” before doing a low crawl. “Grenade,” he rolled over, and “about face,” he spun in a circle.
The first day the Baltimore/Washington International Airport opened following 9/11, we were there, and the queues stretched for hours. Those waiting in line around me said, “Oh, cute dog,” as Titan fidgeted in the Sherpa travel bag. “Hey, he does tricks,” I said, letting him out of the bag. Up until my careless instruction to “grenade” caused a commotion and security to rush in. Sorry!