Bel Joeor

Other than your horse, what other pets do you have?

from Love and Horses

Just the two, thankfully!

The boyfriend-now-fiance came with a cat. I am NOT a cat person. I am allergic to them (though thankfully have gotten used to this one) and our brains just don't seem to mesh. It's like we're at total opposite ends of understanding.

I have gotten used to this guy, though, and I think because 9 times out of 10 I will offer a quiet warm lap with no petting fussing or other indignities the boy inflicts on his cat (like pretending he's a bazooka, or singing and dancing around the room, or putting him on his head, or...well, I could go on all day) -- anyway, many times the cat chooses to come and snuggle with me instead of his actual owner. That includes sleeping on the bed on my side, too.

His name is Buddy, and he's a 10 year old Maine Coon. He weighs about 18lbs and is longhaired. In the picture above he is modeling his Halloween costume shortly after being shaved at the groomer. That was the fall we (by we I mean the boy) figured out that shaving a longhaired animal in late fall is a terrible idea because they will be very very cold. So now he goes longhaired for the winter and trimmed through the summer and we are all much happier. (Thankfully he does not mat at all.)

Then there's puppy.

Any excuse for more pictures of puppy! She is a joint pet between myself and the boy. Her name is Arya, and she's a 13 month old mutt transported up from the south. The rescue said Boxer/Labrador, and we think there's hound in there somewhere - possibly Tennessee Treeing Brindle?

She seems to have settled at an adult weight of about 43 pounds now, loves her people, is a ball of greased lightning energy when she's loose at the baseball field and snores on the couch the rest of the time. She also loves squeaky toys, playing with other dogs, trying to talk the cat into playing with her, and oh yeah, sleeping.

Also pretending she's a lap dog.