...the bond between pet owners and their pets...

So many times I wonder about the bond between pet owners and their pets. The love of an animal and it's owner. Why did my dog love my husband more than me? I feed her and cared for her every need. I even loved her more than he did. Why does she like some people more than others.

My thoughts go to my grandson Rick O in Iowa that flew with his dog Princess to Kansas City for hip surgery. We all knew his love for his dog and that he always wanted only the best for her. I worked with a lady that talked about her little canary Tweedy Bird almost every day. She had never been married and the bird was like her child. When Tweedy Bird died, she stayed home several days.

On a trip to Dallas a few years ago, my husband slowed down for a squirrel that was pulling it's dead mate off the highway onto the shoulder of the road. I will always remember that tender moment of love. 

When I was a small child, the first pet I remember having was a little white mouse my brother brought home .If it had a name I don't remember it. My brother taught it several cute things. That mouse loved all of us and we loved her. After a while she begin to go away and would return for short visits. Finally she went away and never returned. We all missed that precious little mouse

After I married and my husband was discharged from the Air Force, we moved to Iowa. We owned a little brown dog named Tiquo. One cold morning after my husband went to work, I built a fire in our wood heater. I crawled back into bed waiting for the house to warm up. Soon Tiquo started barking. I kept telling her to shut up and I pulled the covers over my head. She finally pulled the covers off the bed and it was then I realized the house was full of smoke. I am sure she saved my daughter Norma's life and mine also.

After my daughter got married and had a family of her own, they built their home out in the woods just up the hill from us. Allen, her husband, had a adorable little Dachshund name Hedda. She was so afraid of thunder and Allen shouting at her when she got into the trash, which was often, she would come running down the hill with her long ears flipping in the breeze. I could always tell if it was thunder or trash that brought her to me. If it was thunder, she would go quietly to the bed I had for her and I would cover her up. If trash, she would try so hard to talk to me in her own little way. I would always sympathize with her and we seemed to understand what each other was saying. Thank goodness Allen never heard our conversations.

We had a German Shepherd dog while living there. When our granddaughter Heather was real small, that dog would go up the hill ever time Heather went outside and came home when she went in.

When we moved to Tomball into an apartment, there was a young lady that had a Siamese cat. She told me her cat had never been outside.  When she moved away, she left the cat outside. It was wintertime and the cat was afraid, hungry and cold. Several of us adopted that cat and we called her Blue Eyes. One lady fixed a box for her to sleep in on her porch. Several of us bought food for her and we all fell in love with that cat. When she had a litter of kittens, the manager got us all together and gave us three days for one of us to pay a pet deposit or find homes for the kittens and mother. She said she was going to call on Monday to have them all picked up. We found homes for couple of the kittens but our time was running out.

I prayed and promised God I would never again ask his help on finding a home for another cat if he would find a good home for Blue Eyes. My Granddaughter Rita had seen the cat and kittens several times and was upset also. Our prayers were answered when on Sunday afternoon. Rita and her future husband, Paul, came and got all of them. They took them to my daughter's house. When the kittens were weaned, Paul's parents took Blue Eyes. They still have her, and although she is old, she still looks great. 

So I ask why was my dog so protective to Heather and not the other two granddaughters? Why did Hedda come down the hill to me when she was afraid or in trouble? Guess I will never know the answers. I do think we are all put here to love, share and care for each other. I believe when love and kindness work together it is God's hands at work.