The Non-Coonie Contingent

This is my favorite picture of him,

cuddled up with Camelia on the sofa

I knew when I bought my house I was going
to get a dog and this darling happened into
my life. Oddly I was looking for a solid
white dog, preferably a Standard Poodle,
since I am allergic to dogs, and they
are supposedly easier on the sinus.
This boy was being mistreated by a neighbor
of a friend of mine and she brought him to me.
It was love at first sight. He was named
for my father who passed away in 1996.
I think Dad would be pleased with his
namesake :-)

It's really tough getting
a decent shot of a
solid black dog! But
he looks good against
a snowy backdrop!

Even though he's getting older, he's still such a sweet happy boy, and still so tolerant of the kittens - I love this dog!

I got it in my head that Billy needed a dog of his own, so in June of 2008 when I heard of a young Pomeranian who needed a home I thought, why not? Well, it was quite a transition going from the Best Dog Ever on the Planet (Billy Boy) to a high energy, not too bright but cute as the dickens little barking machine! He has settled down a great deal (thank the powers that be) and is still cute as the dickens in his lion clip, even if he's one of the biggest Poms you'd ever meet :-) I love to watch him dash through the yard, so exuberant and full of joy!

Parker the Pom

at 10 months

Spike is (was) the old lady, who, shown at approx 18 years old isn't much into having her picture taken. In fact, most of her time spent lounging on my pillow on the bed.

On a sad note, in August 2002, Spike went on to the Rainbow Bridge. She had a good long and very contented life and died peacefully at home. Walk in Beauty, Spiker girl.

Spiker came to me from a lady who rescued her from an abandoned house in a nasty part of Downtown Baltimore. She was estimated to be 8-10 months old and went into heat within 2 days of coming to live with me - egads, that was hell! Having always had my cats spayed around the age of 6 months I had never experienced one in heat before, believe me NOT a fun time for either of us. She had a few mis-firing neurons, could go from rubbing and loving on you to leaving you bleeding for some imagined slight in seconds, and thus she earned her name! I was much younger and incredibly patient <lol> and put up with her lunacy, because when she was sweet she was incredibly dear. She matured slowly but became a really delightful, entertaining and affectionate pet. By her older years she was actually quite tolerant of most anything and limited her temper tantrums to swishing her tail in annoyance. Everyone loved her, she was quite engaging (and she never made anyone actually bleed except me :-) I do miss her antics...

Ponce is the ruler of the household, even though the coons all outweigh her!
People meeting her swear she's a pedigreed pet-quality Birman, but her mother was
a rangy shorthair on the street!

I guess she's about 7 years old in this picture. You can see she's quite beautiful, even if her ice-blue eyes are impossible to capture in a photo. She still gives the kittens their run for the money at playtime too!

Ponce is celebrating her 16th birthday in October 2010, and still as feisty as ever.
She holds her age incredibly well and plans to be around for many years to keep those
crazy coonies in line!

Jitterbug is also a street rescue -
came to me so covered with fleas she looked grey! She's a real love bug and enjoys sitting on my shoulder and licking my hair. She's known around
the house as the mystery cat, because she's very timid around any human except me - very few sightings have been made, so people generally admire her from her lovely photos :-)

Jitterbug is a couple of months older than Ponce, though we aren't as clear on a birthdate. She looks absolutely the same, still playful and sweet and is just as gorgeous and healthy as she was ten years ago, though she has thankfully stopped the habit of jumping on my shoulder unannounced.

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