<p>Oh my goodness, mom2!! We’ve never been without at least three dogs and two cats for our entire married lives and I am happy to say that that is one thing I’ve never had to do! :)</p>
<p>Oh dear, mom2. My mother is PHOBIC of rats. I’ve come home and found her standing screaming on a counter or table more than once because she thought she heard something. I don’t know what would happen if our dog got one stuck. I think her motherly instincts would take over and she’d get the rat out… </p>
<p>Luckily, our dog is terrified of anything smaller than her so I don’t see that happening with our dog. </p>
<p>Regarding the phone pictures: I know that both of my parents have more pictures of the dog than either my sister or I. However, I was looking through my boyfriend’s phone and he has almost a dozen of the dog and only one of me. I don’t blame them, the dog’s cuter 
lol</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’ve been deciding which post is the winner (up to now) and I have copied one post or other a number of times, but keep finding something else that beats it. So far, this is my winner.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh My God. Was the rat alive and squirming or dead?</p>
<p>I’ve never had to do that before; but when D1 began crawling, I saw something hanging out of her mouth. She resisted my efforts to get it, but I dug into her mouth and pulled out a black cricket. I think I screamed, too.</p>
<p>I hate rodents. If that had happened with my dog, I would have pulled it out, then probably passed out. You’ve got gumption!</p>
<p>You buy pet beds for out bedroom from Frontgate because the beds at the pet store aren’t supportive enough. When our dogs went to a kennel (they now have a babysitter…our son) the kennel had: heated floors, air conditioning, run free during the day in playgrounds WITH swimming pools, misters AND hand feeding for the homesick dogs… They slept on lambskin rugs.</p>
<p>Our den is dog proof: leather sofas that match golden coloring with blankets for snoozing.</p>
<p>Their every night routine includes: dinner/walk/extra food/treats and curling up with us on the sofas.</p>
<p>They are both rescues: they deserve it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Our kennel has an option to pay extra for the dogs to have a second floor suite with a lake view. LOL. :D</p>
<p>One time, the cat and I were chasing a mouse around the living room when all of a sudden the mouse disappeared. The cat and I were both perplexed until I looked at the dog. He was sitting quietly on the side with a tail hanging out of his mouth. I quickly got the dog outside where he let the mouse go. No harm done to the mouse. The cat was a little put out.</p>
<p>I spend what seems like hours throwing a tennis ball. I think I have huge muscles in my right arm.</p>
<p>*Quote:
you know you love your pet when you’re willing to pull a stuck rat out of your little doggy’s throat to keep her from choking to death.</p>
<p>(Boy did I scream, though!)
Oh My God. Was the rat alive and squirming or dead?</p>
<p>I’ve never had to do that before; but when D1 began crawling, I saw something hanging out of her mouth. She resisted my efforts to get it, but I dug into her mouth and pulled out a black cricket. I think I screamed, too.*</p>
<p>Thank goodness the rat was dead…</p>
<p>This is what happened…We live next to a forested area so there’s critters out there. My Chorkie came in from the backyard and she immediately came to me. I could tell that she was in distress. Hanging out of her mouth I could see what looked like either an earthworm or a rat’s tail. I took a deep breath grabbed (immediately realizing this was NO earthworm) and pulled…and pulled…and pulled until out came this dead rat. (thankfully dead). I screamed, called my H on the phone. He still does a good mimic of that phone call. lol We now laugh about it. </p>
<p>However, pulling a cricket out of my child’s mouth would probably have totally done me in. Aghhhh! </p>
<p>And…Romani…I doubt your BF’s pet is cuter than you. I’ve seen your pic…you’re gorgeous!</p>
<p>You know you love your dog when you willingly give up your decorative watering can for him. S2 decided to tease the dog with his Greenie. He dropped it in the watering can, assuming doxie wouldn’t be able to locate it. He did, dived into the metal can, and then couldn’t get his head back out.</p>
<p>I seriously thought we were going to have to call the fire department to bring the jaws of life to get him out. It took two people to hold him down, while my husband pulled out all of his specialty tools to cut through the reinforced metal without harming the dog.</p>
<p>After it was all said and done, the dog retrieved the Greenie and I let S2 clean up the mess…</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Funny story now…probably wasn’t funny at the time! Poor doggie was probably very scared.</p>
<p>Haha thanks, M2CK. Not sure how you’ve seen my pic… but I’ll take the compliment. </p>
<p>She’s actually my dog. But she’s definitely become a daddy’s girl since my boyfriend came into the picture. </p>
<p>You also know you love your pet when you wouldn’t think twice about moving to a different city if yours decided to ban your favorite breed (as pit bull parents, this is a fear we live with constantly).</p>
<p>You know you love your cat when you continue to leave the cat flap open after wrestling under the dining room table for the squirrel he has brought in. On Thanksgiving Day. True story. We prefer to think he was bringing his contribution to the table. Oh, and it was DH who won the battle.</p>
<p>We have a Frontgate dog bed, too. It was a fortune because we had to get the extra-huge size!</p>
<p>MomofWildChild: TWO extra large beds…we didn’t want to start sibling rivalry…as in: first one upstairs gets the good bed!!! (Did I mention the lounge chair cushions that are in the den and breakfast room…just in case they need a little nap and don’t want to go upstairs?)</p>
<p>Love the extra for the view at the kennel</p>
<p>*Haha thanks, M2CK. Not sure how you’ve seen my pic… but I’ll take the compliment. *</p>
<p>Romani…I’ve seen that pic where you’re laying on your side and you’re outdoors. I think you’re wearing a sundress? You have long dark hair. Right? Anyway…very pretty young lady. :)</p>
<p>Is that kennel story about paying extra for a view a joke? lol</p>
<p>The last couple years of my dogs life he refused to eat pet food, so at the suggestion of our vet he ate boiled boneless skinless chicken breasts for most meals… supplemented with ground beef, cottage cheese, and rice-- I forget how we prepared the beef, I feel like we boiled that, too, and mixed it up with the cheese and rice. There ended up being a huge recall for pet food that first year and we were very relieved ours was only on people food at the time.</p>
<p>We ate microwave meals, but mom always cooked for the dog!</p>
<p>^^^^^I kid you not. I died laughing the first time I found out about the luxury option.</p>
<p>M2CK, yes that’s right haha. In that case, you’ve seen my spoiled rotten doghter.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This was about the only thing I could get my dog to eat after his surgery. </p>
<p>These days I’m feeding him something called Stella & Chewy’s Chicken Dinner. I mix it up with some dry kibble and some warm water to make a lovely dog food soup. 
It’s nice to see him eating with enthusiasm again.</p>
<p>When our male cat was towards the end of kidney failure, the only thing he would eat was sliced deli turkey. I by Boars Head for the family and was happy to share with the cat. My husband, who does not like cats at all and only tolerated the two cats, thought it was a great idea to buy a package of some cheap press deli turkey at Target. I have a weird aversion to poultry, I will only handle raw, boneless, skinless chicken breast; touching that slimy turkey several times a day was not working for me! The cat was able to enjoy his Boars Head for his last few months, and I am sure he was happy with my choice!!</p>
<p>My daughter has had to pull road kill (a squirrel) out of her dogs mouth, and I almost had to do the same. I screamed so loud that the dog dropped the squirrel and stared at me. I now know to avoid dead animals on our walks, but if he finds something, my scream is ready to get him to drop it. It would be so much easier if he would obey the leave it command, but we haven’t been so good with the training ;)</p>