Pets are Family too!

This is the story of how we got our pets. Our puppy Max who was 1o years old passed away on 3 Mar after being hit by a car. This is our tribute to him and the story of how he came to live with us.

I have always been a sucker for animals. Mostly strays, but some have been from the SPCA. Growing up I have always found an animal in need. I would see a little kitty or puppy with suck sad eyes needing food or a warm place to go. I would sucker my parents into letting me keep them. Of course with moving around all the time, we were not allowed to move with pets. We would always find them a good home before we moved. So I never had one pet more than 2 or 3 years. Trevor never knew what he was getting into until one trip down to my mom's.
The year 2000 while home for the summer from college, Trevor and I took a trip to visit my mom for memorial weekend or 4th of July. I can't remember which but it was definitely a holiday weekend. While there, there were 3 cute little puppies and their mama who were trolling the neighborhood. My mom informed me that they had taken up residence under her shed and that she would give them water and some scraps from time to time. This is where Trevor learned how much animals mean to me. There were these cute little puppies living on streets who needed homes and that was what I was going to do for them. After all, they weren't but maybe 6-8 weeks old.
After not much convincing, Trevor agreed. I knew we couldn't take all three puppies, but I could get two of them. Two were males and one was female. I knew I would take the female, but how to decide on a male. One was an all black fuzzball and the other was grey and white that looked like he could pass for a purebred husky. Trevor wanted the fuzzball. So it was settled. Trevor then wanted to call his parents. This is where i had to step in and let him know my expertise in this matter. You never let parents know ahead of time. They would say no. Never ask permission, just for forgiveness. This took a little bit to convince Trevor of. But I won out.
After the 8 hour drive back, we showed up with Princess and Max. Trevor's dad was furious, but finally gave the "rules" that I was used to hearing. You always get a probationary period of taking care of them. If you don't they go. Parents do not walk or feed them, etc. So we agreed. Well, Trevor did. I couldn't do much since I would have to head back to school. But it worked. Our cute adorable stray puppies had a home.

Now 10 years later, they have moved several times with us. Max was never the brightest and definitely got on my nerves when he would get into the trash, or when he and Princess would decide to escape and take off in the neighborhood, but they always came back and I always forgave them.

In Sept, after coming home to yet another breakout and trash everywhere, I asked my mom to take the dogs so I could get through the rest of my pregnancy. After losing one twin, I didn't want to lose the other and the stress of both dogs getting into stuff was getting to me. Trevor was working away, so it wasn't like I could have his help. Mom agreed and so they went back to where we found them.

Now since Peyton was born and we found out we were moving, we just asked mom to hold onto them until May when we would come through and pick them up. No problem she said, especially since I am home alone with three kids and Trevor is back to work away again.

But on Thursday, I got a call from my mom, saying the dogs got out that morning, but only Princess came back before she had to head off to work. Not unusual. They have done this many times, so I told her not to worry, just call me when she got home to let me know he made it back. When she called it was not good news. Max had indeed been hit by a car. Poor thing had been on the side of the road all day before he was found. My mom's awesome neighbor went and got Max and buried him in my mom's yard. I told Trevor, then the boys. We are all very sad. Max was a great dog, even with his faults. He let the boys just pull on his fur or tail and would never nip or bite. We are going to do a memorial for him in May once we get to my mom's to pick up Princess. This was the boys idea. They have been missing our pets lately anyway and this is what they want to do for him.

We are worried about Princess now, as Max and her were inseparable. They did everything together and you could never just walk one without the other. They followed each other everywhere even it was just upstairs. It will not be the same without Max. After all, he has been part of our family for over 10 years. Would have been 11 this summer. So you can see why pets are family too.