Pet personalities

[Daisy]

As most of you know in addition to our own lovely, gentle Eva, we look after our DSs' dogs - DS1's Border collie, Bailey, when they go away, and Cooper, the Teenage Terror (usually known as a Hungarian Viszla), two days a week.

Bailey is very quiet, gentle and just goes with the flow. Like, Eva, he's a rescue dog and like Eva, is never quite sure of his place in the world. He does love his cuddles though and will happily snuggle up on the sofa with you. But he tends not to push himself on people - he'd always a bit reserved.

Cooper is quite different. Loved and treasured from birth, he's exuberant, bouncy and always happy. His default approach is "everybody loves me, and I love everybody". Every toy is an opportunity to start a new game, every treat is the most delicious ever, every walk is an adventure, every ride in a car is to somewhere magical. If you tell him off for something, he just bounces back with the dog equivalent of tongue in cheek, as if to say "yes, but you love me and can't be really cross with me". He's such a tonic - you can't be sad round Cooper.

Today we've taken at least 6 toys away from him because he was starting to eat them, and he just lollops off to find another fun-filled treasure. What a lovely way to be.

[Oma]

Storm is a very laid back calm dog . He does have his moments and is scared of lots of things . Silly things like if you snap the top of your sock or click your tongue or pretend you have stolen his nose he gets quite upset if you pretend your thumb is his nose

He is also afraid of strange men if one comes in the front door he runs out of the back door .
Even the man SIL (his dad) employs who sees him every morning he's afraid off .
He's happy when he can sleep eat and murder his toys to get the squeek out

He is a dog that is a pleasure to have and makes us laugh everyday even if he is broken we love him

[Enfys]

Dexter is DDs springer spaniel and we look after him for a couple of afternoons. He is at times, mad as a hatter but then will sprawl out on your feet and go to sleep. He loves walks, squeaky toys (which he also kills for the squeaker) and playing with balloons. He is also quite a scaredy cat, doesnt like walking past prams, , kiddies on scooters, in fact anything with wheels and doesn’t like strangers coming up to pat him, he hides behind your legs! But he is very good, never steals food, doesn’t chew anything that isn’t his, and loves the two cats who seem to love him back. He is what I call a cheerful dog, nothing gets him down and he always lifts your mood.

[Nanto2girls]

All of the pets sound adorable.

[Gemini]

The dogs all sound lovely in their individual ways Daisy
I'm not so keen on big dogs, but I'm sure I would love Storm. He's adorable!
I'm sure spending time with Dexter does you good Enfys!

I have had so many cats in my lifetime. All so individual. The laid back calm ones, the scardy cat ones, the one who literally climbed curtains and wallpaper are destroyed a cheese plant

We have 3 cats now all fairly elderly. 2 female I have had since they were kittens, and a male who adopted us when he was maybe 2 or 3 years old.

The ginger male has a lovely nature. Very gentle. He was neglected and not treated so well when he lived across the road from me in my previous home. It took him a while to trust, even to allow us to stroke him. He went from sitting beside us, to eventually leaning on us, to more or less semi sitting on our knees. As the female cats always want to be entirely on our knees, his leaning can be a nice change!
He has a couple of local cat friends, and likes to be let out of the front door for a while to hang out with them. His sisters don't mix with neighbourhood cats!

The two females came from different mother cats in the same household who had litters a week apart! They have always been together.
One is a black and white long haired delicate little lady. Quite nervous, a bit of a drama queen. If she was human I think she would be pink and sparkly!

The other a tortoiseshell little tomboy. She has always been brave, feisty and very funny. She loves humans, any humans. No workman is safe from her 'helping' them!
She loves to go into the loft with OH and have a wander. She can still at 19 climb the loft ladder, and she used to be able to run up to the top of the apple tree. Not sure she can manage that now!

Little tortoiseshell likes children and babies and is unafraid of them. GS1 use to call her his best friend when he was younger!
The other 2 cats are afraid of children, the noise and unpredictable movements. They hide away upstairs when the GC are here. If the little ones go upstairs, out through the cat door go these 2 cats!!

[Oma]

Gem I love cats they are their own bosses

DD has had cats since she bought her first home at 19 , she like you has had her fair share of loopy ones and manic ones , at the moment she has two , well three if you include Jasper who hasn't been home for a year but is still living with several other families

Now Jasper is a proper Tom cat roams everywhere and will go to any house that will feed him ,

Tallulha is a little dainty Black and white like Felix of the adverts , shes shy and likes to stay in her cat igloo if anyone is there but she loves Storm ,

Buzz on the other hand is a little monster ( I love him most ) he beats Storm up for no other reason but he likes to do it , he's a right bully ,

He was DS's cat but as a kitten he was knocked over and had his back leg and Pelvis shattered , Oliver was only a tot then and quite rough with him so he went to DD to recover and never went home again he sits with his back leg out now at a funny angle but is fine , he has a weak heart but that doesn't stop him fighting .

He would steal food , climb curtains and has always got into mischief ,
Once DD opened the fridge door to find him sitting in there and he had ate a packet of ham , he must have climbed in when she wasn't looking and the door had shut on him , he was quite happy he had lots to eat in there

[Gemini]

A cat in the fridge

[Glammanana]

Poppy our little Lahasa is a real diva I just don't know where she gets it from as when she was rescued she had received no special treatment from her previous owner in fact she was badly neglected she had never been brushed or cut so after we brought her home we had to wait a week before even attempting to get her bathed and cut,now 5 yrs later she rules the house,Dolly Basset is a law unto herself at the minute she is 9mths old now and is classic naughty puppy although she is a very large puppy at 21kgs she loves to steal all the toys and any washing that is available for stealing and takes them into the garden to hide,she loves people and babies in prams but is terrified of the bin lorry when it comes up our Road,both like going out in the car and have their own seat belts in the back they both travel very well.
Both of them enjoy a mad half hour late afternoon chasing tennis balls in the garden before they have their last walk and settle down for the night,Dolly is certainly coming along well with her training but people forget how young she is because she is such a big lump of a dog.
Lovely to read about all the special friends we all have life would be so dull without them wouldn't it ?

[Gemini]

It is lovely to read about them all Glamma

[Daisy]

Glamma - you're right, they are special friends.

I think Bassets have a long puppyhood, don't they? Cooper, the HV, is 18 months old, about 31 kg and still a puppy - a teenager puppy the size of a small donkey! It's lovely to hear that Dolly is doing well with her training. We once had near neighbours who had the thickest, soppiest Basset I've even seen, but he was also an escape artist. One day we saw him in the town, wandering around, and OH stopped the car so I could go and get him, but he just climbed in and insisted in lying across both our laps! His owner thought he was asleep upstairs.


Gem - all your cats sound very special. I think you'd find Cooper a bit of a challenge on account of his size and bounciness! But he's so loveable.

Oma - your DD's pets must keep her busy! I had to laugh at Buzz getting shut in the fridge with all that food! Every time Cooper reverts to chewy-puppyhood I remind DIL of Storm eating sofas and wearing the cat flap!

Enfys - Dexter sounds like the perfect dog - he obviously has an 'off' button!

[Oma]

Thank goodness those days are over Daisy

[Daisy]

Thank goodness those days are over Daisy

Definitely, Oma!

[Plantaholic]

Love reading about your pets.