Cute things your pets do

[alison]

She's my lovable, furry friend and I don't know what I would do without her.

I would love to have a dog, but I can think of one thing that I'm able to do because I don't have one... travel. That's the one thing holding us back from having a pet.

[MissCrabette]

Well, if your dog is small enough to fit in a pet carrier under an airplane seat, then you can travel. Lots of dogs are great in the car too. You can also take your dog to a kennel during the vacation. It took several tries but we finally found a kennel that my dog absolutely loves. If there's a will, there's a way.

[Vishenka69]

Alison, we got a cat partly due to our travel schedule. We've left her at home for up to two weeks (our friends came to feed her daily). She's pissed when we leave but gets over it as soon as we come back.

She's also super smart and totally understands everything. I have no idea how but she manages to do what is asked of her. For instance, if I decide to hit the snooze and sleep in a bit and she's ready to go, I can just tell her that I need 10 more minutes and she'll settle in next to me for that time. Last night DH and I were watching TV in bed and she jumped on him. I said, "Fira, we can't see the TV can you please lie down." And she did, right away. DH was super impressed. She can also open doors from both sides (if she can't push it, she knows to stick her paw underneath and pull).

[alison]

I'm allergic to cats. I grew up with one, but don't like them much. They've got issues. :>

I wouldn't want to travel with a dog. I don't like it when people bring their pets on board planes, so it would be a double standard if I were to bring mine. I don't like designer dogs much either. I want a big dog, like Clifford.

Yes, I've got pet issues.

[Vishenka69]

Alison, you should have married DH. His dream is to have a dog that's my size, but I can't picture having to take care of something that big. Although he loves our cat to pieces, he's still a dog person at heart.

[rainbabies]

now here is a cool pet story. i had a wolf shepard growing up...he wasnt nearly as huge as this pooch.

Half-Breed Wolf Dog Hero Rescues Elderly Owners From Snowstorm
Tuesday, December 05, 2006

By Liza Porteus


NEW YORK — When Eve and Norman Fertig rescued a sick, two-week-old half wolf, half German shepherd puppy from a breeder almost seven years ago, they'd never dreamed that the animal one day would save their lives.

"God is watching; he's watching all the time," Eve Fertig told FOXNews from her home at the Enchanted Forest Wildlife Sanctuary in Alden, N.Y.

He apparently was watching on Oct. 12, when the 81-year-old Fertigs were treating injured animals in the forest sanctuary on their property. One such animal is a near-18-year-old raven, while another is a crow who was shot, blind in one eye with two broken legs.

It was routine for the couple to feed and exercise the dozen or so animals there around 7 p.m. every night.

"While we're in there, the lights go out and I realized something's wrong," Eve Fertig said. "We go outside to see what's happening and down comes one massive tree … the trees came down across us."

The massive storm that hit upstate New York that night felled trees, blocking the Fertig's path to the other sanctuary buildings — such as the school and storage building — and to their home, which was at least 200 feet away.


"We were in big trouble. … I said to my husband, 'I think we could die out here,'" Eve said.

'The Most Heroic Thing I've Ever Seen'

The Fertigs huddled in a narrow alley between the hospital building and the aviary, where they were sheltered from falling trees. They couldn't climb over the trees without injuring themselves. Neither had warm clothes on since it was a clear, crisp fall day just a few hours ago. They hugged each other for warmth, since by 9:30 p.m., temperatures had dropped.

"I wasn't prepared for this … I thought, 'we're trapped, we're absolutely trapped,'" Eve said. "That's when Shana began to dig beneath the fallen trees."

The 160-pound dog that habitually follows her owners around — Eve likens it to "Mary had a little lamb," when the lamb went everywhere Mary went — eventually found the Fertigs and began digging a path in the snow with her teeth and claws underneath the fallen trees, similar to a mineshaft, and barking as if to tell them to follow.

A reluctant Norm said, "I had enough in Okinawa in a foxhole," referring to his service in World War II.

"'Norman, if you do not follow me, I will get a divorce,'" Eve said to her husband of 62 years. "That did it. He said, 'a divorce? That would scandal our family.' I said, 'all of our family is dead, Norman!'"

After Shana tunneled all the way to the house — a process that took until about 11:30 p.m. — she came back, grabbed the sleeve of Eve's jacket, and threw the 86-pound woman over her back and neck, which Eve described as "as wide as our kitchen shelf."

Norman grabbed Eve's legs, and the dog pulled them through the tunnel, under the trees and through an opening in a fence to the house, at which they arrived around 2 a.m.

"It was the most heroic thing I've ever seen in my life," Eve said. "We opened the door and we just fell in and she laid on top of us and just stayed there and kept us alive … that's where we laid until the fireman found us."

There was no electricity and no heat in the house, so Shana acted as a living, breathing generator for the exhausted Fertigs until the local fire department arrived the next morning.

Concerned neighbors — many of whom had children Eve taught — who couldn't get hold of the elderly couple via telephone throughout the night had called the Town Line Fire Department.

But when the fire department urged the Fertigs to go to the firehouse to take shelter along with 100 others, they told them they would have to leave Shana behind.

"We said, 'we don't go anywhere without her.' ... I said, 'we'll stay until the people are gone and we'll take Shana,'" Eve said.

So the couple stayed at home with Shana until Sunday, when the firehouse emptied out. During the three days in a house with no power, heat or hot water, Shana slept with her owners to keep them warm.

"She kept us alive. She really did," Eve said.

Also during that time, firefighters not only helped clear trees from their grounds, but they brought food and water for both human and animal.

"They kept looking at that tunnel and said, 'we've never seen anything like it,'" she said. "I can't thank them enough — they're heroes."

When they went to the firehouse Sunday, Shana followed the Fertigs everywhere, even to the bathroom. And she was 'spoiled rotten' by the fire crews there, Eve said.

She said the fire chiefs said her story of being saved by her pet rejuvenated exhausted fire teams. "The story, they said, just gave them new hope."

A Lesson Learned

Last Thursday, Shana received the Citizens for Humane Animal Treatment's Hero's Award for bravery — an award traditionally given to humans. The plaque, complete with Shana's picture on it, hangs in the Fertigs' living room, along with other pictures of wolves the couple has worked with.

Eve, who teaches courses in Saving Endangered Species and Caring for Injured and Orphaned Wildlife at community colleges and trains animal rehabilitators in New York, said she hopes her story will help further her message of humanity toward animals and educate people about how even a wolf, if treated with care and dignity, can be a "kisser and a hugger" like Shana.

"If you're vicious to a human being, they'll become fighters," Eve said, but even wolves, "once you treat them right and raise them in your house, they're magnificent."

Eve has taught 400 adults to be wildlife rehabilitators. She and her husband are volunteers who pay for their own teaching licenses and caring for the sanctuary animals, out of their Social Security checks every year.

"I've never been on a cruise and I don't shop and I haven't seen a movie in two years," Eve said.

The only time the Fertigs go to the movies is, of course, when they are submitting to a higher calling.

"What I do to get signatures for my petitions, I go to [a] movie that's showing a wolf, horse or whale story," and she and her husband camp out outside the theater and get petitions signed to help save various animals, which they send along to wildlife organizations.

"I have a motto ... joint abilities don't create hostilities," Eve said. "I make it my business to talk to all groups, all conservationists, all hunting clubs, to let them know what they're missing out there."

Editor's Note: The Fertigs rely on food donations to help feed the injured animals they try to rehabilitate at their Enchanted Forest Wildlife Sanctuary in Alden, N.Y. They told FOXNews.com that the Oct. 12 storm completely wiped out their supply of food. The Fertigs would welcome any donations. Please contact them at 716-681-5918 if you would like to donate or volunteer.

[SuzySunshine]

If we drive we take Molly with us. If we fly or are going away for an "us" weekend she stays at this lovely kennel we found. It is an old converted barn, each dog shares a stall with another dog and she LOVES it. I think if you find the right accomodations you can travel without feeling guilty about leaving the dog.

[Malpka]

We have a dog, but though she is lovable, she is not nearly as bright as some of your pups. A good playmate for the kids, but an utter moron. Thankfully she is sweet and cute.

Our cat on the other hand, is a genius. He was DH's before we even met, and is his contant companion. However, when I am pregnant, that cat is on me like white on rice. We call him the midwife cat, because he sleeps curled up to my belly every night. When our babies are born, he stands gaurd at the crib day and night. SO cute.

Our smartest pet is our African Grey parrot. A perfect mimic, it is my voive he prefers to speak in However, he does nag DH for me, even when I am not around. "Paul---- get up here! Come get the kids!".

[alison]

Vishenka- I'm beginning to think I should have married your dh! :> We'd spend the entire weekend with our gigantic dog NOT cleaning the apartment! It would be great!

[MissCrabette]

Rebecca, let me rephrase that. My dog may not be smart but she's a creature of habit. So while she recognizes some phrases, she also barks like an idiot when someone rings a doorbell on TV or when she hears the little chime from my email program.

[Vishenka69]

Vishenka- I'm beginning to think I should have married your dh! :> We'd spend the entire weekend with our gigantic dog NOT cleaning the apartment! It would be great!

This really is getting ridiculous. I wonder what else the two of you have in common.

[MissCrabette]

rainbabies (I like the new name), that was a great story. Thanks for posting it.

[rainbabies]

oh, i thought of another cute thing my bailey boy does...he "checks the baby" if you tell him to check the baby, he will go over to the youngest child in the house...sniff, nudge, and maybe give a gentle lick to said kid.

i love our dog. he is our first child.

heidi must be choking reading this thread.

i know i have put pics of bailey on here before, but here he is again.

flynn, your black labby is beautiful. bailey is just starting to get a little white on his face and muzzle.

[Flynn]

Bailey's picture made me say AHHHHHHHHHHH.

What a face. Very sweet.

[alison]

Cute pic! Have you noticed a tendency in retrievers to curl one of their feet? Our lab does it too!