Update: A winner has been chosen and emailed. Thanks for everyone’s entries — SO FUN to read about our pets. Astro says, “Woof!” He approves. Stay tuned for July’s contest. Hmmmm. What shall I ask this month? Original post: Robin was last month’s winner of a “Love The House You’re In” custom collage made by our collage artist laureate Mel Kolstad. That’s Robin’s house… and her dog, woof!… all interpreted by Mel — she cut out each little brick by hand! Now, it’s time to find a winner for June. If you would like to enter to win a custom collage featuring your house and photos, read on….
To enter, complete these two steps:
- A bunch of our collage winners choose to include their pet. Hmmmm… So this month, step #1 to enter is to leave a comment on this post telling us about your pet. If you don’t have a pet right now… then, tell us about a hobby that gets your nurturing TLC.
- And, subscribe to my newsletter. Yes, this helps me build my newsletter list… I send ‘em out just once a week, usually.
Please read all the rules here before entering. I’ll pick a reader next Friday morning.
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Meanwhile — thanks again to Mel for a fabulous collage! You can find Mel’s collage works on flickr and her blog, Much Ado About Stuff. Thanks, Mel, you know I love your work, and I’m so excited to have this addition to the blog in 2010.
Win a “Love the House You’re In” custom collage of you and your house 
Win a “Love the House You’re In” collage of your house 
Win a “Love the House You’re In” collage of your house 
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Oh wow~ It would be so cool to win a collage!
We just rescued our dog, Betty a few months ago. She is in love with my sons and the feeling is mutual. Our 3 year old Joshua tells everyone he meets that he is going to marry Betty, because “she’s his life and he loves her sooo much.”
She was very defensive when it came to other dogs ( the result of a life as a stray), but is starting to feel safer & is being less aggressive when we introduce her to other pups. She’s part shepherd, and it’s fun to watch her try to ‘herd’ our 3 sons up in the backyard. I know exactly how she feels at that moment.
We’re so happy we took the plunge & brought her into our family, I just can’t imagine life without Betty
We have two dogs. They are the total opposite of one another. Reelee (1.5 years, Aussie/Corgi) and Maeby (5.5 years, Scottie Mix) are their names and it truly describes their personalities. Maeby acts like cat and is only around for food, outside, and some cuddling. Reelee is in your face all the time. You leave a room, he follows you, You aren’t petting him, he sits on the floor and stares at you. They are both wonderful dogs and make me laugh on a daily basis even if the hubby doesn’t particularly care for them.
Natalie,
I have had the pleasure of knowing and loving an aussie/corgi mix dog, Sydney, for the last 14 years. He belongs to a former next door neighbor and he is hanging in at 16 years now. He is EXACTLY like you describe Reelee and is a total love. Lucky you to have Reelee.
Thanks! He is awesome. Potty training him was the easiest thing ever! When the day comes and he isn’t around, I am going to have to search far and wide for another Aussie/Corgi. Funny thing his dad was the corgi. Ha.
You can see pictures of him on our blog. =)
Ours is a pet-keeping family. Besides our five dogs (two great danes, two border collie crosses, and a pug), we have a semi-evil kitty, three guinea pigs, a dwarf rabbit, two happy parakeets, and an aquarium. To say that these critters keep us busy is a definite understatement, but we love them all.
Fingers crossed on winning one of these collages! : )
What a fun question! We have two cats. Sobu is our seven year old tortie cat and she’s like the old woman of the house. Sometimes, it seems like she could talk to us but simply doesn’t choose to. Pip is our tuxedo kitten with bright green eyes and very sharp claws – she’s the one to watch. Especially if you’re wearing a skirt or trying to fold fragile fabric. We love them both and this house wouldn’t be the home that it is without them chasing each other through it. : )
I love your blog and read it every day. We have a 5 year old chihuahua named Leah. She can stand on her back paws for a very long time, to see out the windows or beg for food. We live in my husband’s childhood home which we are returning to its original design, using lots of second hand furniture and pieces I pick up at estate sales. I would love to have a collage of my house.
Thanks for everything
Susan
What a great idea since the only way I’d ever be able to have a picture of my dogs in front of my house is if they were cut out and superimposed on a collage. They absolutely REFUSE to pose for photos! Even the sound of my camera turning on is enough for them to come running over to me, tails wagging and noses snuffling. We have two rescues. Lulu is a black lab mix with the prettiest face I’ve ever seen on a dog and Bowie is a Catahoula with one blue eye and one eye that is blue on one half and brown on the other. If he were a person he would be Hugh Hefner. I actually think he smokes a pipe when we’re not around. We also have a 16 year old cat named Frankie who wants nothing to do with the nonsense these 2 dogs have brought into our lives!
Oh boy, I am entering this one. I am never without a pet, and usually quite a few. Right now I have 3 cats and that is the perfect number. So, if I am lucky enough to win a collage I would love to see my cats hanging out in the windows as they do all the time.
All 3 are shelter babies and are wonderful gorgeous kids. Daisy is the oldest, at 12, and she is a long haired tortie/calico mix — from the top she lookes like a tortie and from the front and bottom like a calico. She has been seen on this blog — in a picture of her looking at a siamese cat in a pink bathroom. She is the most affectionate cat I have ever had and loves to sit on my desk while I am online, especially in the evening. Nice, but a real pain at times when her big furry tail covers the keyboard.
The other two, brother and sister Tommy and Callie, came are 8. Tommy is a “longish” haired yellow and white “tuxedo” cat and Callie is the prettiest chic-est calico ever. Every morning when I wake up, the three of them are on the bed, or somewhere else in my bedroom, and I look at them as tell them I am the luckiest person in the world to have them, and this wonderful little 1946 Cape Cod ranch house.
We have 2 adorable Westies, Toby and Boo. Toby was a traditional adoption and has turned out to be the cutest dog in the world. We got him at 7 months from a family who kept him in a crate for 8 hours a day. They fortunately decided this wasn’t a good life for a pup and sent out the call through Westie Rescue, who called us since we had applied for a puppy. I’m pretty sure he thought he got to heaven when he came to our house – he was a happy boy from the start and gives ups great joy every single day (5 years later!), except when he tries to attack the mail carrier or any delivery person, for that matter. Keep away from my house!
Our 2nd boy was a true rescue. He came from a puppy mill and was going to be euthnanized because he was scrawny and goofy looking and had a small injury on his head so he couldn’t be sold to a pet store. At 4 months, he weighed only 5 lbs. He peed on the floor as soon as we met him and he was really odd looking but we took him anyway. Once again, our home was puppy heaven. He jumped into Toby’s bed within minutes and fell asleep. He and Toby became best friends immediately and now, 2 years later, whenever they are separated, they are very sad. They aren’t without each other very often. Boo has grown into a fine looking boy and is the lord of the manor, although he doesn’t give a hoot about the mailman. And while I was hoping he would stay little, he’s now a cow like 25 lbs!
What would be so great about having a collage with them in it is that we also just finished rescuing our 1925 bungalow. It went from a yellow metal covered meh of a house to a jewel on our street. We pulled all the siding off to reveal the original cedar shake shingles underneath, as well as all the original crown moldings and trim on the doors and windows. She is now repaired and painted and is so adorable, I swell with pride every time I pull in my driveway.
How terrific to put all these rescues into a fabulous collage!
Boy, I sure would love to have a collage of our house with all my animals! First, there’s Roxy. She’s a Flame Point Himalayan, and she is very bitter and annoyed by all of the animals that have come after her. She thinks she is way better than them. Next came Sophie. She’s a rescue kitten, an extremely adorable and slightly evil looking black and white half Persian. Her original mommy went to have routine surgery and didn’t make it, leaving behind a house full of cats apparently. Sophie was one of them, and she is so greatful to have a new home. Then there’s Henrietta, who showed up on my front porch step one day. She’s a grey Manx cat (no tail). She was pregnant and had 5 little babies. 3 had tails, 2 didn’t. I found homes for four and kept little Henry. They’re inseparable still, and the sweetest kittens in the world. Last year, I finally got my dream puppy…an Old English Sheepdog. Her name is Dottie, and she is absolutely insane. She loves to play, eat shoes, eat paper products, play some more, and chew. She also likes to sleep in the bed. She weighs about 70 pounds and she’s still growing! I really wish I had a farm so I could save every homeless cat and dog I see. Maybe some day…
Susie, it has always been my dream to have a gigantic “ranch” and keep every single kitty I find!
My partner Lacey and I just bought our first home. Very exciting! It was built in 1954 and has a very midmod + Frank Lloyd Wright feeling, hard to explain. We’re furnishing it in a mix of modern + contemporary plus all kind of weird items from my childhood and grandmother’s old house that I refuse to get rid of (well, I love them!).
We have four cats and a doggie, Bella, who is a pit/lab mix and is a huge dork, full of love and falling all over herself. Her favorite feature of the new house is a tiny gap in the backyard gate where she can stick out her nose when we’re leaving.
Three of the kitties were mine before I met Lacey: Potsy, Chicken and Ben. They are brothers I rescued when I was in college, and at the time they fit in my hand! I bottle-nursed them and they still think they’re my human babies. Our fourth cat, Joey, is a handful. When we saw her at the rescue fair, she tried to leap into a fenced-in area full of dogs, and I should have known then that she was way too much to handle! She bosses the other cats around despite being about a third of their size and likes to let loose a particularly annoyed yowl when we aren’t paying attention.
Love your site and love the collages!!
Lucy, the Airedale Terrorist….an 8 month old Airedale who is smart as a whip. We named her Lucy quite appropriately. I wanted a vintage name and we knew Airedales are natural clowns so the name Lucy was fitting. Has she ever lived up to it! She can open appliances. One day we didn’t close the dishwasher quite all the way and she opened it, climbed on the door and we found her literally laying down on the counter eating cat food. We’ve had to put an alarm on the refrigerator because she likes to help herself to the meal of her choice. We’ve Lucy-proofed the cabinets in the kitchen because she will open the child-proofed doors to eat the garbage. If this were any other dog I wouldn’t be in so much love. But Lucy is a clown. She is a child in a dog’s body. She is my children’s best friend and great protector. The look in her eyes when she stares at you lets you know that what you are saying is truly important to her (as important it can be to a dog) and that she loves you. Lucy the Airedale Terrorist has given our family a novel of stories and just as much love.
We have 2 pups!
One is 10 months old named Rita. She is a Rottie mix and we’ve raised her since she was 2 months. She is very independent and loves to hike. She has one ear that goes up and the other goes down, it’s adorable.
We just got her a playmate last week! Bo is a black lab mix and he’s 4 months old. He is very dependent and has a funny overbite that makes him look really goofy.
We spend a lot of time teaching and training, as they are both still very much puppies. They love to play together. They are both very sweet and loving dogs.
We have a dog, a cat and a beta fish. My 7 year old son claims they all belong to him, but I, of course, tak ecare of them!
Our dog is a mixed breed (black lab mix) from a neighboring county’s shelter that has a Pound Puppy program. Inmates at a local correctional facility are trained to be dog handlers and assigned a dog to live with them for a minimum of 2 months. The dogs work on house breaking and learn basic commands. This is my second dog from this program and I can’t recommend it more! Our Dogs name is Ichabod. We call him Ichy which is very fitting as he does some pretty disgusting things! But he is sweet and lovable and scares away bad guys so we look past it.
Our cat’s name is Uno. We got her from a local cat rescue called Colony Cats. Uno’s mom was a feral cat that had been trapped, spade, and released. Her kittens were kept and spade/neutured and adopted. Uno is very entertaining and we affectionately call her “Crazy Barn Cat”
The fish’s name is Rockstar. He swims and that’s it.
We have two cats, Claudette and Wilma. Claudette is a seven-year-old big gray tabby and Wilma is a petite three-year-old patch tabby with white. We found Claudette at an animal sanctuary when she was a few months old. Wilma came from a local cat rescue organization. Claudette’s favorite activities are head-butting with me, eating, and generally being in everyone’s business. Wilma’s pastimes are bird watching, eating, and getting warm under the covers.
We just moved them into our new wonderful 1950 house two days ago, and we’ve been keeping them confined to the main floor by closing the (original and pristine!) pocket doors to the kitchen (swoon!). The first night we slept there, Wilma wandered out to the rest of the top floor in the middle of the night. About every half hour she came back to bed and excitedly told us about every new room she found!
They’re finding their favorite windows and I think they’re going to love having all of the space they didn’t have in our apartment. Now that we have a yard, we’ll probably eventually have a dog, when the right dog finds us.
We have two cats, Mojito Houdini (the latter because he can get out of any collar in seconds), a brown-and-cream tabby-pattern Maine Coon, and Tiki Bar-bara, LLD (Hon.), a black-and-orange short-haired tortie. They’re Mojo and Tiki for short.
Mojo, like most of his breed, is a big boy, weighing about 15-16 pounds; when stretching out on the bed he’s more than 3 feet from toe to toe, and almost four if his fluffy tail is fully extended. Like many other Maine Coons, he also trills and chirps more than meows. He has a favorite toy mouse that likes to bring and drop at my feet whenever I move to a new room. He also likes to groom our hair and beards.
Tiki’s a little thing, weighing under ten pounds, but she has a big voice when she wants attention. She’s also quite acrobatic, leaping to the top of the refrigerator or the top shelf of the closet directly from the floor. She’s very skittish, especially with strangers, when she’s awake and roaming around, and won’t tolerate being picked up or touched. But she loves to cuddle next to us on the couch or in bed, and at those times we can rub her all over, even her belly, and she purrs contentedly.
We have 2 smush-faced cats and one really ugly cockatoo in the orange house. Pumpkin is gray spaz and Innocent is fat and white, both Exotic Shorthair cats, they really do look like Persians in pajamas. The ugly bird in question is named Chicken, an Umbrella Cockatoo, and she shreds her own feathers. She is my husband’s bird and dearly wishes I would go far far away so she could have him all to herself. We have a relatively peaceful yet noisy coexistence under our small roof.
We have two. Zorro and Rat! Yes, a dog named Rat.
They’re rat terrier mixes. And they’re FANTASTIC! Rat has a feisty attitude and Zorro is our shy wimpy boy.
We have two cats, Selma and P.T. Selma was a rescue, we got her from a shelter. P.T., short for Princess Teykout, was found at a local Chinese buffet about three years ago. We were going to have dinner and she popped out of the bushes in front of the restaurant and ran up to me like we’d known each other all along. She’s a Russian Blue mix so she’s very smart and quite personable. We named her Princess because the place is called the Royal Buffet, and Teykout is a play on take-out. We got Selma about a year later because we’re gone all day and P.T. needed some company, she was already named Selma. They are total opposites, even down to size. P.T. is 8lbs, Selma is 15lbs, and she’s still a kitten!! She’s very playful and rambunctious, while P.T. prefers to sit at the window and quietly observe. We also have a dog, Gretchen, whom we inherited from a past roommate. She’s a shepherd mix, well trained and pretty well behaved.
I love reading about everyone’s pets—this is a great topic!
We have four adorable Tibetan Spaniels (aka “Tibbies”): Tali, Roxi, Charley and Kera. They regularly have “sleepovers” with their three Tibbie friends who live a couple blocks away. We have all seven of them right now for a week—our own little herd. Nothing like the pitterpat of 28 little feet skittering over the hardwood floors!
We moved into our ’52 Cape Cod four years ago, and many friends asked, “How does Roxi like her new house?” Roxi (almost 12) is quite short, and can’t do stairs anymore because of her back. Our Victorian was very vertical—inside and out. Our “new” flat house and yard suits Roxi (and, OK, her mom & dad too) much better!
I work at home and in this house, my office is downstairs, where the dogs can hang with Mom if they want to. Their beds (in our bedroom) are also on the first floor, so they can chill out in there if they want to.
In the old house, both office and bedroom were upstairs—and hence off limits except when they were carried up at night to go to sleep.
The Cape Cod HAS an upstairs, but we only use it for guest rooms and the dogs never go up.
The Tibbies spend most of their time on the sun porch, where the windows come down to the floor. From here they can survey—and vociferously protect—their (very small) kingdom, and watch for the “cookie lady” who lives behind us. Whenever Cookie Lady’s garage door opens, four (or seven) shrieking Tibbies demand to be let outside to receive their cookie. Cookie Lady has their undivided attention and 8 (or 14) brown eyes intensely follow her every movement. She only gives them one cookie each per day—but hope springs eternal, and their reaction is the same every time she appears.
We joke about our “Tibetan Meerkats” because all of them stand on their hind legs in a row along the back fence, anticipating their daily treat.
We all love our Cape Cod—such an easy-to-live-in house, for both humans and dogs!
We have two little kittens, Rocket and Daisy ( I bet you can tell we have little kids that picked out their names). They are still just learning all the rules, but they love the kids. They are always taking turns on who they are sleeping with. Rocket, I have discovered, also loves to come near me when I paint, which would be sweet if he wasn’t a long haired kitty.
We have a dog – Moose. He is 11 – but still so active and healthy! We got him as a pup, and he is funny and smart. He is half Basset Hound, half sneaky neighbor dog
He is long and heavy – but short – with short legs and a big head! He has been a great pet. My kids love him.
My kitty Coco (the nut) is a rescue kitty as well. She was missing an ear due to frostbite & had a cold when we found each other. She’s been with me 10 years now (wow, 10 years?). She’s the best cat EVER!!
And she loves the 65 brick/white ranch that we have. Her favorite spot is on the wicker couch on the front porch …where she is right now-just watching the world go by (or taking a nap). She’s also leash trained.
I adopted Jeika in the sixth grade. A feral tabby kitten, she was fiercely loyal to me, slept curled in the nook of my body at night, spent her days perched on my shoulder and spurned the rest of my family. She excelled at hiding and lived for spring caterpillars (a tasty treat!). Adolescence is always hard, and she was my constant. Shortly after I purchased my first house (a hundred-year-old fixer up-er), she started suffering from debilitating dementia. The first room I renovated, was the sunniest bedroom, transforming it into a “safe room” for her while I was at work. After a year, her dementia became so severe, that I couldn’t comfort her, couldn’t seem to wake her from her nightmares. Finally, distraught, I called the vet to schedule an appointment to put her down. After hanging up the phone, I went to the back door to stare into the garden, try to pull myself together. I opened the door, looked down, and there on the concrete steps, sat the tiniest kitten I’d ever seen.
It’s been several years since I lost Jeika, but Ione, the tiny kitten has grown into a sweet and enormous tortoiseshell queen. Cats and dogs have mystical mysterious magical ways and I thank Jeika for sending Ione to look after me.
Oooh a collage would be great! Sadly, no pets. I’m allergic to everything, including, after a recent trip to the zoo, giraffes. How can I possibly be allergic to something from another continent?
I’m pretty adept at house plants though, have had a couple that have re-bloomed. And once we settle in our house, we will probably get some fish.
We have two kitties at the moment. (Our favorite, Nemo, had to be put down last Dec.)
Mao is half Siamese. She came to us with the name “Sweetpea”, which we quickly dropped after feeling it hardly suited her. She is very long-legged and lanky, has a deep, masculine meow and is somewhat shortsighted. Despite the limits of her eyesight, she is an excellent roach hunter. She also habitually kills a little stuffed octopus every evening, then parades it around the house. Her favorite spot to sleep is a rattan basket that has the exact same dimensions as her body with legs outstretched.
Mims is a grey and white munchkin cat (google it if you’ve never heard of it–they’re precious!) with the strangest pale eyes I’ve ever seen on a cat. She is incredibly timid and hides anytime a new person comes to the house. Once you’re on her good side, though, she’ll never leave you alone. She follows us around the house and hollers at us until we pick her up. Her favorite toy is a hot pink hedgehog (“Hedgepiggy”) that is actually as tall as she is. When she carries it around in her mouth, it drags on the ground.
I just adore these collages and your site! I am very excited that we have a chance to win one every month.
We have a 10 year old black cat named Mason. He’s my first cat, and I probably raised him a little bit like a dog, but we love him. He’s very talkative and social and prefers to sit between us on the couch.
Thank you for your very kind words about the collages!
I have an absolute blast making them! 
I found my cat Lucky on a very bitterly cold Iowa morning about 10 years ago. I was driving to work in a near-blizzard, with temps below zero, and I passed what I thought was a dead animal in the middle of the road. Just before the animal disappeared from my line of sight, I saw it move, and I realized it was a cat. Feeling sympathy for an animal in such cold with no shelter nearby, I whipped the car around and slowly pulled up to the “lump” in the middle of the road. The cat did not move away, but just looked at me as I pulled up. I opened my car door and said, “Come here, kitty!” and was surprised when she leaped up on my lap without hesitation.
I had no idea if this animal was rabid or hurt. She did appear to be bleeding from one of her paws, and her face had some scratches on it. But she stayed on my lap as I drove the last few miles to work. The poor thing was shaking like crazy by the time I pulled up to the school where I worked.
I showed up at work with bloodstained khakis and a scared and injured cat. What in the world was I going to do with her? I knew it was a really bad idea to have a cat I knew nothing about just wandering aimlessly around my classroom.
As luck would have it, I happened to teach in an older building that had a two-sectioned classroom. The part where I taught was separate from a smaller room in the back that I then used for storage. It had a door as well, so I figured kitty could stay back there. My colleagues and the custodian leaped into helpful action for Lucky; within minutes I had a box, some old towels, and a plate of egg pieces from that morning’s lunch. Lucky had obviously been through some sort of ordeal, though, and she gratefully climbed into the box and fell fast asleep. She never made a peep the whole day, and none of my students knew she was back there.
Back then I was the cheerleading coach as well, so when my four cheerleaders filtered into my room after school, I introduced them to Lucky and they had a great time spoiling my little cat. Lucky was starting to recover from whatever trauma she had been through that day, and she purred and curled up into the laps of the girls as they gave her lots of attention.
Poor Lucky had been someone’s kitty at some point, for she had been “fixed,” as I discovered when I took her to the vet. How she ended up in the middle of that rural highway, I’ll never know. I’m just glad she trusted me enough to jump into my car and become part of my life. She is indeed a lucky, lucky cat.
I own a 2 year old orange stripped cat named Felix, he’s quite a cat! His hobbies include, *catching mice, eating, playing piano, turning on lamps, and being petted by visiting house guest*
What can I really say? Our two cats, Jasper and Greta, and our dog, Charlie, are the gateway to the Divine for me. Every day they teach me how to live in the moment, enjoy the Good and to Pay Attention. They are my Beloveds.
We are both crazy about our rescue dog, Ginger. We don’t know anything about her background, but think she is about three years old now. She was picked up running the streets and was rescued on her last day before euthanasia by the wonderful Almost Home Animal Shelter. We adopted her the same month, when she was about nine months old.
Ginger looks like a miniature German Shepherd at only 25 pounds. We aren’t really sure of her ancestry. She loves hunting squirrels, and she is very playful and loves to have fun. She dotes on stuffed animals and has quite a little collection of them. She is very gentle with them and has not torn any of them up. She also loves to play with other dogs.
Here is her report card from the Pets Hotel where she stayed for a few days last week:
“Ginger is such a happy and a little sassy girl. She had fun in camp every day. When she got tired, she took control of the playhouse and let everyone know she was sleeping. … We all adore her.
”
Ginger still has a tendency to run off, so she must always be leashed. We would hate to lose our lovable little gal.
We have a big, beautiful, fluffy tortoiseshell Maine Coon (mix, most likely) named Agatha, after Agatha Christie. She only has half a tail, but what she has is gorgeous. We adopted her as a tiny puffball of a kitten with her tail already healed; the staff at the shelter didn’t know anything about her background. She’s an interesting cat, she’s not cuddly at all, but she loves to be with us, just mostly from a distance, like on the staircase. The only one she lets pet her is me, she likes to jump up on the table when I’m on my laptop and insert herself in between my hands and the keyboard. This is when the Furminator comes out. Dun dun dun!!! With all her fur, I have to do my best to keep the tumbleweeds from forming.
We have a whole meagerie, 3 dogs Chloe the golden lab that has to be Marley’s littermate, Sasha our beautiful little black cocker spaniel, and Sadie Suzanne my mini dachsund who is truly my baby. We also have a very handsome gray tabby named Thomas, and a cute little girl tabby named Fox. Yes, we have too many but I cannot part with any of them. I spend half of my life cleaning up pet hair!
Here is why our house is home to two adopted cats, Leeloo (calico girl) and Poe (our solid black boy)
For over 20 years I’ve been an active animal defender. I grew up in South America where stray dogs and cats were always my biggest concern. I gave up party nights with my BFF many times in oder to rescue a stray, we fostered many dogs and cats until we found them a forever home. For many years we did this, and got so much in return. Many thankful licks were given, many muffins were made in my lap, I don’t know, and I never will, know what is to wear black without fur. My house will always include a littler box as part of the decoration, because I’m forever commited to take care of my babies. They will follow us if we move, they will be safe if natural dissasters threaten us.
When we turned into parents of human babies we felt the responsability of teach them the importance of love, respect and care for the littlest members of the family. There was never a question of “what if the cat hurts the baby?” Actually we worried that, the fur babies will feel neglected or sad, so we always included them in the parenting experience, and what do you know? They all grew up to love and care for each other.
So, as I pledge to love & care the house I’m in, I also pledge to never look the other way when an animal is in danger, abandoned, or mistreated, I pledge to give four legged creatures the same love and respect I give my human babies. I pledge to give a voice to those who can’t defend themselves. I pledge to be an animal lover and teach the same to my kids.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16961986@N03/4509035266/
Bless you, Marcela,
Wish more people were like you!
Annie B.
Aw Annie you are so nice <3 I love your babies names!
Thank you Marcela. ‘Cause of you and people like you, my dog was rescued and came to me. I’m so grateful
I’m so glad you are the mommy to a rescued dog! I can’t imagine buying a pet when there are way to many to adopt! I just hope there is always tons of love for homeless furbabies!
Mel’s collages are so fabulous! What a treat to have her “cut and paste” our hacienda plus felines.
Our pets are three cats who know not that they are cats: “Posie Rose”, the tiny tortie terror; “Charlie Poole”, the big orange NC Rambler; and Zelda, the 17 year old crossed-eyed Manx cat.
As we all know, there’s no telling what you might find at your local flea market……perhaps even two newborn kittens whose mother was frightened away shortly after giving birth. Charlie and sister, Posie, were bottle fed for six weeks and have grown over the last five years into the most wonderful friends. Zelda, aka, “The Whistle Pig” (Appalachain-speak for ground hog), rules the roost with an iron claw and looks like a basketball with legs. We love them all!
Congrats in advance to whomever wins Mel’s collage. You’ll have yourself a real prize!!!
Oh, thank you for your very kind words! I can’t wait to make a collage featuring pets – what an awesome idea! Thanks Pam!
We just moved into our first home, a 1953 ranch, on Memorial Day, along with our two rescue kittens, “Whoa” Nellie and “Heavens to” Betsy, who are 20 month old littermates. They are very excited about the new house, especially the hardwood floors — Nellie likes to scamper and slide across the living room, and Betsy enjoys trying to climb out the awning windows. (The screen is her enemy…and she will defeat it, she says!) We dropped a spot of paint on the living room floor, and Nellie likes to pounce and attack this spot. Last night, she attacked the green paint splotch on my leg, so her new nickname is “Paint Detector.”
Both kitties are still suspicious of the whole-house fan, and will often cower and growl when we run the blower. We bought and restored a 1950s dinette set for the kitchen, and the girls promptly decided that is their new nap place, vintage-style. . . Sigh.
Thanks for sponsoring the contest — Nellie and Betsy give it, “eight paws up!”
Oh I covet the collage! Our 1960 ranch house would love it too.
We have three feisty cats who have all found us. I’ve never gone looking for a cat. They just come to us. The latest addition is Beans (he came with the name.) Beans has had a hard life and came to our front door in a sleet storm. His story is a long story that includes fights with his previous neighbors, a dog attack, a broken femur, a near-death stomach disorder, three surgeries and at last a new family where he is safe and loved. He is slowly adjusting to our ALPHA male, Chavez, and our skittish female bug hunter, Li’l Missy. And, he’s all white. I can find that li’l sucker anywhere. It’s funny how I took these animals in certain I could not possibly tolerate three cats! And then learned I cannot live without the three.
I’m jealous of the collage winner! I have the perfect spot for it. Thanks for the contest!
Thank you Lori!
Thanks for entering the contest!
I have a lab/German shorthair mix named Toby and four cats. But I must tell you about my neighbor dog, Griz, who decided he’d rather live with me most of the time. Griz is a cross-eyed, tongue-lopping out the side of his mouth, tail-waggin’ chocolate lab. He started visiting Toby every day while his owner was at work. Well, the visits just kept getting longer and longer! He eats breakfast and dinner with Toby and probably catches the same at his house. Four squares a day makes him a happy, albeit chubby, boy! He keeps cool in my baby pool, sleeps on my carpet in the winter and smokes cigars with Toby in the shade of our yard every afternoon while they watch the cars go by.
If he wanders after the joggers and cyclists who pass our ’78 split-level in the country, someone always brings him back to our house in the back of their pick-up truck. We’ve given up on saying he’s not our dog and just gratefully thank them for his safe return.
We love him, his owners love him and he’s a big part of both our families.
We have a dog, Sammie, and two cats, Cedar and Lucy. We adopted Sammie from the local shelter 1 1/2 years ago. He is a Sheltie mix and is a sweetheart. We were told that he didn’t like other dogs, was scared of strangers, didn’t like car rides and was deathly afraid of the vet. All of these have proven to be wrong! I guess he just needed the correct environment. Our cats were both strays: Cedar was 5 weeks old when I found him on our road, a bit unsteady on his feet and full of fleas, eye gunk and ear mites. Nine years later, he is a handsome Siamese mix with blue eyes. Lucy is a spunky little girl that finally came inside to eat on a snowy December morning after being too timid to come near for over two months. The vet estimated that she was only 5 months old. She continues to put her hunting skills to use!
Well, I don’t technically have a pet… But I do have a sweet little nephew who is a chinese sharpei! His name is Bocifery Bubinga Jones Pucci (or Bo for short). He’s just about a year and a half old and he just gets sweeter and sweeter with age! The best thing about Bo is that he acts like a real human boy… He uses his hands (front paws) like a human. He grabs at things very purposefully, which can get him in a bit of trouble when what he’s grabbing at is food on the counter top. And you should see the way he rubs his eyes… precious! He’s just the light of my life, as cheesy as that sounds. I love him!
I would absolutely include my dog Gerty in a collage if I were lucky enough to win one! She is a 14 pound Boston Terrier/Chihuahua mix that is very loveable & snuggly! Having her in a collage of my 1960 brick ranch would make it complete!
Ooh what fun it owuld be to get a collage “house portrait” of our ’55 stone “rancher” in Lancaster, PA. And our dogs will be awe-inspiring! Zeus the toy poo fits right in our mid-century beauty, and Ollie (a german shorthair)- oh well – he’s just full of love!
Please don’t hate me! We don’t have any pets as I have terrible allergies. Since we are empty nesters, we have decided to take the plunge & get a shelter dog next month, as we love our son’s dog & would love to hear the litter patter of little paws as long as we can find one of a hypo allergenic breed. We live in a 1953 Ranch, decorated in a cool, electric 60′s -70′s vibe. Our sunroom is filled with vintage furniture, cameras & Mobil memorabilia. I am mosaic artist & have recently completed a bust of Venus di Milo and a creepy cool skull that lights up. I can picture them in a collage already. I have read Pam’s blog for over a year. It’s resourceful, fun to read & inspiring!
Our dog, Magic, is a beautiful but psychotic Maltese. She enjoys a full life of shredding tissues and chasing bunnies in the backyard of our California contemporary. She sleeps in our kingsize bed on top of a pile of pillows, reminiscent of Dr. Seuss’s Yertle the Turtle.
Her psychosis — and our entertainment — shows up when she tries to navigate hardwood floors. In a flurry of skidding paws and flying ears, she races across the maple planks until she reaches a rug island. So, in enabler mode, my husband and I have scattered ‘landing pads’ at close intervals throughout the house to lessen her distress…
Wait…did I say SHE was the crazy one?
Leo, our scamp of a Tibetan Terrier, loves our “new” 1958 home on Florida’s central east coast. He also loves the neighborhood, perhaps too much. He tries to bust out the front door whenever the doorbell rings, to guard his palace and snoop around the yard of our next-door neighbor, who rescues kitties. We never thought we’d see the day, but Leo has become a best friend to our newest household member, Hercules, a red Persian. Dogs and cats can get along!
Love these customized collage images and absolutely adore the entire website. I am a subscriber already. My dog is named Eleanor Roosevelt. She is two years old. Half German Shepherd, one-fourth Mastiff, and one-fourth Black Lab. High-energy, extremely athletic (superstar at ball catching), protective of the house, and ready for any adventure. Her dog-sister Maggie lives with a neighbor, so we have plenty of play dates, plus trips to the dog park.
Hi Pam!
I have 3 cats, the first 2 were from a shelter, but the third was a stray my 11-year-old son found on the way to school. He called me on his cell phone to say a cat was following him to school, and it looked like it couldn’t find its home. I said “Can you grab it?” He said “Sure, it’s right here.” So I told him to take it home, put it in the bathroom with some food and water, and we’d figure out what to do that evening. We put up “found cat” signs and called the shelters, but after no response we took him to the vet, introduced him to our 2 girl cats, and even moved across town with him. Snicker now has a happy (retro) home with Cleo and Inja.
Where to begin! We have five cats and two dogs! I’ll start with the feline overlords who run my house. Sidney is the head zookeeper! We found him four days after our wedding! He was two weeks old, meowing his head off while hiding under a mattress behind an empty house! He’s now 5 1/2 and head of the house:-)! Horatio is our second, we got him from a friend who’s cat had gotten into a spot of trouble before she was fixed! Our next three, Paul, Ringo, and Little John are all from the same litter. They are sons of a stray kitty who disappeared last summer before we could TNR her, she’s now back. And lastly our two dogs. Hugh is a stray who we found wandering down our street in November. We weren’t able to find his owner, so he now lives with us. And last but not least is Dominik. He is a lab/bully breed mix. My husband found him running around in traffic, covered in ticks, dehydrated and very hungry. Once again, no tags or chips, and unable to find his home. He’s residing with us until we can find him a good, safe home with lots of room and a big yard:-).
We don’t have a pet of our own yet, but we’re looking to adopt soon! Our house has been home to our family’s pets from time to time as we pet-sit, and love how much livelier the house becomes! Can’t wait to adopt our own…we’re just waiting for the right time to bring home a cat or dog!
We have 4 dogs, all but one of which were rescued.
1. Butch – our old man. Beagle/basset/boxer mix. So ugly he’s adorable.
2. Maya – our generic heinz 57 hound dog-ish big girl, who thinks that she is the same size as….
3. Bess – our chihuahua mix. A total lap puppy and her daddy’s little girl.
And last but not least,
4. Jordan – the jack russell terrierist. it takes the other 3 playing with her to begin to use up all that energy. Thank goodnes we have a big, fenced in yard!
My son and I volunteer at the Humane Society, we love dogs and try to make sure as many as possible have the loving lives they deserve!
My husband and I have two dogs. A pug, Jiaozi, who’s 3, and Siena, a Boston Terrier, who’s 4. We got Jiaozi as a puppy because my husband never grew up with pets and wanted a pug badly. We named her after the Chinese dumplings my grandmother made us growing up! She’s a total couch potato. She loves to cuddle and sleep, but we say she only kisses you when she thinks you deserve it! She also barks at our neighbor who likes to bark back at her! About a year ago we decided we wanted another, so we went to our local shelter and found Siena, who was a three year old stray who is the total opposite of her sister. She never sits still, and tears up the house! But she also loves to cuddle and would kiss you forever with tongue that only comes out on one side! They are total opposites and we love them each for those differences.