Cindy

Max

We are down to two pets now. If you have visited us before, you are probably wondering what happened to our other ones. Well, Barney, a golden lab mix whom we obtained at the dog pound, was lost one morning last year. We visited two dog shelters quite a few times and also put up posters around the area and classified ads in 3 different papers with no positive results. We even put up an Internet "flyer" (now a memorial). And in fearing the worst we also called the sanitation department, which picks up animals that have been run over. All to no avail. So wherever Barney is, we hope that he is fine, and happy. Cindy, who was given to us by Louise's sister Helen, is a very sweet dog, and also misses Barney (we got her a few months before Barney disappeared.) But now she has Max to keep her company. Max is a lab and basset hound mix (or maybe corgi), and we also got her at the pound. Yes, it's a her; Max is short for "Maxine", David says. She's a funny looking dog, looks like a lab but close down to the ground like a bassett. And she howls and barks like a bassett.

Barney LOST!

the two parakeets Chit-Chat and Fluffy

and Spanky, the hamster

Now Chit-Chat and Fluffy have been given away by David (without asking his Mom!) to a classmate friend of his. Louise was quite disappointed as she enjoyed their daily singing, but as David had given his word, they are now being taken care of by Dominic. We hope that they will be happy in their new home. Spanky is quite another story. The little rascal just couldn't stay in his (her?) cage, no matter how opulent it was. Between Louise and the kids they had rigged this great cage "castle" with two fish tanks, three hamster cages, and lots of connecting tubes here and there (it sure was a pain cleaning it out every week). But Spanky always had the wanderlust and at any opportunity, when a top was left open after his food or water dishes were changed, he would escape. We figure he escaped about 20 times. But we always found him. Sometimes he was gone for a couple of days, but then we would see him scurrying somewhere, and "gotcha". Once we found him behind the stove, and once, in the middle of the night, Louise heard a banging downstair. He was trapped in the board-games cabinet and was trying to push the door open. But the last time he got out (December) we couldn't find him. It has been a couple of months and we are sure that he probably got out of the house when the door was left open or something. There has been no telltale odor to make us believe that he died inside the house. So the great mistery is: Where is Spanky? PET LINKS www.ChowChow.org web site - a great online resource for Chow Chow enthusiasts. Information on all breeds of dogs. Macaw links - from when my mother used to have her macaws.

If you have any comments or questions, contact us at:
louise@loeschfamily.net