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By Karla Pomeroy
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Karla's Kolumn: Happy Mother's Day from a 'fur' mom

 

May 12, 2018

Mothers come in all shapes and sizes, all kinds, including, yes that's right, mothers of "fur" children. My husband and I don't have human children. We do have three dogs and two cats. From the moment we started dating we had a "fur" child in our relationship.

You see growing up we always had pets at home, usually dogs, and the occasional cat. But oddly enough they were mostly just pets. It wasn't until I got my very own dog that he became my "child." I remember when Jake was a puppy I would send my mother lots of pictures and she would say, half joking, that her friends had pictures of grandchildren but she had a granddog. I would reply that her granddog was probably the cutest of the bunch.

Pets are like children in many ways. True, we don't have to worry about putting our "children" through college. (No way we could afford three children in college.)

We also don't have to teach them how to drive. And thank goodness. I don't think could go through what my father did teaching my sister and I how to drive. (But in all honesty we were not that close to driving into the canal as he liked to tell the story.) And, if it weren't for my sister I would never have learned to drive a standard shift. I'm thinking if our fur children were real children I would enlist her aid in teaching them to drive.

But there are similarities, whether you have one, two or three children. So we started out with just Jake and while dating Jake was a great chaperone, sitting between us, even pushing his way through the back window of Alan's pickup to get into the cab of the pickup and sit between us.

Then a few months after we got married we added Luke. Adding a puppy is like having a second child. How is the older child going to react? Will they embrace the baby brother or will they be annoyed? Well, in our case it was annoyance. For a while Jake was able to outrun and hide from Luke, until Luke grew up. The two, like some siblings, eventually became great friends, playing tug-of-war together.

The problem when you have two dogs, unlike two children, is that you always have to have at least two. They become companions and when one finally goes the way of the rainbow bridge then the other is left feeling lost and you have to get another companion.

So ever since we got Luke, we have had two dogs.

And you all know the story of how and when we got No. 3, Shadow.

Having three "children" brings things to a whole new level. Just dealing with three dogs on a daily basis (not to mention the two outside kitties), makes me wonder how in the world my mother ever handled raising three children who were three years apart in age. It's amazing how she, and my father did it. I tip my hat to them.

But having three fur children I have seen more similarities with three human siblings.

First you have the oldest Sarah, and in our case the most stubborn. She has been stubborn since the day we got her, but she is also my snuggler. She was a pound puppy we rescued from the Lovell animal shelter. She had been neglected and every day craves the attention she never got during her first six months of life. But as the oldest, well, we let her get away with some things, because, well she just doesn't mind that well, and she's old.

Sarah is the great manipulator. She loves to snuggle, but sometimes I think she might be part cat, because she loves to snuggle on her time and on her terms. That may be on the couch next to me or she may demand Alan put her in his lap on the recliner. (As I explained before we accommodate her, OK we spoil her.)

Sometimes she'll start off lying on the floor after dinner and be perfectly content. When she decides she wants to get on the couch she gets up and will look at the couch. If no one is next to me, up she comes. If Ivy or Shadow has taken "her spot" then comes the manipulation.

She'll sometimes pretend to want to go outside so we get up, the other dogs get up and she gets on the couch.

If no one is budging, she'll make laps around the coffee table giving me a glance and then Alan a glance. Occasionally she'll give up but lately she has learned that if she just starts to get on the couch, both Ivy and Shadow will give in and get off to make room for her.

Ivy and Shadow, for the most part they are very patient with her. But, there are times they treat her like she is invisible, those are the times they are rough-housing inside and don't really pay attention to where she is sitting or lying down, at age 15, Sarah doesn't move fast.

Ivy is our middle child. She was a wild child when we got her at the age of 17 months. She loved to chase cats all over the streets of Basin and she did not listen to us. She listens now – most of the time, and has grown accustomed to our cats here in Worland (now if we could just get her not to chase skunks). She's our red dot addict, as I've written about before.

I see traits of the "middle" child with Ivy now. We love all three of our dogs. They each have very distinct personalities and bring us joy each in their own unique way.

But they all get jealous, and none more so than Ivy, especially when it comes to Shadow.

Ivy used to love to take naps with Alan. But since Shadow arrived, if Shadow goes in the bedroom to nap, Ivy will not.

They all get "needy" for attention; well except Shadow who still, at the nearly 2 years old (14ish in dog years) has the attention span of a human 2-year-old, unless it comes to playing ball. She'll chase a ball and bring it back for hours.

But if you play ball with Shadow, then Ivy is begging to be petted or to play dot. You can't play with just one dog. We can, however, usher them outside so they can run and wrestle together, which they do love to do.

And then there's the youngest Shadow and at her present age, she just enjoys life, but she too gets jealous. If I'm playing ball with her and Alan starts playing dot with Ivy, she'll take the ball back to Alan and make him play with her.

And when one of us might be gone, trying to give complete and total attention to three dogs at the same time is a challenge.

If you give them treats they all make sure everyone got the same type of treat. Trust me they know. They also know if they are to get one, two or three treats. Yes, they seem to be able to count. They know they get treats after supper.

Sometimes they try to play Alan and I off each other. (It's like if Mom says No, go ask Dad.) If I get home late from a meeting or concert they will come begging for treats. They do not seem to realize all I have to do is ask if they have gotten their treats or not. But on a rare occasion when one of us has forgotten to ask, they have been able to get double the treats.

No matter what species of children you have, motherhood can be a challenge, with one, two or three children.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there, human mothers, mothers of fur children, mothers who are "second mothers" to people, all mothers of all kinds, everywhere.

 
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