We're Not Getting More Animals

We have a running joke in this family. It starts with my aunt saying, "After these pets die, we're not getting any more." Which is followed by getting more animals. And the cycle repeats, over and over again. We tease her about it. "Uh huh, sure, you're not getting any more pets. Just like the last twenty times you said it."

For example, my aunt's chihuahua. Originally she was my cousin's dog, but my cousin went out a lot, and the dog didn't much enjoy being out and about all the time. So the young chihuahua wound up bonding to my aunt instead, and remained in her lap until she reached a ripe old age. She finally died, and my aunt said she wasn't going to have another chihuahua. That was the only one.

 

The beginning of a tiny dog dynasty.

Fast forward a bit, and my aunt adopted another chihuahua named Paloma. She had that dog for a few years, but then Paloma started having heart problems and had to be put down. Really, this was going to be the last lap dog.

The neighbors had a litter of puppies, little chihuahuas, and my aunt avoided going to see them. It was too soon after Paloma died, and besides that, she wasn't getting another chihuahua. She also feared that if she saw the dogs, her resolve would break.

Then my aunt got a text from someone. They knew of someone looking to re-home a little chihuahua puppy, and would my aunt be interested?

Finally, my aunt caved. The pictures of the puppy were so cute, and she decided to go there to look at the precious puppy. By weird coincidence, the previous owner had named the puppy... Paloma.

Naturally, my aunt came home with the tiny dog. My aunt later renamed the puppy, because she felt weird about having another dog named Paloma. Comically enough, as the puppy grew, she lengthened. We think she might actually be a chihuahua-dachshund mix.

 

Then there's the bigger dogs. My aunt and uncle have had many German shepherds over the years. A fiercely protective dog who was all about my aunt, and didn't like other people honing in on her. (In fact, a former pastor of theirs once insisted on hugging my aunt despite their warnings, and may have lost part of a buttock to that dog.) A dog who followed my uncle around like a shadow, and went absolutely nuts if she saw a squirrel, or even if someone mentioned squirrels.

Somewhere down the line, they started saying, "This is going to be the last one." And of course, that doesn't happen. In fact, after their last German shepherd died, they claimed they weren't getting another one. Later on, my uncle announced that when he retired, he wanted to get a German shepherd and a doberman pinscher.

Of course, that isn't quite how it ended up. They went to look at some German shepherd puppies they saw advertised. Upon their arrival, they discovered that dogs were mixes, rather than being full-blooded German shepherds. The man selling the dogs said, "Well, they're ginger German shepherds." My uncle wasn't too impressed, and was thinking of looking elsewhere. But then he saw my aunt holding one of the fluffballs in her arms, and he knew he was beat. So now they have a part German shepherd, part unknown. And they never did get around to adopting a doberman. But maybe that works out, because their 'ginger German shepherd' is a needy, jealous creature. Sometimes you're petting another dog, and she pushes her way in, and suddenly you're petting her instead.

 

 

And of course, there's the cats they've had over the years. Including the one they inherited from someone after he died. This was after saying they weren't going to have cats again, of course.

But that concludes today's blog post. And remember, folks: my aunt and uncle aren't getting any more pets. Really.