Pet Parent Day - Last Sunday in April
Did you know this last Sunday in April is considered Pet Parent Day? And here I sit at 10:42 PM writing a blog about this special day. And all I can think about is, "when did this special pet day start?”, and " how come no one told ME about this day?". I knew I could not let this day pass without acknowledgment given I have been a pet owner literally from the age of 5 years, and a pet photographer for almost 7 years. If you are like me when seeing the words, “Pet Parent Day”, you are probably thinking about all of those incredible pets and soul dogs you have had in your life. In my life I have had pet turtles, gerbils, a Guinea Pig, and parakeets growing up. My childhood dog named, “Crud” was in my life for an incredible 12 years, from when I was 5 years old to age 17 when I graduated from high school. Her real name was Candy. She was so furry that twigs and leaves stuck to her as she walked along so we started calling her Crud. Our first dog in our marriage came at year 31 in our marriage. I was stationed in Korea and a military working dog named Emzy, with an ear tattoo of F631, was eligible for retirement. I was so fortunate to be able to adopt her & have her in our lives for the next 6 years. You saw the photo and heard about Ares X218, our retired military working dog, in my ABOUT page. He was with us for only 5 years. Whether it is 12 years, 5 years or worse, a shorter time these pets, fins, fur or feathers become part of our soul. They truly are our family, and I do think it is fair to say we are their parents. Their loss is real and we grieve them. Another pet may come along, and soon, our days are filled with the new personality. However, we still remember the moments we shared with their predecessor. I thought today would be a great day to introduce a guy who has been filling our time & hearts with fabulous new moments…even as we still remember Ares & Emzy. Introducing Major! And what a great story he has! It was Christmas Eve 2018 and my friend’s dog named Miep, was having her first litter of pups. X-rays showed 10 puppies would be due. Mama Miep, a Dutch Shepherd was born in Europe and papa was OOLaf, a Belgian Malinois, born at Lackland Air Force Base. I was thrilled to be present for this monumental day for Miep even though my greatest contribution was a meal run to feed all of us present. But I was even MORE excited to be invited to look after these 10 puppies while Miep’s owner returned to work. It would be about 10-11 weeks of puppy raising. Making sure mama was feeding her babies, rotating puppies and laundry. Later feeding them their puppy gruel, doing puppy clean up and letting them run about in the yard. All this time we had our wonderful Ares and he was very much a loaner. He was kind to other dogs, but truth be told, he was always on his own in a group of dogs. We thought adding a puppy to his life not be the best idea. So we passed on getting a Miep Puppy. All the pups went to their homes and seemed to be settling in. Fast forward to early October 2021. Puppy #10 was being return for the third time, through no fault of his own. I stopped by to say hello to #10, before he would try his 4th and hopefully successful placement. As per usual, #10, named “Major”, snuggled up and leaned into me. Two weeks later our beloved Ares passed away suddenly due to a liver tumor. The rest is history…Major needed a home, and we needed our hearts to mend after losing Ares. So it was that Major came to our home. We were so excited to take Major back to Drs. Wick and Carter at VCA Veterinary Hospital Leon Springs, where Ares received the best care and also the place where Mama Miep went for her OB care & the puppies went for their puppy care! Stay tuned for the Adventures of Major and his two Ragdoll siblings, Boudreaux and Pixie Lou. Oh, National Pet Parent Day started in 2007 by Veterinary Pet Insurance from the experience they had with folks buying pet insurance and referring to themselves as “parents” and their pets as family members. Well, I am late…it is 12:35
