I’ve always been an animal lover for as long as I can remember. I believe my first pet was a fish won at a carnival named Frida, who unfortunately died after a couple days. I was 3 and it was tragic.
My mom has not been an animal lover for as long as I can remember. It’s not that she doesn’t respect nonhuman creatures, she’s just always been afraid of them. I was permitted to have some pets growing up, but the ones small enough to live in cages. I had a bunny named Flower, 2 drawf hamsters named Becky and Tina, a hermit crab named Shelly and a frog named Snicklefritz who lived in a bucket in the garage. But I always dreamed of having my own cat or dog to snuggle and sleep with and play with.
When Piper came into our lives it was hard for my mom at first. She eventually got used to the curious kitten and even became fond of her. But I knew when the day came that I would introduce her to my first dog, it was going to be a little bit more of a challenge. Luckily Ares was a tiny and adorable puppy albeit we quickly realized how excitable he was going to be. But mom adjusted well to us visiting the house and by his first Christmas they were on pretty good terms.
Chaos came just after that Christmas and I could hear the terror in mom’s voice when I told her I would be bringing a baby Pit Bull into my home. I wasn’t surprised. We are talking about the lady who would be uncomfortable sitting next to a teacup Chihuahua. Of course her immediate reaction was to be frightened at the mention of what the media says is the most dangerous dog there is. But my mom is a smart and reasonable woman and I was prepared to explain to her my reasons for bringing this puppy into my family. And the day we brought the little buddle of fawn fur and green eyes over to meet her she knew right away why I was already in love.
People who have known my mom for a while, including myself, would have never believed that today my mom can be heard greeting my furballs when she comes over. She willing pets the cats as they come out to see her. Understandably she still is weary of the dogs jumping but she won’t run away or jump up on the nearest piece of furniture. The dogs are even invited over to her house quite often. Mom can be seen calling to them and reaching out to pet their heads. We all hang out together in the living room or on the deck and an outsider would never know she is the same person who would be afraid to come to the door and pick me up from a friends’ house if they had a dog. And there she is, telling a Pit Bull he’s a good boy.
I truly appreciate that my mom has tried so hard to get past her fear and gain a new perspective on family members of the furry variety. It means a lot to me to have her care about them and welcome them into her home. I asked her to write a little bit about her experience and how my kids essentially won her over.
Hello everyone, let me introduce myself. I'm Cindy, Hilary's mom and "Grandmom" to Hilary's crazy animal collection! She asked me if I would be interested in writing a guest blog, so I'm here to tell you a little bit about how our family expanded to include two turtles, two cats and two dogs!
From the time Hilary was a little girl, she absolutely loved animals. She probably played with stuffed animals more often than she did dolls or Barbies! I remember her being two years old and asking when we could get a dog, and I would always find some reason (okay, excuse) why we couldn't have one. The absolute truth is that I was terrified of animals! Growing up, my family did not have pets beyond the carnival goldfish that survived for about one week in the little bowl we brought them home in. My fear traces back to the summer night when I was eight years old; I was walking home from my neighbor's house when a doberman came running at me from behind another neighbor's house. I was scared beyond scared and naturally I started to run. Of course the dog chased me right onto my front porch, barking ferociously the entire time. I swear I can still look back and see his teeth. Now I'm sure most dobermans are not vicious dogs, but this one was notorious for chasing kids on bikes and nipping at their legs. Clearly he was not a well-trained dog, but tell that to a petrified little girl. Sadly, that experience stuck with me well into adulthood and every time I was near a dog I felt anxious.
Fast forward to the Christmas Hilary got her first kitten. I truly wanted to say no to bringing a furbaby into our home, but I knew it would mean so much to her. Piper was a very beautiful kitten, but for the first few weeks we had her, I would hide in my bedroom after everyone left for the day, frightened of this tiny little cat! Needless to say, the longer we had her, the more comfortable I became around her, and she really did attach herself to me as her "person" in the house (probably because I was usually the one to fill her food/water bowls!).
When Hilary moved into her condo, I knew one of the first things she was going to do was to add a dog to her menagerie (she also had two turtles, but they didn't bother me because they lived in a tank). Enter Ares, a tiny little black-and-white ball of cuteness. As he grew, though, and started jumping, I realized I had a long way to go to get over my fear of dogs. Just a few short months later, Hilary announced that she was adding ANOTHER animal to her zoo, and this time it was going to be Chaos, the fearful Pit Bull!!!! I mean, seriously, my heart kind of stopped, because all I knew of this breed was their horrible, vicious reputation. Well, truly, when she brought him over, I knew by looking at his soft sweet eyes that there was absolutely no way this was a dangerous dog. Every time she put him down, he would walk over to the closest person and sit on their feet. It was like he couldn't get close enough to his humans. As he and Ares grew, Hilary began working very hard to train them so that they were well-behaved pups and let me tell you, no one appreciates that more than me!
Since Little O has joined her fur family, I'm hoping she is happy with six pets for the time being. I'm absolutely positive, though, that when she has a house with a yard someday, there will be more "granddogs" and "grandcats" in my future!
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