Pets: My Furry Muses

I'm fortunate to share my home with three persons of the four-footed variety: feline littermates Butch and Sundance, and an Irish Water Spaniel named Mia.

The Kittens

We adopted Butch, a gray-and-white American shorthair, and his slightly less boisterous black-and-white littermate Sundance (often called Sunny) from our local shelter when they were about six months old. They tumbled out of their shelter cages with enthusiasm and spent our half-hour meet-and-greet bouncing off the walls, us, and each other, attempting one Wild West stunt after another. Hence their names.

Mia

Mia is an Irish Water Spaniel who came to us shortly after the kittens. She was about 3 years old when she was surrendered to an animal shelter by her previous owner. Shelter staff recognized her breed and contacted the rescue committee of the Irish Water Spaniel Club of America. They placed her with a wonderful foster home who nurtured her back to health and overcame the worst of her trauma-induced timidity.

When they were ready to put her into a forever home, we just happened to be looking for our next dog. We'd had three Irish Water Spaniels before, and reached out to the IWS community to say we were in the market, but hoping for something smaller than the 75-pound males that we'd had previously...and we got an email saying there was a 50-pound female in need of rehoming.

Mia was painfully shy when we first met, and especially scared of men, but she tolerated my husband well enough for us to give her a trial. We brought her home and she settled in pretty quickly, deciding I was her best friend, the kittens were potential allies, and my husband was not too much of a threat. Over time I have remained her best friend, the kittens have become playmates, and my husband has patiently cultivated Mia's trust and affection with a lot of walks, training, and fun activities like Nose Work.