What does my pet add to my life, especially now?

Difficult times come and go, but they always make me realize how important my funny little dogs are.    It would be so easy to stay in my comfortable bed in the mornings now with no schedules to keep and no place to go, but Charlie and Sweetie remind me that we always get up together to start our days.

They are both white Poodle/Bichon rescues; Sweetie is about 6 and Charlie is about 9.  I got Charlie at a local rescue in 2012.  He has long skinny legs, which makes him look stiff most of the time.  He is a very loving, loyal dog and is more tentative than Sweetie.  Charlie has been with me through several difficult periods.  It sounds funny that a small poodle with long skinny legs can be a rock, but Charlie has been that for me.

Charlie and I chose Sweetie at an LA rescue after losing our dog Sasha in 2019.  I was concerned that he was sick because he was no longer the spirited active dog he had been.  My vet confirmed that bonded dogs can actually grieve when one passes away.   We looked at Pet Finder and Adopt-a-Pet for weeks until we found a cute short-legged fluffy little girl to be Charlie’s friend.   She is a true lap dog with nothing stiff about her and is totally fearless.  My intention was to simply make Charlie happy again, but Sweetie wormed her way into both our hearts very quickly.

Days can seem longer now with few activities planned.  A highlight of my day is choosing one of our wonderful parks and walking for an hour or so with Charlie and Sweetie.  They are both silly in different ways and make me laugh several times during each day.   Their unconditional love and affection truly warm my heart.   I am very blessed with a wonderful supportive family and friends, but my very special fur friends fill a place in my heart and my home would be unfilled without them.

I asked several friends to write about what their pets mean to them especially at this time, and I will share their much-appreciated comments. 

Jenny Schiape: I don’t know who’s happier being at home together all day – my dogs or me.  My little poodle Sydney is the timekeeper in our house.  She lets me know when she’s hungry and will not stop bugging me until I give her dinner.  And the best reminder is at 5:00 pm when she knows it is cocktail hour and we share a cheese stick with her.  Our standard poodle likes to sit backwards in a living room chair and look out the window to see who’s out walking.  Always good for a bark or two. I have always had a dog and honestly can’t conceive of life without them.  They are loving, silly and sometimes annoying ,but I wouldn’t want to be without them.

Mary Hoban:  I never think of myself as living alone but rather I live with my dog Ceili .  Ceili is an Irish name that loosely translates to happiness and partying.  Had I known folks would mispronounce it so much, I would have chosen differently.  It is a hard C and sounds like KayLee.

Ceili is a rescue and I have had her for almost 11 years.  Truth be told I do worry about her getting older…you never really know a pound dog’s age.  She is a bit independent…when I am working around the house, she will go back in the bedroom and lie in bed all by herself.  Yet when I call her, she will come and sit on the floor next to where I am sitting.  She is a good companion.  I like having her and knowing she is in the house with me.  She weighs about 60 pounds and I do admit feeling safer with her here.  She knows when I am going to walk her, goes and sits by the door and patiently waits as I seem to always forget something I want to take with us like my phone.  I must admit that I don’t talk to her as if she were another human, but I know she is here and I believe she knows I am.

 Loretts Allen:  Since I was 4 years old, with the exception of my time living in a nursing dorm, with roommates or during graduate school in San Francisco, I have been blessed to be loved by one or more Collies.  In my “older years” I am loved by a “hugging” Collie.   I never taught Finnegan to hug; he just decided to do it on his own!

During this stressful time, each morning I get hugs and kisses to let me know it is time for “nummies.”  Through the day I feel his presence in the house.  It is so comforting and reassuring. What would I do without my companion accompanying me around the house?  Going into the bathroom would be such a lonely experience?  I sense him saying, “Don’t worry, mom, I am here to help” as he follows me.  At night his presence by my bedside is comforting and reassuring.  Then every morning I sense him staring at me saying, “It’s time to wake up, mom, so we can spend another day together.”  I truly feel loved.

Pat Schiano: At a time when we are pretty much alone, Lucy is my buddy.  She takes me for a walk every day, sometimes twice.  She’s pretty chatty and lets me know when it is time to play and to get a treat.  It is amazing how much company she is and how much joy she brings just by being there.

Don Daly:  Molly is afraid of everything and stays close by all the time.  Her personality is so sweet that it compensates for her jitters.  When she was a little girl, she was mentored by her big sister Maggie to peek into the kitchen waste basket for anything that could be edible.  She also taught her how to push open the garage door.  The mailman rang my bell one day to say she was running free outside and my neighbor let me know she was scratching on my back door to get back in.  Her favorite pastime is staying in the bushes in the backyard even when it is pouring rain.  But I love her so and can’t imagine being without her especially now.

Nick Fotheringham:  I live with two cats, Charlie and Danny, who are blissfully unaware of crises facing humanity.  Their food arrives on time, and with their human roommates at home more and focused elsewhere, they may even get an occasional extra meal.  They enforce the same household rules – no sleeping in, no privacy (closed doors), television turned to Nature whenever possible, etc.  They do tolerate more casual dress, however.  Both are lap cats, which gets crowded sometimes.  They are my alarm clock which sometimes goes off at 3:00 am.  Danny accompanies me to bed in the evening and when I am tucked in, returns to a surveillance site nearer the kitchen.  I have worried that the cats could carry the virus between my wife and me if one of us became sick, but I have been reassured by a vet that animal fur is a very hostile environment for viruses.  Perhaps the greatest gift they offer is that they are great listeners and thus provide an outlet that helps to keep the peace among the humans in the house.

Per the LA Times on April 2, the latest shortage is dogs and cats, as folks foster and adopt pets during our quarantine.  “Across Los Angeles and around the world, in fretful and uncertain times, it sometimes seems as though every cat and mutt is a therapy pet.”  Across the country, rescues and shelters are reporting unprecedented requests to adopt or foster during this crisis. “Amid the lockdown, a restless and hard-headed nation has discovered that what it really needs right now is a snuggle and a slurp.”