Hello to everyone here at PetLvr and the HART-Empire network. I am very happy to be contributing and hope that I can bring you many interesting posts that will keep you enthralled in the pet world at large.
I thought that I would introduce myself before I launch into one of my many ramblings. That is something that you will learn about me very quickly, I tend to ramble but somewhere in all that rambling, there is a message coming through and it isn’t always that I’m crazy.
So a little about me. I always find these posts the hardest but I can sum it up for you. I am a mother of two boys, aged 3 and six and when they aren’t keeping me busy, my many animals are. I am the proud owner of two Labrador Retrievers, Indi and Petey, two cats, Lobo and Leena, a Bearded Dragon, Rayquaza, and a bunny, named Mr. Bunny. It is a full house and some days when the cats are jumping at the blinds and the dogs are bringing me roadkill and the lizard is scratching at his vivarium because he wants out, I wonder if it is maybe a bit too full.
In the end, however; I do not mind all the beasts that call this home and I often have to curb the desire to add one more animal, namely a horse, to our already busy home (and yes, I know the horse wouldn’t actually be living in the house).
I have always loved animals and have brought just about everything home with me, even an injured groundhog. Growing up in small town British Columbia, Canada, I experienced many things that the average person doesn’t. I started working at the local dairy farm when I was nine in exchange for free horseback riding. I milked the cows, and the goats and I helped care for many of the animals. It was a wonderful part of my childhood but none of the memories compared to climbing onto Winston’s back every weekend for my hour long horse ride. I love riding and more importantly, I loved the way Winston would nuzzle my hand with his velvet nose as he waited for a treat.
The dairy farm wasn’t the only place where I experienced being with animals, my home was a veritable zoo and I have helped care for many animals from pet squirrels (never again) to pet birds. My parents had pigs (not as pets), chickens, turkeys and rabbits. They were also dog breeders and I assisted in whelping my first litter when I was eleven years old. My parents bred Pomeranians and although I loved our family pets, I have always had a soft spot for the larger breeds.
My motto on aging is “The older I get, the bigger my dog will be.”
Right now, I am only 31 and I’m at Labs, I’m sure you can imagine just how large my dog will be when I reach 60. Mastiff, anyone?
So, to go over the pets that I have now. I have my two Labs. Petey is the oldest and will be 5 this July. He is a black Lab and originally, I had intended on becoming a breeder like my parents were. Petey did produce one litter, through National Service Dogs but it was a donation and all his puppies went on to work with children with Autism.
When I purchased Indi, I was still debating on whether I would go into breeding. Indi was trained for show and I competed with her but I realized that I didn’t have the time for showing and ultimately breeding. So both of my dogs became pampered house pets instead of show dogs.
My two cats are just that cats. No thought behind breeding or anything with them. Lobo is the resident old man at 10 years old and he is the cat that I will compare all other cats to. Leena is only 4 months old and is the new kid in the house and boy does she make up for it. I swear she is into something 24 hours a day and at night she finds anything that will make a hard clacking sound across the hardwood floors to play with.
My bearded dragon is actually my son’s but as with all pets, parents tend to take care of them more than the kids. He has found a permanent residence in my office and even as I type, he peers at me from his vivarium waiting for a treat. I am positive that he is the laziest and most pampered dragon in the world, and prefers to only eat when it is hand-fed.
Mr. Bunny rounds out our house and is a quiet, unassuming white rabbit. He loves human attention and will often beg for attention when you pass by him. He is very affectionate and was affectionate from the start. The main reason why he came home with us.
Again, I am very happy to be posting here and I look forward to getting to know all of you. Thank you for this opportunity to ramble about myself and I hope that you will enjoy all my other ramblings.
All the best,
Sirena Van Schaik
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