TOD:
My first pet was an Eskimo Spitz named Dinky-Boo. He was a small dog with a low tolerance for anyone not me or my folks. His name was supposed to be Dinky, but one of my favorite things was to try to scare Dinky and always said "Dinky...BOO". Thus, Dinky-Boo was called that for as long as we had him.
A trade-in happened a few years after we got him. As I said, he wasn't friendly to anyone but me and my parents, but we had many children in the neighborhood and fears grew. So, off he went to a farm (I was told), and on fine Christmas morning, I found two Cocker Spaniel puppies in my Christmas presents pile...a blond one and a black one, both in a decorated box. Toby was the name for the blond, and Blackie (quelle surprise) for the other. My folks were giving me only one pet, but wanted to see which one I took to and which one took to me. In both cases, it was Toby, and he was my pet for the next 11 years.
As an adult, I have had only cats. My first was a gorgeous white cat named Punkin. I was in Italy, and the lady who let me have her asked me to let her have Punkin back if I could not take her with me. I had her for two years.
Much later in my adult life, while I was stationed in Naples, Italy, I was blessed with Dickens, who was all of four weeks old when I got him. He was, and remains, the love of my life, cat-wise. I later took in Miss Vickie as a companion. Dickens and Vickie both returned to the U.S. with me after my five years in Naples. My parents took care of them while I finished my Navy time on an aircraft carrier. When I was getting settled in a condo after retiring, my mom informed me Dickens had been hit by a car and died. When I went home at Christmas, I brought Vickie back to Oakland with me. At that time, she was about 8 years old. She lived another 14 years.
I have had no other pets since.
