Although I have known groomers who didn’t have any dogs, most of us have multiple pets. I am no exception. Currently our animal family consists of three Schipperkes, a Bengal cat, and a domestic black cat.
“Skipper-what?”
“Schipperkes (skipper-keyes, or shkey-per-keyes).”
Schipperkes are a small, agile, active breed from Belgium, bred to guard the barges and chase vermin. In North America they are black, but in Europe I believe that cream and chocolate are also acceptable. They are double-coated and shed seasonally (one of mine ends up practically bald), hardy and hilarious. Intelligent, expressive, affectionate, and a little bit stubborn, they are little devil dogs that have won our hearts. Our first was sort of an unintentional acquisition but, like Lay’s Potato chips, we found we couldn’t stop with one. Alice is nearly thirteen, our male Vegas is nine, and Cleo is seven.
Growing up without a cat, naturally owning one became one of my fondest desires. Once I left home, I determined that I would have a pure-bred cat of my own. I explored several different breeds, admiring Burmese, Bengals and Maine Coon cats, and finally settling on a Ragdoll. We went to a breeder of gorgeous Ragdolls out in Mississauga. She kindly showed us around her immaculate modern home and introduced us to her small cattery, gamely ignoring the fact that Chris had erupted into monstrous sneezes the moment we passed through the door. He shuffled and snuffled after us, one of her tissue boxes tucked under his arm, until we had to acknowledge that another ten minutes might be the end of him.
“Sometimes people are okay in a house with just one,” the breeder suggested, hopefully.
Chris shook his head at me desperately, and off we went.
I abandoned the thought of a long-haired cat and dragged Chris off to the outskirts of Kingston to visit a breeder of Bengals and Pixie-Bobs. This house was much, much older, and the although the house was clean, the cattery was much larger. Chris was dubious and filled his pockets with Kleenex. We entered the cattery where a litter of fluffy Pixie-Bob kittens had free reign. They all promptly pounced on Chris, climbing his frame like a jungle gym. He was crawling with kittens, and not one sniffle. Amazed, after shaking free the last Pixie-Bob, we introduced him to a few Bengals. No reaction whatsoever. We came home with a gorgeous six month old male, Diego. He is now 9 years old.
A few years ago I had found a stray cat on the street and brought her home. We didn’t find her owners, so we kept her. Jessie was part of our family for a couple of years but she unfortunately had an immune disease and we weren’t able to save her. We all missed her terribly, including Diego who seemed at a loss. After a time we discussed adding another cat, and went to an adoption event at PetsMart “just to look”. We came home with Licorice, a gorgeous black young domestic cat. She and Diego skipped right over the “getting to know you” introduction routine and she made herself right at home.
So our house is full of fun, although Connor is a fan of symmetry and is campaigning for a third cat to make the set. He’s campaigning for a baby sister too, but that isn’t going to happen either.
“Skipper-what?”
“Schipperkes (skipper-keyes, or shkey-per-keyes).”
Schipperkes are a small, agile, active breed from Belgium, bred to guard the barges and chase vermin. In North America they are black, but in Europe I believe that cream and chocolate are also acceptable. They are double-coated and shed seasonally (one of mine ends up practically bald), hardy and hilarious. Intelligent, expressive, affectionate, and a little bit stubborn, they are little devil dogs that have won our hearts. Our first was sort of an unintentional acquisition but, like Lay’s Potato chips, we found we couldn’t stop with one. Alice is nearly thirteen, our male Vegas is nine, and Cleo is seven.
Growing up without a cat, naturally owning one became one of my fondest desires. Once I left home, I determined that I would have a pure-bred cat of my own. I explored several different breeds, admiring Burmese, Bengals and Maine Coon cats, and finally settling on a Ragdoll. We went to a breeder of gorgeous Ragdolls out in Mississauga. She kindly showed us around her immaculate modern home and introduced us to her small cattery, gamely ignoring the fact that Chris had erupted into monstrous sneezes the moment we passed through the door. He shuffled and snuffled after us, one of her tissue boxes tucked under his arm, until we had to acknowledge that another ten minutes might be the end of him.
“Sometimes people are okay in a house with just one,” the breeder suggested, hopefully.
Chris shook his head at me desperately, and off we went.
I abandoned the thought of a long-haired cat and dragged Chris off to the outskirts of Kingston to visit a breeder of Bengals and Pixie-Bobs. This house was much, much older, and the although the house was clean, the cattery was much larger. Chris was dubious and filled his pockets with Kleenex. We entered the cattery where a litter of fluffy Pixie-Bob kittens had free reign. They all promptly pounced on Chris, climbing his frame like a jungle gym. He was crawling with kittens, and not one sniffle. Amazed, after shaking free the last Pixie-Bob, we introduced him to a few Bengals. No reaction whatsoever. We came home with a gorgeous six month old male, Diego. He is now 9 years old.
A few years ago I had found a stray cat on the street and brought her home. We didn’t find her owners, so we kept her. Jessie was part of our family for a couple of years but she unfortunately had an immune disease and we weren’t able to save her. We all missed her terribly, including Diego who seemed at a loss. After a time we discussed adding another cat, and went to an adoption event at PetsMart “just to look”. We came home with Licorice, a gorgeous black young domestic cat. She and Diego skipped right over the “getting to know you” introduction routine and she made herself right at home.
So our house is full of fun, although Connor is a fan of symmetry and is campaigning for a third cat to make the set. He’s campaigning for a baby sister too, but that isn’t going to happen either.
Cute dogs but it sounds like a lot of work!
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