I grew up in a house full of animals. At any given time we had
at least 1 dog, 2 cats, a bird, several fish, and usually some kind of rodent hamster or guinea pig... But I was always closest to our dogs. No matter how bad a day I had, my dogs were always happy to see me when I got home:)
After I "grew up" and left home, I really missed having a dog, but I thought it was selfish to get one when I didn't have time to give the attention a pet deserves...
Rest on the other side:
Fast forward to 2004 and my fiance' and I finally buy our first home. I almost immediately start talking about getting a dog, and she wisely convinces me to wait until I have finished some of the many projects that needed to be done in the house. Then in December we decided we could probably handle it, so we went ahead and got our puppy, a Rhodesian Ridgeback that we named Ziko. He is such a sweet dog that it's hard to believe they use the breed to hunt lions in Africa, where the breed originated. 2 or more Ridgebacks will track and corner a lion, keeping it at bay until a hunter gets there...
We have no plans to hunt lions or anything else, but he has proven to be a funny and most loyal companion. He doesn't bark unless there is a good reason to do so, and ejoys his time inside napping almost as much as when we take him to swim in the river or play with the other dogs at the dog park. He is 8 months old now and it's hard to imagine our lives without him. We are already planning when we can get a second one in a year or so!!
But enough about me, I know there are lots of animal lovers here on dKos, I'm interested to read and see what animals people turn to for companionship, so have at it!!