When I was growing up, we had a family dog name Samson. He was a Pekinese Poodle and just about the cutest thing since baby's chubby feet. He was a really pampered dog and loved by everyone in my family. He loved his doggie treats and I was able to teach him some different tricks. He wasn't a barker by any means until I taught him how to "speak" on command. To this day, I don't believe that my mother has ever forgiven me.

Besides Samson, I had a myriad of Goldfish, named Goldie mostly. Once I had two and named them Goldie and Locks. Get it? I even named one of them Spot. They were all housed in a round, glass fish bowl, normally filled with colorful marbles. Besides the fish, my next most popular pet I owned was hamsters. I remember one year my brothers brought me a Habitrail for one of them I had and from there on in, my hamsters lived in the Ritz, complete with valet parking. My hamsters lived in style.

I would have to say that my favorite animals I had were birds. For much of my teens and into my early twenties, I had parakeets. I really loved training them and how all I needed to do was open the cage and they would fly right to me. My favorite bird of all times was a Cockatiel named Smokey Joe. He was gray and white, with a head of spectacular yellow with a smidgen of orange on his cheeks. He could talk, and sing. One of his favorite songs was to the tune of "The Entertainer" (thanks to piano lessons). He could even imitate a phone ringing which fooled my husband many times. I used to laugh when he would go answer the phone because Smokey had tricked him into thinking it was ringing. Alas, all good things must come to an end. No, he didn't die. He found another love. The girl's babysitter had an aviary out back and she had a couple of cockatiels she wanted to breed. I agreed, and as it turned out, Smokey Joe found his true love. No, not the other two female cockatiels. He would have nothing to do with either one of them. Are you ready for this? He fell in love with a Parrot. Every time I went to pick my kids up or drop them off, he would be sitting underneath the parrot. It was a hard decision but I decided to let him stay. After all, he had all of this free space and the love of his life. I couldn't break his heart. All that I could offer him was a cage when I was gone, and my shoulder to snuggle up to when I was home. It was the best thing for him.

After Smokey, my husband and I got a Miniature Schnauzer named Shoestrings. His name wss very appropriate. When we first saw him, the owner put him down between us and the first thing that he did was run to my husband's shoes and untie his laces. He was awesome. He barked too much, but oh, how he loved to sit on your lap, or go for walks. He was really smart and picked up phrases fast. We ended up calling Milk Bones "Cow Fossils" and had to change Feed to dog to "Doof the Loof." It wasn't long before we had to change those as well. Not necessarily in that order. He was a great dog. It was tough on my husband and I when he passed and several years went by before we were even ready to think about another dog.

Then there was Tiny. Tiny is a Basenji-Cattle dog mix. When we started thinking about another dog, we went to an adoption fair held by one of the local rescue centers. We looked at countless dogs and played with them. Tiny was on of the last one's that we looked at and she immediately captured our hearts, Chickie's and Meelie's included. After much discussion and hemming and hawing, we decided to adopt her and she officially became part of our family. She is definitely a Mama's girl, this one. She is also and escape artist. She's very protective of those that she considers "hers."

A few years after we moved to Georgia we had occasion to get another dog. There was a Miniature Pinscher that was pregnant with five puppies. Our neighbor’s sister (who is a dog lover in her own right) happened to be at the Humane Society when she heard about this dog and found out she was scheduled to be euthanized the next day. She promptly adopted the dog, and Bruiser is the result of that pregnancy. Bruiser is a Min Pin/Dachshund mix. He reminds me of a little old lady. He always runs around with his tale between his legs and is very nervous, except of course when you are holding or cuddling him. He is by far our biggest barker and an annoyance beyond belief at times. Even with all of that, and his penchant for bathroom trash cans (you don't want to know) we still love him to pieces.

You would think we would stop at two dogs, yes? Ah, but you would be wrong my dear blog readers. Have I told you the story about Ralph?

You see, Ralph was destined to be ours. One of our neighbors nearly ran him over on our street. He had no tag. They took him in and we all came over and visited. There was much ooing and ahhing over him, and "OMG...he is so precious!" Then we went home and during the course of the night, discussed adding him to our family. By the time I got the ok from my husband the next morning, the Humane Society had already came and picked him up. In a word? I was heart broken. I immediately called them and was told that I had to wait seven days so that they could evaluate him and make sure no one was looking for him. It was the longest seven days in my life. Finally we were able to go get him and we adopted him on the spot. Ralph is the smallest of our dogs, and the most timid. He is part Dachshund/part whatever the heck (according to the Vet) and the most loving and cuddly of all of our dogs. His Vet believes he was either abused or severely neglected. He trembles when you try to take him out of his cage. He trembles when you pick him up or hold him, but he buries his neck in your shoulder and then licks you. He loves to take a bath for no other reason than to get wrapped up in a big, thick towel just like a newborn.

In addition to the dogs, the kids have had all kinds of fish, hamsters and guinea pigs. Our current resident is a guinea pick named Anna, who is white with brown spots placed strategically on her body to make her the cutest little rodent on the earth. I love to hold her while the girls are cleaning her cage. When I run my hands down her back or scratch her behind the ears, she purrs. I can feel it down to my toes.

So there you have it. I guess you could say that we are animal lovers. Although the kids balk at doing some of the chores that come along with having animals, we don't back down. They have really learned that having animals coincides with responsibilities. For the most part, they are ok with that. I think they just might be learning something here.

“This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.” in order to promote their latest line of Club BK toys - iDogs!

Now, what about you? Tell me about your pets or lack thereof.