Home is where the dog hair lies

Day 9 Gratitude - Pets

We are a family that loves animals. We have two labs, a bunch of fish and the occasional extra four legged freind sourced from dog sitting for a friend or a stray that followed me home (I seem to be a magnet for that kind of thing). Each has their own personality and contibute more than their share of love and companionship to our home. Our girls are also very protective of their "people". More than once our labs have demonstrated valour and bravery (at least in their own minds) when it came to a dodgy character (never trust a man in a green parka, orange mitts and red hat) or situation (isn't that raft a little far from the shore to be swimming to it).

A pet's protective nature must be internalized very quickly. Case in point; Angel, the golden retreiver puppy out in BC who took on a cougar to save her "boy". At only eighteen months her instinct and loyalty was honed enough that even before the cat showed up, she stuck close to her human companion and then protected him without hesistation when the earlier perceived threat materialized. Amazing.

Now I am not sure our girls would jump into a cat fight (literally) with a cougar (thankfully the GTA is not known for its big cat sightings), but I know I feel better when they are with the kids at the park, or beach, or forest for the extra sets of eyes and their ability to sound a warning if something isn't quite right.