Growing up with pets as a child is no surprise.  Neither are the unique things each pet does for no rhyme or reason.  Be it dogs, cats, horses, donkeys or rabbits, and yes, we had them all, each one did things that made you laugh or make you want to give them away. We had the usual fish, turtles and various rodents too and thankfully they did what was expected, nothing special.

It seems like we always had a dog and a cat no matter what other pets came and went.  As for dogs, the preferred and only breed my parents would get was German Shepards.  Some were long haired and others were the garden variety, short haired versions.  All shed their fur on a daily basis with an added bonus in the spring.  We had some very smart dogs while others were dumber that the sticks they played with.  Some chewed tennis balls, one liked to chew on rocks and the rest settled for sticks or whatever piqued their interest at the time.

Despite their vast differences they all shared one very discusting proclivity.  They liked to eat kitty litter, or more spcifically; what is often found buried in the litter.  You know, the reason you purchased the kitty litter in the first place.  No matter where we put the litter boxes, up high, down low, in crampted spaces or out in the open the dogs found those little golden nuggets.  If we cleaned the box every day, which we rarely did, the dogs almost always beat us to the task of cleaning out the buried treasures.  Dogs being dogs, the only thing they seemed to crave more than a snack on cat poop was a good “scratchin'” or belly rub and they rewarded us by licking our face.  Only then, or when they showed us the courtesy of belching in our face, did we realize what they had been upto before gracing us with their love and affection.

If I could have figured out how to get the cats to clean up the yard in the same manner as the dogs did the litterboxes then it would have all been worth it.

Archie, Floyd, Schwartz, Schultz and Jerome, thanks for the lasting memory!