Book

[Kumem]

I really want to start a book that brings together peoples memories of their special animals and pitch it to a publisher with the intention of donating ALL proceeds to a genuine animal charitable cause. Thought I would start off with mine and see what people think. These were just my initial thoughts on the animals in my life.

Title would be 'Animals I have known' I anticipate such a book selling for about £3.99 and being the kind if thing that is a Mother's Day present, Xmas stocking filler, as opposed to a big present. Would be good for people who have recently loved and lost.

Please feel free to use this thread to add your animal/story.

I have told the story of my cats, but this is about all of the animals I have known:

Animals I have known

Ginny
Ginny was the dog who bit me when I climbed on her back. The one who wanted me gone. The one whose parents I had stolen. Ginny was the one who I wanted most to accept me. She was the one in whose bed I climbed, to smell her, to be around her. She was the one who growled at me, who taught me how to speak dog and occasionally let me occupy her space. She was the who left a hole in my parents lives when she left us. I credit her with my fearlessness of dogs.

Charlie
The naughtiest, funniest dog in the world. My brother. My friend. My confidante. He lived through my happiest and saddest times and was there always. Petulant like a child, he often challenged me. Defiant, confident, loyal, brave and supportive all rolled into one. The best friend a girl could ever have. The mainstay of all my animals, he was always there. My only sadness is that I was not there till the end with him.

Ben
Ben was my first animal. We chose each other. We had trouble. He was not an easy dog by most people’s standards, but he was easy to love. Devoted, crazy and adorable. Letting go of Ben tore my heart out… pulled it from it’s shell, stamped on it, spat on it, drenched it with tears and then put it back in pieces. He was the love of my life. The one true constant. The one who had been so let down, but most importantly the one who didn’t just need me, but whose life depended upon me. He was the one I let go before I was ready. The one who still makes me cry; the one I will never get over. There will always be a hole in my life where Ben belongs. The connection will never be broken and I reach out to him daily.

Letting go of Ember left me with a feeling of guilt. Guilt that I hadn’t paid her enough attention, guilt that I had not let her go sooner, guilt that I had become so consumed by my other animals that I had failed to see how she had disintegrated into a shadow of her former self. She came to help me let go of Ben. To me she was Ben. I was given the chance to say goodbye again, but it hurt only slightly less saying goodbye. Touching her warm, but cold, dead skin, I felt a sense of peace. They were both gone.

Kuma
The Queen of the home. A prolific hunter, with immense speed, accuracy and a lot of aggression. Discarded half way through her life, she chose me. She tries her best, but I am sure that it is purely for me, to get along with her fellow felines. Gentle, docile, playful she is with me. Grumpy, contrary, hermit-like she is with our other felines.

Freyja
Arguably the least intelligent of our felines. The most emotionally perceptive animal I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Caring, kind, sensitive, considerate, sympathetic, empathic and a million other similar things rolled into one. A remarkable animal who is just coming into her own, finding herself, understanding her strength. She encompasses compassion and has a strong psychic ability. She is my counsellor, my best friend and the only animal I have met who will confront unhappiness and strive to calm me.

Yoshi
My boy. A proud, gentleman. The grumpiest cat in the world, although he is grumpy in a spoilt child kind of way. He is affectionate, childlike, and needy. A nervous boy, who needs reassurance. Incredibly, beyond belief intelligent. Would outshine any canine. Strives to please and always does. Very vocal and commands attention.

Trinity
My baby. THE baby of the bunch. Gets her own way frequently as a result of her inimitable charm. Fearless, careless, a true free spirit. Kind, but thoughtless, unaware of her actions’ impact on others. Gets caught up in the moment and always has time to play. Enjoys quiet cuddles and isn’t afraid to ask for what she wants. A beautiful, beautiful little girl. The most intelligent of our cats in every way, she makes up for being labelled the runt.

I would love it if people could join in and help me get this off the ground.

[Oracl]

This is a wonderful idea, Kumem. :agree:

I would need to take a bit of time and get some thoughts organised before adding to your thread. :)

[Kumem]

This is a wonderful idea, Kumem. :agree:

I would need to take a bit of time and get some thoughts organised before adding to your thread. :)

Thank you - any contributions welcome. :D

[Bowwowmeow]

This is a fun idea, Kumem! I will tell a silly story about my Fod.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/CopyofSailorBoy.jpg

Fod likes to chew, even thought he is now eight years old. He isn't destructive anymore, but he definitely likes to have a pacifier of some sort, and it is never something you would expect a dog to want to chew on. He is a greyhound mix, and his eyesight is better than mine. When I lived in a house, I had shelves with books and various objects I like to collect. I do like to beachcomb and collect shells, driftwood, rocks, and marine salvage when I am lucky. I had a plum-sized snail shell on a shelf that Fod had a fixation on, and every once in a while I would let him "work" on it. Then I would put it out of reach again, or even try to hide it, but to no avail. He always knew where it was, and developed a regular routine of trying to make me give him the shell. He would look at it, and groan softly, then look at me to make sure I was paying attention, and then look back at the shell, back at me, back at the shell, and so on, groaning and pawing the air in his best effort to make me understand that he wanted that shell!

One evening we were sitting outside in the front yard. I had been reading until it got too dim, and I was watching Daisy patting the deck wherever she could hear a frog waking up (we always had to go inside once the frogs made it out from under the deck, as she kept wanting to pat them, and she is not gentle) when Fod started doing his "Iwant it" routine. I looked at the fence to see if there was some odd thing grabbing his attention, but there was nothing, and he kept it up until I looked up and saw the full moon out while it was still fairly light. Fod looked at the moon, and then back at me, and then the moon, and then me, pawing and groaning the whole time. I never knew a dog who had ever seen the moon before, let alone one who could communicate to me that he not only saw it, but wanted me to pluck it out of the sky and give it to him! I would have, too! :agree::D

[Kumem]

Wow, that was fabulous - I loved it. :yea: :cheer: :rock: It conjured up images of the amazing communication between animal and human.
Thank you for contributing to the thread.

[Dexter]

very sweet idea and accounts so far :)

[Bowwowmeow]

I used to walk a black lab named Lucy before she moved away. She used to love to play ball at the dog park, but she would stand still, while I had to retrieve balls, throw them right to her for her to catch, and then go pick the ball up where she dropped it, and throw it again. One day there were no tennis balls in the big dog side of the park, as they had just mowed the grass, so I went to the little dog side, where I found a dozen or so, and began throwing them over the fence into the big dog side for us to play with. We played ball until it was time to go.

In the entry to the park, there is a lost and found basket strapped to the fence. As I was trying to get Lucy to leave, she kept going back to the basket and sniffing at it. I put her on her leash, but she kept straining towards the basket, and I said "Come on, Lucy, there's nothing in there for you!" , but I finally gave up and went over to see what had gotten her attention. There were my house keys!!! I didn't even know I had lost them! Apparently they dropped out of my pocket while I was in the little dog side of the park throwing all those balls over the fence, and someone came and found them, and put them in the box. I never even would have known they were lost until the end of the day when I got home and found them missing, and I never would have known where to look. I used to call Lucy "goofy goose" because of how silly she always was, but she somehow knew that those keys were mine, and that she must not let me leave the park without looking in that basket.. She saved me an awful lot of trouble that day.

The moral of this story is no matter how silly you think a dog is being, it always pays to indulge them anyway!
:pee: