People and Their Pets: Griz, Merley, and SpyderGurl

Grizzly is the oldest and biggest member of our animal family. He is a purebred Australian Shepherd, and he is going to be thirteen years old this May. His coloring is the typical "tri-color" for Aussies--black, white, and gold. He is an extremely large example of the breed, being over 85 pounds in body weight.

Merley is the next in seniority, but he is only a year and a half old. He is also an Australian Shepherd, but there is some question as to the purity of his lineage. His coloring is also tri-color, but he is black, gold, and blue merle, hence his merle-y name. He was 52 pounds at his last checkup.

The newest member of our animal family is the kitty, whose official name is SpyderGurl but who most often answers to "Girlie-girl" or "Kit-kit-kittieohhhhhh." Her birthday is one day before Gale's, and she shares the same lovable and frustrating characteristics of most Aries. She is only eight months old and still developing her final size. She is about six pounds now.

Griz was born in Illinois and has had the life of a traveler until recently. With his size, color, and bobbed tail, we have to be careful at our house up North because he looks like a small bear when we are out walking. He is by far the best dog we have had in either of our lives, and we love him from the bottom of our hearts. That said, he is starting to stretch the limits of longevity for such a large dog and his physical strength is starting to wane. We noticed this last year and decided that we wanted to give him the chance to pass on his legacy to another member of his breed. We specifically timed Merley's birth to allow Griz the chance to mentor him in the proper ways of dog-dom.

Merley is learning well from Griz. His life is more about the pursuit of the next thrown tennis ball or how to shake the life from the Frisbee than lying about on the deck, but his manners are directly influenced by the Senior Statesman. He enjoys our walks in the morning, and he doesn't even mind leaving the toys at home as there are enough sniffing posts to keep his imagination occupied.

The Queen Apparent of the family is SpyderGurl. It didn't take too long for her to find the way to our hearts. She is an incurable snuggler (and hog of the bed). She enjoys being the center of attention but will only put up with so much petting before she needs to exercise her teeth and claws on your hand. She just got a new set of false fingernails to help with that problem. The best thing is that her favorite toy is an aluminum foil ball, which provides hours of cheap entertainment.

Pet animals have always been a part of our lives. We hope you enjoy the story of our current group.