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Comment by Lou Ann Lemaster on January 17, 2010 at 8:12am

I'm an animal lover and my husband always had cats. Said he had no need for a dog, their for hunting or work (a country boy, dogs work, and are not companions). Anyway, he is a dog lover now, especially since we have two dogs. He said he has never seen a dog as smart as a corgi, and that is what made him a dog lover, of corgis at least. I told him he gets to pick out the next dog, and he words were, "It'll probably be another corgi, a rescue for sure!"

Comment by Sarah C. on January 17, 2010 at 1:13am

also chicken backs are awesome for frying.

Comment by Jane Christensen on January 16, 2010 at 11:43pm

Yes, those animals...whatever they might be! My uncle was a vet so I got my 1st dog from him and I will never forget winning 1st place in a dog show...it was kennel ration and not AKC...but it was fun and I was about 10-11.
I've owned a horse and bought my daughter a horse for her birthday years ago also. I don't care what kind of animal...they sure are great. I know people probably think I'm obsessed with my dogs but oh well!

Comment by Sky and Lyla on January 16, 2010 at 11:41pm

Of course! I didn't mean to sound like I'd give the dogs up, lol! Now that I've discovered how much I love them, I can't ever imagine my life with out one or two or ten dogs! My ultimate dream would be to have some land and a horse and my Aussie breeding program... and always a Corgi for flavor, of course!

Comment by Beth on January 16, 2010 at 11:32pm

I was actually fortunate. We were not well off by any means, but I had an aunt with horses who paid for one lesson a month, and my parents paid for one, and I saved all my allowances and birthday money and all the rest and paid for the other two. So that was four lessons a month, and then on Saturdays I worked at the barn all day and rode once in summer, and twice in winter when the little kids all quit and the school ponies needed work. My instructor was quite good and I rode countless hours with no stirrups to improve my seat. The instructors daughter was actually on the short-list for the Olympics in three-day eventing just a few years after I quit. I quite my senior year in high school and thought I'd go back one day to it. I still love watching them though! What beautiful creatures.

Even if I rode I'd still have dogs, though. I've always loved them.

Comment by Sky and Lyla on January 16, 2010 at 11:28pm

Ah Beth, I can so relate! I too was a horse person growing up. There was little opportunity for riding, but I took every chance I got, and even voluntered for years at a therapuetic riding program just to be around the horses. I did start taking lessons in high school, but sadly, ended up with a very poor instructor who just wanted my money and was no help at all. I got fed up and quit my senior year in high school, and it turned me of to riding for a quite a while. The past couple years though, I have really been wanting to get back in to it, the problem is finding the money to really do it right. Until then, I sure do love my doggies!!

Comment by Beth on January 16, 2010 at 11:16pm

I think we all come into it from different places. I was always an animal nut. Growing up we had dogs, parakeets, gerbils, finches, turtles, rabbits, salamanders. But I was, above everything else, a horse person. I ate, slept, and dreamt horses. I took lessons, I rode in shows. I was a barn rat who worked off extra riding time by filling buckets and pulling manes, painting jumps and baling hay and sweeping aisles. I always assumed I would have my own one day.

But fate intervened and I can't ride because of health reasons, so I have switched some of my animal training passions to dogs. I do love dogs and love working with them, and my Jack is especially fun to train because he is so intense and gets everything so quickly. I must confess, though, that it's not quite the same as riding. :-) The bond you develop with a 35-pound dog who works with you out of a sense of social loyalty (and because you have the food!) is wonderful, but it's not the same thing as having a thousand pounds on the hoof respond to the slightest deepening of your seat and stiffening of your hand. *sigh*

Love my poochies, though!