It’s so nice that you’ve returned.  I was just sitting here with my cup of tea and the crumbs from my chocolate chip cookie.  It was especially good today.  I don’t bake and if you’ve read “Ticked Off and Tickled About It,” you already know that.  So I try different brands of cookies from the market.

My ninety pound Golden Retriever, Irish, begged, as usual, and I gave him a bit of cookie.  Basically, I am a tough love mommy and won’t give him people food but sometimes those soulful big brown eyes are more than I can bear and I crumble like a cookie.

Much as I adore our big lovable dog, I have been thinking about also getting a little dog.  There is no way you can hold Irish on a lap, even my husband’s.  I’d love to have cute little white lap dog.  The problem is, we have coyotes in our neighborhood.

My son’s family has just the dog I would like.  His name is Gizmo.  (Humor is a big thing in our family.)  He likes laps and is full of fun.  When he’s playing, he has non-stop energy.  My trivia-expert husband says that Gizmo is the kind of dog that pirates kept on their ships for entertainment.

I had a little black and white dog, Lucky, when I was a child.  I loved him but he pretty much ticked off my parents.  He was very full of no-no ideas.  He managed to get out of the fenced yard many times and ran up and down the street.  One time he chased a car and got a broken leg for his trouble.  He had to have a back leg in a cast.  He was such a clown.  We watched him in the yard from a window as he ran all around and even jumped, trying to get over the fence.  If we went outside, he began to limp and look like he could hardly walk.  He  wanted our sympathy, which of course he got.

I’ve got two cats, too, but they don’t roam in the same area of the house as the dog.  I think maybe the dog is more afraid of the cats than vice versa.

We had three other cats when we lived in California.  One of them was really Mr. Personality.  His name was Armstrong and he was a better escape artist than Lucky, but he never went farther than the house next door.  We could get him back by tapping the tin lid against a Vaseline jar.  Armstrong loved to eat Vaseline and it helped with his hair balls.  The other two cats wouldn’t touch the stuff.

You must have some great dog or cat stories.  I’d love to hear them.

To read what others are writing on this subject:  https://tickedoffandtickled.com/2012/08/06/it’s-a-happy-dog-day

COMING NEXT:  I’ve Owned Six Funny Cats