I've had mostly dogs all my life, a black lab/terrier mix (Mars) in elementary school-my parents got rid of him for trashing the furniture, a mini-Pinscher (Poochie) in high school that died of a heart defect, and a pit bull later in high school (Joker) that I gave away when I moved out here because he was too big to keep in an apartment. Right before we got engaged we got a black lab/chow mix that we had to put down last November because she ate something outside that poisoned her. We're not getting another dog until we're in a house, but it'll be a black lab, hopefully a purebred this time, all the mutts I've had, even though they are supposed to be great, are a pain in the ass. I had a cat (Elf, uh, Ellefson, get it? har har) when I met my husband, but he's allergic to them, so there goes that idea. (I gave him to my sister, who already had his brother and daughter). Actually, I was allergic too, but I wasn't home enough to worry about it much. I LOVED the fact that he didn't require that much work. He spent most of his time in the closet. He came out to eat and shit and went right back in. Every once in a while he'd come try to hog my pillow, but that was rare and usually if it was raining (also rare). So I didn't feel bad about working as many hours as I was at the time. I had a turtle when I was little too, he lasted twice his expected lifetime, which was cool. My sister-in-law is breeding turtles now and wants to give one to my son, but I think he's a bit young for a pet yet. But my husband LOVES turtles so we'll probably end up taking it anyway. I like birds as long as they belong to someone else. They are too noisy and messy for me. Maybe after my kids are grown and I get an urge to clean 24/7, but other than that, I don't see any birds in my house any time soon.
