pets - your ideal pet

[Ken Gargett]

i know that there was a 'hat is your pet' thread a few years ago.

this is a sort of update.

two questions -

1. your current pet/s?

2. if you had the facilities/money/space/whatever necessary, what would be your ideal pet/s?

[planetary]

1. Four dogs, all rescues.  One collie mix, one corgi mix, one chihuahua mix, and one miniature pincher-like tiny dog.  I love them all dearly, but that's the upper limit of what I think I'd want. 

2. My wife might say that we should be a foster home to more dogs, some cats, and who knows what else. 

If I could hire experts and maintenance staff, I'd have salt water aquariums! 

[Islandboy]

8 cats, all rescues. My favorite is Mojo, who I found as a kitten with a lion's voice while out mountain biking. The bond we have is like no other - which I’m sure has something to do with the harrowing downhill ride the little guy had while stuffed in a ziplock baggie. He kept poking his head out between the handlebar grip and the brake lever - which only left the option of going faster

A month ago there was a dog, another rescue from the local shelter, but we had to send the old guy off to the great unknown. After 3 dogs, I’m really not sure I want to go through that again.

[Fuzz]

1. Labrador Retriever

2. My dog is already a handful! Don't know if I could cope with more than one of him! Doesn't help that I spoil him rotten.

[anacostiakat]

Current pets are two Chinese Shar-Pei.  A 13 year old cream dilute male and a two year old black masked red-fawn.  Quite the dynamic.

If I had a bigger place I would have a much larger pack of these wonderful intelligent dogs.

[BrightonCorgi]

We own a Corgi (pretty easy to figure out).  Her official name is Lily Ruffhausen von Spotsnout.  She turned 6 yesterday.

Not really into other animals as pets beyond dogs.  I wouldn't mind owning a Savannah Cat, but they are illegal in our state 

[Martin_F]

Two whippets, one Siamese and one Sphynx cat.

[earthson]

Love my rescue dog - so smart and so good with the kids. Got too busy having said kids to cart train the dog, which would've been great for the farm.

Would like some cats to help against the mice, but wifey is muy allergic, so it's a no-go for now.

[canadianbeaver]

Another spot about our guy Blue

 

[fitzy]

I've got a couple beagles. 

 

There are a few reptiles I'd like to have. 

 

[jay8354]

The daughter had a rabbit that was gifted from Granddad. It ran away once when the mower man came by.

Pets are a responsibility and dedication and needs the time for it. Basically, they are a kid that mostly don't talk back.

Currently, have some tropical fishes.

My dream pet would be bees instead. or a drop bear

[cigcars]

On 2/12/2018 at 11:49 PM, planetary said:

1. Four dogs, all rescues.  One collie mix, one corgi mix, one chihuahua mix, and one miniature pincher-like tiny dog.  I love them all dearly, but that's the upper limit of what I think I'd want. 

2. My wife might say that we should be a foster home to more dogs, some cats, and who knows what else. 

If I could hire experts and maintenance staff, I'd have salt water aquariums! 

    *You sound like my kind'a guy!  

[teewinot]

My two dogs.  George and Mimi.  Yellow lab and basset.  My lovely wife wanted Mimi, just a handful.  Bassets follow their nose.  George is my boy.

My ideal pet???.....George if he promised to outlive me.  I can’t even think of the day he passes.......

 

 

 

[cfc1016]

I currently have a cattle dog, Chille, who I've done extensive work with since he was a very young pup. He's absolutely top notch. His most useful/versatile command is 'what do we do?' I have him trained in ~30-40 different situational protocols. He knows, based on what is going on around us, what he is supposed to be doing, should we go into 'work mode'. All I do is say 'what do we do?' and he does what he knows I expect of him. Truly a marvelous dog. Pic is from when he was a wee pup.

I've also got a 120 gallon saltwater reef tank. I've been in the hobby ~20 years and this tank is the culmination of that experience. There're ~10 fish and ~30 species of coral in there. It's my zen garden.

 

Dream pet... When Chille is long gone, I will eventually get another dog. I'm doing my research and training now to prepare for properly training a hunting dog, specifically the Deutsche Drahthaar. Ideally, I will save up 6 months of living expenses and take that much time off work to devote myself fully to the conditioning of the puppy. I'm convinced that the main reason Chille is so superlatively excellent, is that when he was a pup, I was a hippie vagabond. No job. No need for him to ever leave my side. He spent the first ~8 months of his life never having to be separated from me. I would like to develop the same level of bond-intensity with my next dog.

[EndangeredSpecies]

I don't have any pets. My ideal pet would be a lion! though I'd settle for a Great Dane. 

[cfc1016]

[Ken Gargett]

1 minute ago, cfc1016 said:

very envious of this.

mind you, in a perfect world, i'd own a zoo so too many animals i'd love to have. bred finches, quail and parrots as a kid (although i can't remember being very successful with the  parrots).

[tsolomon]

We have two French Bulldogs right now, one just turned 9 and the other is 13, great dogs but Rhodesian Ridgebacks are my favorites.  So we would need a Frenchie for my wife and a ridgeback for me.  

[cfc1016]

1 hour ago, Ken Gargett said:

very envious of this.

mind you, in a perfect world, i'd own a zoo so too many animals i'd love to have. bred finches, quail and parrots as a kid (although i can't remember being very successful with the  parrots).

Thank you! It took many years of hard experience to get to the point where I really feel comfortable with so many corals being in my care. My biggest colony is almost certainly older than me.

 

Yeah i had a ton of different pets growing up. Had a pair of leopard geckos for ~15 years until giving them to a young cousin. Had a big iguana for ~10 years. Had tons of different kinds of fish - I was hardcore into south/central american cichlids for a long time. I had a cockatiel. African clawed frogs (HUGE). ~25 species of tarantulas. Pygmy chameleons (Rhampholeon spp.). Mantis shrimp. Countless species of orchids - I'll count them as pets since they were so much more intense than regular houseplants. I focused primarily on the alliance Pleurothallidinae.

[Ken Gargett]

1 minute ago, cfc1016 said:

Thank you! It took many years of hard experience to get to the point where I really feel comfortable with so many corals being in my care. My biggest colony is almost certainly older than me.

 

Yeah i had a ton of different pets growing up. Had a pair of leopard geckos for ~15 years until giving them to a young cousin. Had a big iguana for ~10 years. Had tons of different kinds of fish - I was hardcore into south/central american cichlids for a long time. I had a cockatiel. African clawed frogs (HUGE). ~25 species of tarantulas. Pygmy chameleons (Rhampholeon spp.). Mantis shrimp. Countless species of orchids - I'll count them as pets since they were so much more intense than regular houseplants. I focused primarily on the alliance Pleurothallidinae.

a mantis shrimp? wow. i would imagine that they were seriously difficult to maintain.

good eating. i remember watching a local on Christmas Island catching one. i gather that the snap of their pincers is the quickest movement found in nature so you can imagine the care he took. got it, though.

[cfc1016]

Nah. mantis shrimp are pretty much invincible. cockroaches of the sea.

depends on the species. Odontodactylus scyllarus (peacock mantis aka the one species people always think of when they hear 'mantis shrimp') and Gonodactylus chiragra are the heaviest hitters, I believe. They can reach just about mach 1. It's pretty neat. The instantaneous heat created by their impact is roughly equivalent to that of the corona of the sun. It causes the water around the impact to instantly boil (actually sublimate, I believe). This causes a bubble in the water, which then implodes so rapidly that it creates a shockwave of its own. Fun fact - stomatopods (mantis shrimp's actual name) have trinocular vision... in EACH eye

[cfc1016]

On 2/13/2018 at 10:33 PM, jay8354 said:

My dream pet would be bees instead. or a drop bear

I had to look up drop bear. So glad I did. My girlfriend didn't believe me when I told her koalas fall out of trees a lot. Googled 'koalas falling out of trees'. Google did not disappoint. I've been mercilessly tormenting her with this video since last night

 

 

[Ken Gargett]

6 minutes ago, cfc1016 said:

Nah. mantis shrimp are pretty much invincible. cockroaches of the sea.

depends on the species. Odontodactylus scyllarus (peacock mantis aka the one species people always think of when they hear 'mantis shrimp') and Gonodactylus chiragra are the heaviest hitters, I believe. They can reach just about mach 1. It's pretty neat. The instantaneous heat created by their impact is roughly equivalent to that of the corona of the sun. It causes the water around the impact to instantly boil (actually sublimate, I believe). This causes a bubble in the water, which then implodes so rapidly that it creates a shockwave of its own. Fun fact - stomatopods (mantis shrimp's actual name) have trinocular vision... in EACH eye

forgot the eyes. so much more advanced than ours. extraordinary. the only other thing that moved as fast as a mantis shrimp is lisa's tongue, if she has caught you messing up.

[Fuzz]

2 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

the only other thing that moved as fast as a mantis shrimp is lisa's tongue, if she has caught you messing up.

I thought that was her left hook?

[Ken Gargett]

Just now, Fuzz said:

I thought that was her left hook?

that is next.