Long Relationships

Bonding With Your Pets
By Rebecca Camarena

Bonding with animals is something that humans have been doing for thousands of years and each relationship between animal and human is especially unique. In the years that I have had my two dogs I have developed a special bond with each of them.

Spencer was my first dog and he was a 10 week old shepherd mixed with Labrador when he came to live with us. He was a challenge as he saw his position as being the Alpha male dog and I was the Alpha human female. It took a lot of years for him to come to an understanding of how to behave. It was in those years that Spencer destroyed everything in the backyard. He dug out trees to chew on the root ball, dug up the entire sprinkler system and ate all the piping. He was an aggressive dog who resisted training even though I worked endlessly with him.

It took six months before he learned to sit, but at age seven he is settling into old age, and has become a calmer dog that has learned to sit next to me and take advantage of getting the attention while the younger dog retrieves the ball. Spencer hasn’t completely given up being a rogue, but we are on to him and when that cloud of dust appears in the yard we know he’s behind it.

If there’s a chance for an immediate bond between human and animal then it happened as soon as I picked up Tasha and held her in my arms at 8 weeks. I knew that she was going to the best dog that one could ask for. She is a purebred female German Shepherd, her mother a purebred of descendants born in Germany. The father dog was the biggest American Shepherd I had ever seen.

I was more terrified of taking the dog away from the parents then of raising the dog. I had no need to worry about raising her as she was quick to learn commands unlike Spencer who required repeated lessons before it sunk in. Her role is as family protector and sheep herder. I guess she considers us her herd of sheep. She runs from room to room and never sits down to rest until she has brought all family members together in the same room.

Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like without dogs and I can’t. Oh, my yard would have a few more trees and be minus a few big holes that Spencer has dug. There would be less hair from Tasha shedding and less dog chores to do, but my heart would not be as full of love for the dogs that have given me unconditional love for years.

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Rebecca is a freelance writer in So. Ca and aspiring children’s authors. Her articles have appeared in local newspapers and community newsletters. She once interviewed Sam Yorty the former Mayor of Los Angeles in the 1960’s. She is an aspiring author of children’s character animal stories, blogging about dogs and cats, book authors and Hollywood. Find her at:

Dogs Rule Cats Drool, http://dogsrulecatsdrool.wordpress.com
Paperback Writer, http://rebecca2007.wordpress.com
The Real Hollywood, http://valleygirlmusings.blogspot.com
Top Notch Writer at Twitter, http://twitter.com/topnotchwriter.com
Dogs Rule Cats at Twitter, http://twitter.com/dogsrulecats

Sassy the Cat – My Constant Companion
By Rebecca Camarena

You never know much your heart can expand to love another animal until the need arises. When my cat, Sassy entered my life I had not thought of having a cat and was allergic to them so imagine my surprise and dismay when this stray cat that I had never seen before was sitting on my front porch. Feed her was what I did and she never left.

She took up residence in the bushes and delivered her first liter of kittens. Being very protective of them and wary of me she kept her distance. As the weeks went by we would find her moving the kittens around the front yard, but each time closer to the house. When the kittens were 8 weeks old they were stolen out of the yard and so I moved Sassy into the garage.

The second litter of kittens wasn’t far behind the first and I made sure she was in the garage during delivery. The timing was right and I was there at her side during delivery and wearing a glove so as to not leave my scent on the kittens so she wouldn’t reject them, I helped guide each kitten into the world. She hardly had time to clean one up before the next one wanted out into the world. After kneeling for two and a half hours and delivering 4 kittens I didn’t think I would ever stand up again. When I returned three hours later another kitten had arrived.

After delivering her kittens Sassy would let me touch and play with them as they grew. At 10 weeks we gave the kittens away to good homes and had her spayed. With no litters of kittens to keep her busy she spent more time in the house.

I don’t know how it happened or when, but I noticed that Sassy became my constant companion and she trusted me completely. Along with her trust, unconditional love and my nurturing our relationship continued to grow deeper and mysteriously my allergies disappeared.

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Rebecca is a freelance writer in So. Ca and aspiring children’s authors. Her articles have appeared in local newspapers and community newsletters. She once interviewed Sam Yorty the former Mayor of Los Angeles in the 1960’s. She is an aspiring author of children’s character animal stories, blogging about dogs and cats, book authors and Hollywood. Find her at:

Dogs Rule Cats Drool, http://dogsrulecatsdrool.wordpress.com
Paperback Writer, http://rebecca2007.wordpress.com
The Real Hollywood, http://valleygirlmusings.blogspot.com
Top Notch Writer at Twitter, http://twitter.com/topnotchwriter.com
Dogs Rule Cats at Twitter, http://twitter.com/dogsrulecats

It is my pleasure to welcome my guest this week, Rebecca Camarena. She’s here to talk about her beloved pets Spencer, Sassy and Tasha. I hope you’ll join me in welcoming her.

Spencer and Me, My Faithful Companion
By Rebecca Camarena

When I bought a dog after buying a house, I naturally assumed that I could get a loving dog that would sit at my feet while I spent hours at my desk writing. I was unaware that a relationship with a dog required training, perseverance and patience. My childhood family dog was shared by everyone and he never graced us with his cheerful personality. So when I brought home my German Shepherd lab mix home, we named him Spencer and he was going to be my companion.

Spencer was as loving as he was disobedient. The disobedient part seemed to start from the minute we brought him home. I had wanted to raise Spencer as an inside dog, but he got into trouble everywhere he went. One wag of his tail and everything on a low table was all over the floor. He was incorrigible, stubborn and resistant to house training. No became my favorite word as I tried harder to train him. Often times he lost his footing on the tile floors and ended up sliding across the floor knocking over whatever he landed against. I hadn’t bought my house a fixer-upper, but it was soon to be one with this out of control dog. I thought how will I ever manage with this horse in my house?

Spencer was known as The World’s Worst Dog before Marley the dog ever came along. After some agonizing moments I decided to let Spencer live outside. A dog house was built for him and we had a party to go along with him moving to the yard. You couldn’t have asked for a happier dog, the yard was all his and Spencer took on the role of an Alpha Male dog.

By now, he weighed 90 pounds and he greeted us by jumping up on us and putting his paws on our shoulders. With more energy than sense he took it as a challenge to dig, chew and destroy anything that was in the yard. Spencer chewed window screens and dug out newly planted trees and jumped on the metal box that housed the air-conditioning fan system and stood tall as king of the yard.

I hoped he would soon outgrow this behavior because I didn’t have much of a yard left. I thought maybe Spencer just needed more attention. Spending the morning outside writing would be perfect for both of us. Spencer greeted me in his usual way with his paws coming to rest on my chest licking my face as if he hadn’t seen me in days never mind that I was holding a hot coffee mug. It was a greeting I didn’t return because I saw my chair, (webbing on a metal frame) was shredded in pieces all over the yard.

I could only respond with “Spencer you dummy, you ate my chair.” Even as I yelled at him he still had that goofy good natured look. Putting my coffee down so I could pet Spencer, feeling bad that I had yelled at him, I didn’t want to give up hope that someday Spencer would be my faithful companion, but he seemed to prefer doing it on his own time.

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Rebecca is a freelance writer in So. Ca and aspiring children’s authors. Her articles have appeared in local newspapers and community newsletters. She once interviewed Sam Yorty the former Mayor of Los Angeles in the 1960’s. She is an aspiring author of children’s character animal stories, blogging about dogs and cats, book authors and Hollywood. Find her at:

Dogs Rule Cats Drool, http://dogsrulecatsdrool.wordpress.com
Paperback Writer, http://rebecca2007.wordpress.com
The Real Hollywood, http://valleygirlmusings.blogspot.com
Top Notch Writer at Twitter, http://twitter.com/topnotchwriter.com
Dogs Rule Cats at Twitter, http://twitter.com/dogsrulecats