Cats vs Dogs

[Phoenix]

Ok I will be the first to admit that I'm more of a dog lover than a cat lover. I was born into a family who had a dog, and the number of canine friends in my life kept changing over the years but I have almost always had at least one dog. My dogs have been my best of friends, loyal companions who would always try to comfort me when I was sad, who would always try to protect me, and just generally enjoying my company as I enjoyed theirs. The only brief time of my life I spent without a dog was the first few years after I moved to the United States.

Having said that my hubby was the opposite. He grew up only with cats and always swore to them. That is until we got Oliver, our white shepherd, that we took a 6 hour long drive to West Virginia to pick up when he was a wee little puppy of 7 weeks. Ever since the master and his dog have been inseparable.






So what types of pets do all of you have, and why is the particular species so awesome?

http://www.parade.com/news/2011/07/31-b ... -dogs.html
Let's try to keep the conversation civil, people!

[una]

I'm a dog and a cat person.

My favorite cat species? Persian Cats.

The dog species I like are Pugs, Huskies, German Shepards, and Pomeranians.

[Blackrosefencer]

I have never owned a dog or a cat. We had guinea pigs when we were little and a ton of fish. But once in a while I dog-sit my aunt's boxer, Bristol.

Right now, I have a rabbit named Caramel. She is one year old and she is a Holland Lop. She is very playful, but not very cuddly...she likes to run around at top speeds around the room. But she doesn't like to be held or pet while she's eating her lettuce. lol.



And I have a blue betta fish named Benjamin!



The red one was named Walter, but he died...a looooong time ago (the picture was taken in 2009! LOL! Benjamin is like the Energizer Bunny...he just keeps going and going and going....).

But if I had a dog it'd probably be a Cocker Spaniel or a King Charles Spaniel. If I had a cat it'd be a Himalayan.

[Sapphire]

What a beautiful dog, Phoenix! Personally I cannot decide between cats and dogs. I like them both equally!

Blackrosefencer: I love your bunny! He's absolutely adorable. Bunnies make great pets, don't they? ^_^

Oh, animals! I love animals. In my 25 years I have had a dog (Golden Cocker Spaniel), 2 cats (mongrels we adopted :p ) several rabbits (New Zealand White, Dwarf, Chinchilla Giganta), a hamster, 3 birds (budgies, Indian Mynah), 4 beautiful rats and numerous fish (koi, goldfish and guppies).

Right now we live in an apartment so large animals are out of the question. We have 2 male rats named Sherman and Kafka, who are cinnamon hooded rats. Aren't they CUTE?!



And this is Kafka, doing what he loves best - eating!


Incidentally, it was Beast Wars that made me a fan of rats as pets, Rattrap being my favourite character and all...

[Phoenix]

Oooh those are some mighty cute pets! I always did want a bunny (or a chinchilla) but it never came to that.

Right now, in addition to the dog, we have one remaining gerbil (we had more but as time went on they passed away and the remaining female was so attached to her twin sister it would be difficult to introduce another gerbil.. and baby gerbils aren't that easy to find), as well as a few fish. I would love to get a bigger aquarium and have more fish, but personally I want saltwater fish (since they're often flashier to look at than the tropical we have right now), but we don't have room for two aquariums so..

As much as I love our white shepherd, I would personally have loved to have a smaller breed like the ones I've had in the past. Pomeranians and Japanese Spitz' are awesome dogs too. The shepherd is also, but he is too big and strong for me to manage on walks, especially with a baby I cannot leave by himself. Good thing we have a back yard for him to play in, since even though we take him for walks and trips to the dog park or other doggie friends of his whenever possible, there is no way to give him all the exercise he desires all the time. The hubby doesn't exactly work your standard 9 to 5 job which leaves me by myself up to 76 hours some weeks while he's working.