Little Bo-Peep and Facebook

I am really not a fan of Facebook for kids, especially not for kids under 13, Facebook’s age requirement, but it did help in tracking down a beloved pet.

Little Bo-Peep

Over the summer, my 13 year-year-old niece’s 3-year-old Maltese Yorkie mix, Little Bo-Peep or Bo for short, dug her way out under the fence in her backyard and escaped to travel the neighborhood. Once my niece and her family noticed the dog got loose, the search was on. Where, oh where, did this little three-pound dog wander off to?

My sister and brother-in-law and nephew searched the neighborhood, knocking on doors, looking for the cute little dog. Even their neighbors and my parents helped with the search.

Once it got dark, after several hours of searching, they decided to call it a night. My niece was beside herself. She was crying non-stop and couldn’t stop thinking about her little dog. She even slept by the front door, waiting for little Bo to come home. Bo didn’t come back. The next day the family searched again, looking for the dog. My niece made flyers with a photo of her dog and put them up around her neighborhood. She was so worried Bo got hit by a car or someone took Bo and made her their own pet. Bo didn’t have a collar on her with a name and number. My niece had given Bo a bath before she got away and forgot to put her collar back on. Bo didn’t have the special microchip locator in her either,  so there was no way for someone who found her to bring her home.  

Besides posters and searching, my niece decided to post a photo of Bo on her Facebook account with “Please pray for Bo. She’s missing and I hope she’s OK and will return soon." She got several responses and people saying they would pray for Bo’s safe return.  

On the second day, my two daughters and I also helped in the search for the dog. We drove around the neighborhood and nearby parking lots. I also shared my niece’s Facebook post, just in case any of my friends saw her dog. I also looked online at the local animal shelters and the Sheriff’s website for lost animals, along with Craig’s List. We didn’t see Bo on any of the sites. I also posted information about Bo on the sites. We prayed for little Bo to somehow find her way back home.

On the third day, my niece got a Facebook message from a friend. The friend thought Bo was at her house. My niece didn’t want to get overly excited, because someone earlier thought they had her dog and it wasn’t Bo. The friend sent a text with a photo. It sure looked like Bo, but her friend lived about 15 minutes away, how could Bo have traveled that far? The friend said her brother was driving down the road, just next to my niece’s subdivison, and saw this little dog crossing four lanes of traffic, nearly getting run over. So he pulled over and put the dog in his car and brought her home. Bo was given love, attention and a bath.

The interesting part of this story is that my niece had just become friends with the girl on Facebook about two weeks prior to Bo disappearing. They were friends in kindergarten and hadn’t connected for years. If you know how Facebook works, not every post everyone shares is seen by all their friends, so this was pretty amazing.

When my niece finally reunited with her lost puppy, they were both so happy to see each other. And I had to admit, it was good my niece had a Facebook account, even though I am always telling her 13 is too young to be on Facebook.  

Pets can teach kids life lessons

Graci and Randi show their
dwarf hamsters

A dog, a bird, two fish and two dwarf hamsters is what we now have in our household as far as pets are concerned. I never would have imagined I would have so many little creatures in my house. I wasn’t one to have pets growing up except for a dog. Today the pets actually outnumber my kids three to one.

Our first pet in our house was a dog that my husband and I got when we first got married. He was our “kid” before having our two girls.

The other pets started arriving as our girls could talk, probably at the age two or three.  Our oldest daughter, Randi started out with a beta fish as her first pet. It’s a good thing because they are pretty easy to take care of. The only real issue with fish is cleaning their water every month. Other than that, you feed them a few pellets of fish food a day and they are fine.  You do have to be careful the little ones don’t overfeed the fish.

The first time the fish died. It was traumatic for our girls. I think Randi cried for whole day. We actually had a ceremony and flushed the fish down the toilet. The next fish that died wasn’t a big deal. We were expecting it to be, but our girls didn’t think twice about it.

We did have hermit crabs somewhere along the line. I think we got those when the girls were about 4 and 5 years old. The hermit crabs weren’t hard to take care of, but their cages would really smell. One of the hermit crabs was pretty good at getting out of his cage. One night we heard a big thump and the hermit crab was out of his cage and in another room. It was funny. We nick-named him Hercules. The hermit crabs lasted about a year and they ended up going to a cousin after she babysat for them while we were on vacation.

When the girls were 5 and 6, the dog they had know since birth passed away unexpectedly. It was hard on the whole family, especially our girls. We decided after a few months to get a new dog. We thought it would help them with their grief. It did help.

A bird was something my oldest daughter Randi wanted for awhile. My brother-in-law raised Cockatiels and told us that would be a good bird for Randi. He gave us a cage and information about the bird. Randi got him for doing well on one of her report cards when she was 7. Randi loves the bird, but it is not the easiest animal to take care of. Not only do you have to feed the bird, but the cage needs to be cleaned each week. The bird is pretty messy and his seeds and feathers fall around the cage. Right now, I wouldn’t say it’s the best pet for kids her age.

Just recently we got our latest addition to the household. Both girls have wanted a hamster for a few years. My husband and I didn’t really want more animals, but we told them if they could convince us about why they wanted the hamsters, we would think about it. We told them to do a report. In the report they needed to tell us the origin of the dwarf hamsters, the cost to purchase it including the cage, what the hamsters eat and how they would take care of them.

We thought the report would take a few days for them to do and would keep them busy for awhile. Well, about 3 hours later, they had a full report with all the information including photos in a notebook. They both took turns presenting different parts of the information to us. We were so impressed we couldn’t say no to their request.  The following day we were at the pet store getting the dwarf hamsters. Just our luck that day the hamsters were on a one day sale for half off. We couldn’t beat that.

My husband and I try to use the pets to help our kids learn responsibility. They have to feed their animals and clean their cages. It’s not always easy for them to do alone. I am usually helping them with the cleaning of the cages.

The pets are fun to have and our girls do love them. I think we are at our limit of pets though. I don’t have time to clean any more cages. Overall the pets in our house have been pretty good. I’ve found them to be a wonderful way to teach kids responsibility and life’s lessons. 

A New Puppy Eases the Pain of Losing a Family Dog

Our black lab, Ace was one of the best dogs a family could have.  He was 7 years old when he passed away with cancer of the spleen. When the veterinarian realized he had cancer and there wasn’t anything they could do for him, my husband and I only had a few days to prepare our 4 and 6 year olds at the time, that they wouldn’t have Ace around anymore. If you have ever had to do that, you know how hard that is to do. There are just no words to tell your children their dog is going to die. We did the best we could, but it wasn’t easy. Our little girls cried for weeks. Even today, which is a little over a year since Ace passed and every now and than they still cry because they miss him.

 Shortly after our dog died, the girls started asking for another dog. This time they wanted a puppy because they never really knew Ace as a puppy, he was already a few years old when they were born. They also wanted the puppy to stay small in size. Ace was ninety pounds. We also needed a dog that didn’t shed because my youngest had some allergy issues from the dog hair. Our daughter, Randi Kay, was determined to find the best dog for the family, one that had all the qualities were looking for. She has always loved dogs and reads every book she can get her hands on about dogs. She had us watching the television show Dogs 101 on the Animal Planet, searching the internet and reading books about dogs.

 I took the girls to the dog store to check out the different breeds of puppies. Every time they went they fell in love with the puppies. We also went to the shelters to look at dogs. Even though the girls and I were ready to get a new dog, my husband wasn’t ready. He really missed our lab. It’s true the saying, “man’s best friend.” After a few months my husband gave us the ok to “really” look for a puppy.

We decided we would try the animal shelters first. We must have gone to all of the shelters in Pinellas County. We also went to pet stores and looked at ads in the paper for puppies. We even took a drive one afternoon to a flea market north of Pinellas County to check out some puppies. We looked everywhere and just didn’t find the right one. Finally, I was online one night and googled the words non-shedding and Florida. I came across a breeder online that was in Tampa. I couldn’t believe it. I looked at their web site and saw the cutest little puppies called Shihchon’s or “teddy bear” puppies.  I thought non-shedding, small and cute. This is it. And the other great thing was the price was not outrageous.  I called the place and set up a time to go see the puppies. The girls were so excited they could hardly stand it. We had a wonderful experience. We got there and the girls were able to go in a room filled with about eight little puppies. The puppies were several different breeds. We let the girls play with the puppies and find which one they like and liked them. They both decided on a black and white shihchion. He was about 10 weeks old and about 4 pounds. He was just the cutest little thing. When we got in the car to take him home, the girls started crying because they were so happy.  This is my daughter Randi Kay writing about her memories of picking up our new puppy.

Royal Puppy Palace (the breeder) is a good place to go for the family and have fun. I was there and I saw all these different kinds of puppies. They had little dog beds they could sleep in.  I got a dog named Parker. I met lots of other puppies too. It was so much fun.  We loved our dog Ace, but he passed away when he was 7. He had to go the emergency room when my mom and dad said he was going to die tomorrow maybe. I was crying. The next day at school, my dad picked me up and I asked him if Ace was in heaven? He said yes. I was so sad. I started to cry. My new puppy Parker helps me sweep away my tears.

Ever since we got Parker, we haven’t had as many tears. I think the new puppy has been a wonderful addition to our family. Losing our dog, Ace, was a traumatic experience for our children and by getting our new puppy Parker, the healing process became a little easier.

Click here to visit Royal Puppy Palace