OP
OP
Aaaww, he's beautiful! And I remember your pond!! Because I loved it so much! But I'd forgotten it was yours, hadn't remembered your username linked to this wonderful pond that makes me smile every time I see it! The alligator is still my current favourite decoration
I really love the mix of the natural looking way the pond is built and has sections, and almost looks like a natural waterway you've happened across, and the lovely real plants, but also mixed with fun fake decor that brings a lot of character! I hope some of it also keeps away predators? I ask since our pond was uncovered for years, until a heron discovered it and mostly emptied it overnight.. or at least in between the time discovered there were losses and why, and the time it took for my dad to build a cover which he did immediately). But the cover does spoil the look of the thing and make it harder to work with. Not sure how much I trust that a plastic heron would keep real ones at bay...?Oh, that poor girl!! What a horrible experience for her, breaks my heart thinking about it! Unless she escaped and got lost or something unusual like that (which would still be the owners fault for not having her well secured/trained/microchipped etc), then she was likely dumped and abandoned there, right? I know it happens a lot, but I still can't wrap my brain around anyone doing that. How they can do it and live with themselves, it's so cruel. So many other options that don't mean abandoning a dog to die terrified and alone in the wilderness!!
Getting angry now, so going to focus on the happier ending she found...!
She's an angel for doing that, I think I'd get along well with your wife, she sounds like a person with a huge heart! Is she also the gardener who has all those healthy plants growing? Or you, or combined? Nice that you each have a dog that chose you, and that they get along so well! She looks like such a sweetheart as well! I can definitely see the cattle dog strongly in her face and head for sure, maybe mixed with a bully breed from her chest/sitting stance, she's built rather like a staffie, although it's super hard to pick out traits from one photo and angle, and when there's more than 2-3 breeds mixed in there, so easy to be mistaken too. Whatever she is, I can confirm the name fits - she's absolutely Precious. I feel deceived though! Your name is Oldspartan, but you're not old! I'm not fooled by that fake beard disguise!!
It definitely wouldn't be fair to leave out Patches! What a sweet evening routine, where she knows you'll be sitting down for a while and she can get her fuss. I remember one of our cats always doing that with my dad when he finally sat down of an evening. He was a man who was always doing something and didn't sit down to relax for long, and also claimed not to like cats much since he's a bird and dog person (and he did genuinely hate when they hunted, especially if they killed a bird), but he was just as soft with the cats and they/we always had them, so he protested too much, me thinks. Would often catch him fussing and talking to one of the cats in a really sweet way when he didn't realise anyone was around, and he'd be embarrassed when I'd tease him about how I thought he didn't like cats?
Just a running joke in the family I guess. So when he'd finally sit on the sofa at around 9pm, Cinders would immediately jump onto his lap and sweetly ask for pets, and he'd protest "Hey! What's this! I've only just sat down!" or pretend grumble about not liking cats, while she stretched out on his chest and had plenty of fuss, and they'd both fall asleep there. I have photos of them like that to prove it too! Not on here, but it was lovely.
Patches also looks so much like one of my auntie's cats, Smudge, right down to the facial markings, which is why she named him Smudge. She's a pretty girl! Doesn't look grumpy to me either, just has the same sort of expression I pull when anyone points a camera at me! I feel your camera phobia, Patches, I understand!
