My Special Kitty

We once had a beautiful Newfoundland named Shelby, but she was a terrorist. Really, she was. We had never caged a dog before, but with Shelby we had no choice. She ran through the house knocking things over and breaking them, chewed through the cord of my very expensive mixer, ate whatever was left for a minute on the table or counter top, chewed the claw foot of my new oak table, chased the cat, slung slobber everywhere, shed enough daily to cover an American Hairless Terrier so we had to sweep several times a day. She barked so loud that she made my ears ring for days at a time, I hated to even go into my kitchen. She would turn her dish over every time we put food in it. And I won't even give all of the gross details about the time she went into the pantry and accidentally locked herself in while we were gone to church. She got really nervous. Oh! You would not believe the mess that a dog the size of a pony with an upset stomach can make in a pantry! GROSS! That was not fun! She was also very strong and had a very strong will to match. If she saw a bird or cat she would take off after it nearly ripping our arm from its socket. Once my dad let her out while my husband and I were in Atlantis, she took off after a bird and pulled him into the door frame injuring him and breaking his watch. My son let her out once and she took off after a cat dragging him across two lawns on his stomach. It sometimes took all four of us to put her collar on, we would have to chase her and then basically tackle her to the ground and it would take three of us to hold her down while one put the collar on. All of this was after spending hundreds of dollars to have her professionally trained. I was afraid of her and I didn't like her at all, but she belonged to my children. They spent quite a bit of money for her with their paper route money. So, I prayed for God to free me from this tormenting, terrorizing dog. Here is a picture of Shelby and the daily mess she made. It was disgusting.

One Friday evening in December, I went to a scrapbooking crop at a nearby church. While unloading my things from the car I heard a tiny little mew. It was sleeting so my friend and I searched for the kitten. When I found her I took her inside with me. Since no one wanted her I said that I would take her home for the weekend and then take her Saturday morning to the vet that another person had called. That night I held her in my fleece jacket and didn't get any scrapbooking done. She was so sweet and calm. I took her home with me and on Saturday I took her to the vet. They were only going to be open for a couple of hours and they were going to leave this tiny kitten there alone for the rest of the weekend. I told them that I would take her back home with me and bring her in on Monday. Well, we fell in love with this little kitten, but I told my children that we couldn't have another pet, either they could have the cat or Shelby, but not both. The family vote was unanimous, everyone wanted to keep the kitten. YEA!

Isn't she adorable?

Well, Shelby ended up on a farm with a family in Ohio that raises Newfoundlands. I'm sure she is much happier there than in her cage at our house. And I am much happier with my wonderful, well-behaved kitty.