My husband and I brought our dog, Lucas, home in April of 2021. We adopted him from a local rescue when he was 4 months old and, although very spoiled now, he’s such a good boy and we love him very much. When we got home that first day in April, we took him out to show him the backyard. He was so excited and started running towards me. He didn’t see our little pond and ran right into it. That must have been a little shocking(poor guy), but he climbed right out and continued on with his excitement. We dried him off and he climbed up onto my lap, just like he did earlier that day at the pet store. 

When we had arrived at Petsmart to meet and adopt him, it was like he knew he was supposed to go with us. I have a disability and use a mobility scooter and he climbed right up onto my lap and wanted to stay there the entire time we were in the store. It was a little hard to drive with him on my lap, but he did not want to get down.

We got our cat, Cooper, when he was a kitten and he’s a year old now. He loves sitting in the window, watching the birds at the bird feeder. He also loves Lucas. He follows him all around the house and loves taking a nap with him. We have a doggie door and when Lucas goes outside, Cooper will sit right in front of the door and wait for him to come back in. Cooper is an indoor cat and he, so far, does not want to go outside. So he just waits patiently at the door for Lucas to come back.

A few days after we had brought Cooper home, about 9:00 one night, we couldn’t find him. We wondered if he had gone out the doggie door. So we went out to the backyard and Lucas found Cooper under the deck. Of course, he had to chase him out from there and right up a tree. Cooper was only 4 months old and too scared to come back down and it turned into a whole event. We borrowed a ladder from our neighbor who also came over to see if she could help. I called my son, who’s a volunteer fireman, to see if the fire department would come. They don’t so he and his girlfriend came over to help. He held the ladder while my husband went up it to rescue Cooper. But the kitten was too far out on a branch and really scared. My son’s girlfriend went in to get some kitty treats and my husband used them to coax him close enough to be able to grab him. It worked! After that incident, Cooper has not used the doggie door since and we’re very happy. 

Our bearded dragon, Sammy, is awesome. We got her as a baby and she’s almost 4 years old now. I never thought I’d love a lizard this much, but just like the rest of our pets, she is part of the family. Like Cooper, she also loves sitting in the window on her heating pad to watch the wildlife. My husband built her a window shelf that she and Cooper will sit on together and stare out the window. She also likes to walk around the house and In the summertime, she likes to go outside and lay in the grass and go swimming in our little pond.

I had been wanting a tortoise for a long time and finally got one a few months ago. Matilda also enjoys walking around the house and has no problem with the dog, the cat, or the dragon. She loves digging holes in her tank and burying herself in them when she’s ready for bed. My husband is planning to make her an enclosure for outside so that in the summer, she can enjoy the outdoors with us.