Meet Our Furry Family Members!

Meet the furry members of our family!

I tell Leslie all the time that if we don't have kids soon we'll be able to open a petting zoo! The furry family adventure started 2 weeks after we bought our first house. Leslie wanted to get a cat and a dog on the first day we moved in but I made her put it off. We went to the Spearfish Humane Society to get a cat, not realizing that it was like adopting a kid! We had to fill out a form asking what the square footage of our house and yard were, if we planned on having any other animals, why we wanted a cat, etc. They had over a hundred cats available for adoption so we weren't sure how we would choose. We decided to look for the smallest least adoptable one we could find. We settled on a cat named "Tank". When we asked the lady about Tank she said "that's the only cat in her that is spoken for". So as we were staring at the 200+ eyes looking back at us Randy was wearing a hooded sweatshirt that had hanging strings. This little black cat launched at him from 5 feet away and clung to his shirt. We took the cling-on home and decided to change his name from the human society name "Sinatra" to Pumba. He has spent too much time with the dogs and thinks he is one of them. When I go to take the dogs out he runs to the door too. Good times with our extra lazy Pumba, Pum-bot, Pum-babies, Pum-bonium, Pumbee, and Puma.

The next addition to the family was the Border Collie Gus. We got him on New Year's Eve the same year we got Pumba. We got him from a lady I worked with in Wyoming. He was a working Border Collie until he was in a car accident and became afraid of everything. We had no idea he was scared of the world, when we went to see if we wanted him he jumped right up on the couch between us. He has never done this to anyone ever since. I guess it was meant to be. We love Gus but he is definitely our test from God. We decided that he will help us with our patience. He has an unbelievable energy level and an amazing fascination with pumba. He loves to take us on walks and bark at any thing not human. He is Leslie's shadow, whenever she moves Gus moves too. If she is in bed Gus is by her side. One of his favorite things is to guard Leslie when she takes a bath. Always protecting his Leslie. Gus also goes by Gus-turd, Gusser, Gus Gus, Gussy, Gus Bus, tank (due to the Vet telling us about his weight issues) Gusser-Doodle, and spaz.

Our final furry addition, Mollie, came four months after Gus and Pumba. She is a Golden Doodle (Standard Poodle and Golden Retriever Cross) which is pretty much the coolest dog I have ever seen. Leslie got her for me for my birthday from our Pastor and his family in Spearfish. She LOVES everyone and everything including kids, cats, rabbits, dogs, old people, birds, water, sun, running laps, and begging for food. She is a lazy dog that we usually have to remind to keep walking when we are out with her and Gus. It makes for an interesting combination with Gus pulling and Mollie standing around. She doesn't understand that she weighs 85 pounds and she is not a lap dog. Mollie is Leslie's nemesis. She knows how to drive her nuts, it's amazing really. She waits until Leslie leaves the room and gets up on the couch, she jumps on her chest when Mollie thinks she has slept enough. She and Pumba are pretty much inseparable they both would rather nap together than do anything. Mollie is known as Mollie Pop, Mollie Mop Top, Mol-Mol, Mollie-Ollie-Una, Mega-Mits (have her slap you with those paws and you will understand), Mollikins, and Miss Mollie (because Leslie loves Mollie Weasley from harry potter).

Meet the Fam!