Pets-continued....by Mike

Actually, Coffee the cat was not the first pet I had. When I was a baby the family had a small black and white collie named Bitsy. I remember my Mom mentioning her and I have a photo of Bitsy somewhere, but I don't remember anything about her and don't know what happened to her. One story about Kola that is worth mentioning is the one about him and peanut butter. Kola loved peanut butter as much as he hated cats. I wasn't fond of peanut butter sandwiches, but could eat them when they were accompanied by jelly. One day when Mom was out of jelly, I gave Kola a bite of what was left of my sandwich. What followed was what I thought the most hilarious thing I ever saw. Kola absolutely adored the sandwich, but it stuck to the roof of his mouth. Trying to get it out down and swallow it was a task which included working his tongue in and out and back and forth, sometimes coming out of his mouth 5 or six inches. He looked as if he were gagging. Shaking his head back and forth, side to side until the sandwich goes down. Then he is begging for more. I was delerious with laughter, tears in my eyes and Kola was happy as a clam knowing that he was entertaining me.
After college, I moved to St. Louis, MO and attended Grad school at Wash U and got a job teaching school at a private school in the county. Living alone in a place where I knew no one was a lonely existence, so I went to the dog pound to get a pet. I chose Terry, a small wire haired terrier that was the runt in the cage where they kept him among big dogs like Shepherds, Collies, and mixed breeds that out weighed him by 20 lbs. I looked them all over and then it was time for din-din. The attendant brought a big bowl of food for all in the cage to eat. Terry ran to the dish growled and snarled at all those big monsters to warn them and tell them who was boss in their world, and then he calmly and slowly ate what he wanted without interference from any others. "I'll take him" I said and he came home with me that day. He was truly a delight. He was a very loving and playful dog that loved to go for rides in my convertible back then. Unfortunately he would bark all day long when I was gone and disturb the neighbors in the next apartment, he chewed all my shoes to shreds, chewed the corner off every drawer in the kitchen, but he was good about holding his pottying until I got home. Then on the walk he would pee like a race horse at every tree on the walk. One day the neighbor lady across the hall was just getting in her car in the parking lot when I was taking him for his walk. He dashed towards her jerking the leash out of my hand and into the back seat of her car he went, peeing all over her car because he was so excited. This was not good. It did not please her. It did not please me. I had to do something to remedy this situation. I had to pay for the car to get cleaned, repair of the kitchen drawers, get new shoes and move out of my apartment under duress. Terry had to find a new home. A lady friend of Dad's adored him and she was his new mistress. I did miss him a lot.
Next--Gretchen the worlds smartest dog