How much do you love your pet?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I follow these pet otters in Japan, they are great at slowing life down and putting a smile on your face.

[stevej37]

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stevej37

lol!

[masraum]

Little kids and cute animals make the world a better place.

[LWJ]

I don't think I had ever seen otters in the wild before a month ago. (If so, I seem to have forgotten, so it might as well be a new experience!) I drifted a local river to trout fish with my son and a buddy. We had three otters follow us about 1.5 miles down the river. Just checking out the humans I guess. It was pretty cool.

[Flat Six]

I love Kotaro and Hana!!

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by masraum

Little kids and cute animals make the world a better place.

Both this morning. Cute little girl about three came charging down the beach and looked me in the eye and said "WHAT'S HIS NAME?" Then full speed back to her father to update him on the dogs name. Then HAD TO know the other dog's name too LOL I said to her dad that she's got good communications skills and he laughed and said she introduces herself to every person she sees, and loves every dog she sees.

[varmint]

I was five or six years old, driving back from a long minnesota thanksgiving. At some point my dad realized we were near LaCrosse, and said "let's go see Emil". I have no idea how they knew each other, both were pilots, But my dad had no trouble showing up unannounced.

I remember a tall rail thin man with shock white hair. He had to be at least eighty then. He invited my folks in for a beer. I settled myself in for another long afternoon in a boring grownups house. Emil noticed my irritation, and asked if I'd like to go out to the backyard and play with the girls.

The adults gathered up their drinks, and we walked through the house to the fenced in backyard. I stood at the edge of the pool and almost wet myself as two of the biggest rats I'd ever seen swam beneath the surface twoards me. They ,"the girls", were river otters. named Fifi and Lavern, though I'll never understand how he told them apart. They leapt out of the water, and trotted over to Emil. He patted them on the heads like dogs. my folks tried to pet them. But they were too fast, swirling around, between, and through their legs. Through all this I was too stunned to move.

Around this time my dad asked if the knew any tricks. Emil said they could fetch, and roll over, and shake, and kiss. My mom didn't believe any of it. So Emil patted one, Lavern I think, pointed at me and said "kiss kiss". She was on me in less than a second, got up on her hind legs, and was now taller than me. Glanced back at Emil and my folks who were now repeating "kiss kiss kiss". She reared back and head butted me.

When I came to the adults were still laughing, And the otters were sniffling me with an apologetic expression on their faces.

Spent the rest of the afternoon playing tag with them.



Emil Liers wrote a number of wonderful childrens books. Mostly about the wild animals in the forests around his house. Really deserves to be remembered.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by stevej37

Knock-off pancake tortoise

[70SATMan]

So, I don’t rightly know if I loved our cats or if I loved my wife because she loved the cats but, I did end up building this Catio.

[varmint]

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by 70SATMan

So, I don’t rightly know if I loved our cats or if I loved my wife because she loved the cats but, I did end up building this Catio.

That's awesome ! Cats must be high maintenance ..... I just bought my Lab a tennis ball

[70SATMan]

Oh believe me, my pups are spoiled too. Just in different ways. After 30 years of having cats and dogs, we’re both at the point where it’ll be dogs from here on out.

Tried to get the pups interested in the Catio but they weren’t having it!

[Superman]

We are flying home today after being gone 2.5 weeks. We miss our dog.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by 70SATMan

So, I don’t rightly know if I loved our cats or if I loved my wife because she loved the cats but, I did end up building this Catio.

That is brilliant! Beautiful work. There should be a feature story in Architectural Digest about it. Some cat cams might yield some interesting footage.

[70SATMan]

Thanks Shaun.. I have a habit of overbuilding everything. You should have seen the first rabbit hutch I built when my wee girls had pet rabbits, lol.

Unfortunately both of the kitties that loved the sky box in the afternoon sun are now catching God’ gophers and the Catio is unused. Debating whether to leave it as part of the house or pass it on to other kitties to use. Don’t think we’ll ever have cats again. Seven cats over the last 35 years is a good run.. We’ll always have pups.

[rockfan4]

Originally Posted by varmint

I was five or six years old, driving back from a long minnesota thanksgiving. At some point my dad realized we were near LaCrosse, and said "let's go see Emil". I have no idea how they knew each other, both were pilots, But my dad had no trouble showing up unannounced.

I remember a tall rail thin man with shock white hair. He had to be at least eighty then. He invited my folks in for a beer. I settled myself in for another long afternoon in a boring grownups house. Emil noticed my irritation, and asked if I'd like to go out to the backyard and play with the girls.

The adults gathered up their drinks, and we walked through the house to the fenced in backyard. I stood at the edge of the pool and almost wet myself as two of the biggest rats I'd ever seen swam beneath the surface twoards me. They ,"the girls", were river otters. named Fifi and Lavern, though I'll never understand how he told them apart. They leapt out of the water, and trotted over to Emil. He patted them on the heads like dogs. my folks tried to pet them. But they were too fast, swirling around, between, and through their legs. Through all this I was too stunned to move.

Around this time my dad asked if the knew any tricks. Emil said they could fetch, and roll over, and shake, and kiss. My mom didn't believe any of it. So Emil patted one, Lavern I think, pointed at me and said "kiss kiss". She was on me in less than a second, got up on her hind legs, and was now taller than me. Glanced back at Emil and my folks who were now repeating "kiss kiss kiss". She reared back and head butted me.

When I came to the adults were still laughing, And the otters were sniffling me with an apologetic expression on their faces.

Spent the rest of the afternoon playing tag with them.



Emil Liers wrote a number of wonderful childrens books. Mostly about the wild animals in the forests around his house. Really deserves to be remembered.

Thanks for sharing this. I've lived here all my life, didn't know about him. Looks like he passed away in 1975, so that might be why.
When my granddaughter gets older I'll have to see if we can find his books in the library.

[varmint]

Liers had one of his books adapted into a docudrama by Disney. It’s on Disney plus. Does a nice job of telling the life story of an animal without anthropomorphizing it.

Look up “beaver valley”.

[aschen]

half the time I love our doggo, half the time I am fantasizing about turning her into a fur hat

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by 70SATMan

So, I don’t rightly know if I loved our cats or if I loved my wife because she loved the cats but, I did end up building this Catio.

You sir are a true craftsman, that is fricking Outstanding..
One of my Masonic brothers built this for the Ferals from their old house when he and his wife moved to the new place. He went back to the old house until he caught all the Ferals that she was taking Care of.

He spends a ton my propane to make sure that they are warm in the winter.