Let me jump in..... We have a retriver-shepard mix female dog named Brianna..I love her..she is so darn affectionate and I believe she is able to spell... she starts out sleeping with my daughter at night and always ends up sleeping in her bed next to my side of our bed at night til morning... Since I have been home, she is great company during the day....each time anyone, family or friend enter the room they go straight to her..kissing her on the forehead.... and her nick name is "Bran-flakes"..all of the kids in our neighborhood call her that....

Great thread!

KS

We have a MainCoon cat too. Rocky is a cheeky 6 year old brown and white tabby boy and he chatters all the time. He's just finally grown into his big paws this past year weighing in at 17 lbs this Christmas. We got him to help keep our other Maincoon company who we adopted as a mature guy looking for a new home. Sebastian was a little man in fur, in fact they both are. Sadly this past summer Sebastian got very sick and we were not able to save him.

Rocky loves to be pampered in every way and refuses to eat any canned food, just wants shrimp. He begs for treats by sitting on his hind legs begging with his front paws like a dog and follows me every where too. He jumps in my arms when I've been away for too long and always manages to bring his toys to my feet so I can play catch with him.

We also have a koi pond with a couple dozen or so koi and goldfish. Sebastian never did pay them much attention but when Rocky arrived on the scene he thought he had died and gone to heaven. He worked very hard to try to catch a fish until one day he finally fell in. What a mess he made. He's much smarter now and manages to lean over the edge of the pond bracing himself while allowing just one paw to dangle over the edge just above the water ready to swoop one up. "Fish are Friends" is the motto around here but I don't think he always listens.
Thankfully he's never caught one.

Since my husband is away working it's been very lonely around here but Rocky keeps me good company and I find it very rewarding caring for the little guy, he's part of the family.

MsL

Oh, I know that shrimpy-beg! Our Queen Sheba is almost 24 now thanks to her shrimpies!

That beg thing is so cute. I was at a cat show once watching the various judgings, and two breeders sat next to me during the Maine Coon judging. One had a older kitten, getting his first experience, and he begged at the judge! So they explained it to me. Not all of them do that trick. It seems it is a random gene and the breeders LOVE it.

At that same show, there was a veteran Maine Coon who was resting on a table next to his cage. He was one of the few cats there (it was a huge show) that wasn't caged. His owner and I struck up a conversation...this cat was SOOOO HUGE... his head alone almost the size of a bowling ball. She told me he loved the shows, and was too old to really place during judging, (he was over 10yrs old) but she brought him anyway because he loved it and seemed to really enjoy it. He was the biggest domestic cat I have ever seen, and she told me he won many ribbons over the years!