"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."
- Anatole France
My name is Cameron Dill. I live in Benton Arkansas. I currently attend Henderson State University. My major is Family Consumer Science Education. I am married and have three wonderful fur-babies! They were all rescues and that was evident upon adoption. Piper is the oldest. She is a 4 year old Schipperke. Piper came into our lives on September 28th, 2013. She is full of energy and can sometimes go a little overboard with her excitement! She was found by the Humane Society of Saline County on a dirt road. She is very timid toward men and will cower if you approach her too fast. We believe she was abused in her past home. Jackson is our middle child. He is a two year old lab, chow, bloodhound (?) mix. We adopted him as a companion for Piper on March 1st, 2014. He is very loving and calm. When he first came to the shelter, he was very aggressive and would not let anyone touch him. After a while he finally warmed up and has formed a bond with me that I have never felt by any other pet that I have had. Piper and Jackson level each other out. Then there's Missy. Missy is our baby. She is a 1year old tortoiseshell cat. We went to donate a kennel to the local animal shelter and came home with a cat! Her birthday is July 20, 2014. We don't really know where she came from other than she spent the majority of her first year of life in the shelter. She has the biggest personality of all of them. She is very loving and sweet when she is tired and very playful when she is awake. She loves to grab onto the bottoms of doors and either open or close them. She also loves to sit on the side of the tub and play in the bath water.
My husband and I love to take our dogs to the Benton Dog Park. They have so much fun meeting new people and doggies. Piper isn't much for the agility course, but Jackson loves to do the ramp! Our babies get so excited when we tell them that we are going to the dog park. Missy has her own room and has the privilege of roaming around our neighborhood. She tends to get cranky if she doesn't play enough and we trust her enough to come back home when she's done. I am proud to call myself a rescue mom!
Family is a major part of my career choice. Aside from the desire to influence the lives of children, I also want to teach my students about different types of families. I don't have a typical family, but I feel as though my fur-babies are my own family. I wish to bring attention to the ever growing "dog parent" community. Some people are unable to (or chose not to) have children and they adopt animals that are in need instead.These animals will be the closest things to children these people will ever have and most fur-parents give their fur-baby extraordinary care and treat them just like a true child.
Here is a helpful link to demonstrate the meaning of pet parenthood:
http://www.petparents.com/community.aspx/index
It's awesome you feel so strongly about animals! I can't believe people who think animals are nothing, how could you mistreat family? Anyway, how well do you handle your fur-babies? I have three inside dogs and one outside and they drive me nuts sometimes!!
ReplyDeleteThey can be a handful! They all live inside our tiny 2 bedroom apartment. We had to turn the guest bedroom into the cat's room and we make sure to sweep and mop the floors everyday! It gets crowded but I like to just sit back and remember that my life would be miserable without them in my life.
DeleteI love that this is about your fur babies! I got walk dogs at the Humane Society all the time, but I can't take them home! Dorm Problems.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has told me not to bring anymore home. I like to go to local shelters and play with the animals, so it's really hard for me to not bring all of them home with me. I have actually looked into the foster programs, and that is a wonderful alternative than clearing the shelter the traditional way.
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