Introduction to a Pet Lover

As a science major and a junior at OU, life gets very stressful. Taking lab after lab and even a single summer class that requires 12 hours of studying a day through the whole summer takes a huge toll on a person's mind and mental health. And in my opinion, the best medicine for any kind of stress is an animal that will love on you no matter what! All of my life has been filled with all different kinds of pets. I've had fishes, guinea pigs, turtles, a tortoise, lizards, snails, frogs, and even sea monkeys, but by far my favorite pets have been my dogs.

Tortoise
(picture from my camera roll)
Harley the guinea pig 
(picture from my camera roll)
Now the hardest thing for me to do is pick out pictures of my dogs. All the pictures are just so sweet and bring back many great memories with friends and family. My camera roll is packed with them! To start out, I'll talk about my grandma. She has a beautiful set of black labs that are super sweet and absolutely love attention. 
Jager on the left, Duchess on the right
(picture from my camera roll)
Labs have been a favorite of my dad's whole side of the family for a long time. After my dad got our chocolate and yellow labs, his brother decided to get one as well. A few years ago we discovered that collectively we have every color of lab, so of course we had to get a picture. 
(picture from my camera roll)
But of course my favorite furry friends are the ones at my own house. My family dogs include a Chocolate and Yellow Labrador as well as a Maltese. Their names are Daisy, Maggie, and Maggie respectively. Yes I know, kinda strange, but long-story-short we originally were taking care of the Yellow lab for a family friend who decided to give her to us. Both of the labs were extensively trained, so they are very calm but playful in a safe way. Maggie the Maltese learned from the bigger dogs and usually thinks she's one too.

Daisy (left) and "Big Maggie" (right)
"Little Maggie"
(pictures from my camera roll)
My family and I love to include them in everything we celebrate. They're all basically an extension of the family with fur. Thankfully, they all love to play around with each other, even with the little one. 

Daisy at Christmas, she looks annoyed but it's because I woke her up

The Maggies playing together


Daisy and Maggie chilling together

Maggie cheering up my sister
(pictures from my camera roll)

While they all really enjoy playing, both Maggies have a little bit of trouble understanding the concept of how to play fetch with a tennis ball...


Big Maggie thinking she can still play with this

Little Maggie when you give her a ball

I hope this post brought a smile to some people who are having a bad day or who also have loving pets at home. I felt this was appropriate for me to write about at this time as a sort of memoir to Daisy who recently passed over the break. She had a wonderful life and family, and brought so much love to my life. 



Comments

  1. Hi Julia! Wow! I love all of the pictures of your dogs! I'm an animal lover too! I have 4 dogs, and one is named Daisy. I'm sorry to read that your Daisy recently passed, but I love your idea of a memoir to her.
    I used to have a guinea pig, but he was not as fluffy as yours! I have never had a tortoise, but I respect the one in that photo. He looks very wise. I hope you have a great semester, even with all of the work you must have to do.

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  2. Well hello there.
    I hope that you are doing well, Your dogs are beautiful, still would love to meet them. Daisy was loved and you helped give her a great home. Your life is busy as heck and I know you are probably going to read this at like 3 in the morning, but I hope that you enjoy this class, tell Ben hi for me! Catch ya later!

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  3. Hey Julia!
    First of all, sorry to hear about Daisy. It is definitely tough to see a pet go, and I wish you the best of luck through the heartbreak. But also, it was great to see all of your other dogs! I have a great mixed golden retriever named Josie that is turning 14 this year (sooo old!), and I miss her so much! She is still so perky, even after so many years, and I am so thankful that I still get her to welcome me back every time I visit home! In terms of classes, I definitely relate to the feeling of being burnt out by science classes. They just demand so much time! I always like to talk to other people in my class, because even just having someone to share the pain of the class can make it a lot more bearable. Good luck with this semester!
    -Daniel

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  4. Hi Julia, love all the dog pictures, they look like a lot of fun. As someone living in a small apartment, I'm so jealous of all those with lots of space for their pups, but I still love my two cats! Sorry for you and your families loss, it sounds like you shared a lot of beautiful moments with Daisy.

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  5. Hi Julia! Thank you for sharing all those fun pictures of you dogs! They have surely put a smile on my face. I completely relate to you about being a science major taking lab after lab classes. As an engineering major, we have many labs too and I am convinced that they are more stressful and time-consuming than lecture classes. Therefore, you are so lucky that you have pets to help you with how stressful school can get! I personally had one pet but I was two-years-old, so I do not remember. However, maybe in the future, I may get one- preferably a puppy!

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  6. Oh, yay for all the pets, Julia! I completely agree... and I suspect that one reason I like studying animal stories so much is that animals can occupy a special and important place in our imagination too, just as they do in our lives. I hadn't thought about guinea pigs in such a long time but in third grade our class had a pet guinea pig, and it is one of the things I remember most about that whole year in school! The teacher would even let us take the guinea pig home for the weekend; I thought that was the coolest thing ever! And I love the picture of your dogs all in a row there by the lake. So cute! That's a picture that wants a story... Maybe some of your dogs will make some appearances in stories you write for class, or you could meme them at cheezburger, sharing life's lessons with total canine cuteness! (cheezburger is not just for cats after all, ha ha... no matter what the cats think). THANK YOU for all these pictures: it made me feel good to see all those charming animals here!

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  7. Hi Julia!
    I have to say, you have quite the array of animals! There can never been enough pictures of doggos, so thank you sharing a bit into this! Of course, I do have to wonder if you’re thinking of going into being a veterinarian. As a fellow science major, I can comfortably say that labs do indeed take their toll and I always have to take bit by bit and try not to get overwhelmed by the work. I too am a Junior and I only just enrolled into my first summer course, so I hope that goes over well! It was a pleasure reading this Julia! Best wishes!

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  8. I am a fellow science major at ou. I am also a junior. I definitely agree that pets help relieve stress. I want a puppy so so bad but I don’t have the money to take care of one right now so I have to wait. I had literally all of those as a kid plus a pig! I am jealous your pets are so adorable!

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  9. Julia, so many pets! I feel like my stress went down just reading about them. I also love labs; I used to dog-sit my neighbor's labs in high school. They're so sweet and playful! And I definitely relate to the whole dogs being family thing. My dog at home is definitely my parents' favorite child. I hope this year isn't too stressful for you and best of luck!

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  10. Hi Julia,
    I love your dogs! I have been contemplating getting a dog recently because they're so fun to be around and all my friends have amazing dogs. I really like big, lazy, and clingy dogs. I am a biology major and having a dog would really brighten up my day when I'm stressed.

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  11. Hello Julia,
    Your introduction post may be my favorite out of all the ones I've read so far! It's hilarious that you have two dogs named Maggie in your house. What happens when you call for one of them? Do they both come running? You mentioned you're a science major; hopefully that path takes you to veterinary school! You definitely seem to have a big heart for animals. Also- what on earth is a sea monkey?

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