TailsInc.com

One day I saw a pet contest announcement that requested sharing an essay about the most memorable trip you’ve taken with your dog. Maybe it was a humorous experience on the way to a groomer, the contest said or a […]

By Tracy Ahrens

The first time I took Forest to a veterinary office (at around four months of age) I sat him on a metal exam table and he instantly hopped around the room like a monkey.

His first spot to […]

By Tracy Ahrens

Each night before bed I set my trusty Forest Alarm, a fervent feline that anticipates the hands of time.

A friend heard my stories about Forest’s methods of waking me and devised the Forest […]

As Trucker walks through my office with a white fleece throw blanket draped over his back, I think of Linus in the comic strip Peanuts.

For Linus, his blanket meant security, and it often displayed magical […]

One afternoon I was retrieving ice cubes from my refrigerator freezer when a cube slipped out of my hand and headed towards the floor. I still make the old-fashioned square cubes from trays. I watched the cube […]

When I first met Trucker he was 5 years old, had been abandoned at least four times, scolded over showing separation anxiety brought on by that abandonment and strongly sedated in order to not hurt himself by […]

When I first saw the home that I currently rent, I knew that the roof over the enclosed front porch would become a perch for my three felines: Joan, Jack and Forest.

I’d remove one screen from two windows above […]

Like ants to syrup, there’s something about clean sheets, blankets and freshly made beds that seem to attract dogs and cats.

I remember a fun time I had years ago with my two senior cats, Desdemona and C.D. The […]

One night a windstorm whirled through our area, breaking large tree limbs in its wake. A Golden Rain Tree in my backyard, which I planted when it was 2 feet tall, was snapped off at the top by my neighbor’s dead tree that fell directly on top of it. The next day, when Forest trotted out [...]

I’m used to seeing my cats leap through the air and pounce against window panes in my house when a fly or moth sneaks in. Their goal is catching, killing and sometimes eating the flying insect. My Brittany Spaniel, Speckles, who died in 2007, was also a fly catcher and spider eater – probably learning the [...]

Easter morning I found myself doing a military low crawl across the bottom shelf of a plastic shelving unit and under my basement stairs. I spent the morning searching for Minky, Forest’s favorite toy. I purchased a real mink tail at a historical reenactment a couple years prior. Forest loves to play with rabbit fur toys, [...]

Most pet owners establish rituals with their furry children, such as hanging a special Christmas stocking for their pet at the holidays or buying their pet a special treat on its birthday. I have many rituals with my three cats and one dog – those I perform daily, weekly and on holidays. For instance, on every [...]

My friend, Arline, once told a story about how she needed to collect a urine sample from her Welsh Terrier, Maggie. The quest involved finding a container that would slip easily under Maggie’s behind when she squatted to go to the bathroom in the yard. Arline is a petite lady and was suffering from arthritic knees. [...]

An estimated 10 million pets are lost every year for various, unfortunate reasons. In fact, the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy notes that family pets are lost about every two seconds. Most people with pets try to protect their babies with collars, tags, microchips and tattoos. While these methods are helpful in [...]

Trucker was in my life just 19 months when we had to move to a new home. With his severe separation anxiety fairly under control, I worried that the move would spur it to worsen. I was proud of him after one week in the new home and curbing his anxiety while Mom drove off now [...]

Trucker is a ladies’ man. Human or canine, he loves ladies and ladies love him. He’s only been in my life for one year and has attracted eight female neighbor dogs: Trina, Princess, Bosco, Molly, Angel, Munchkin, Maggie and a miniature dachshund named Trixie. It’s not that he’s opposed to male dogs, but it seems that [...]

By Tracy Ahrens I got up when the birds started singing. I grabbed my minky tail and carried it around the house, talking to it. Mom didn’t get up with the noises I made. So, I walked back and forth across her head until she did. Mom picked me up, held me in her arms and [...]

My first dog was a Brittany spaniel. Speckles was 3 months old when he came into my life and his tail was already docked. As he grew older, and his hair started to lengthen and feather, several long, curly white strands of hair extended outward from the tip of his tail stub. I remember playing with [...]

Tracy is the parent of an adopted dog named Trucker, an adopted cat named Forest, and two stray cats named Captain Jack Sparrow and Joan of Arc. She’s a professional journalist and the author of “Raising My Furry Children,” to be released in July 2011. Visit her Web site HERE or send her an e-mail at mylittleforie@yahoo.com. Without [...]