Ten Pets. (only one ranked.)

• Popcorn- Gary P.'s cat. I think it was a Siamese. Caused my allergies to flare...which masked symptoms from something else. First cat I ever really knew. Can't remember whether it was a male or female.

• Muffin- We got Muffin soon after my father died. She was to be my sister's dog. A Peekapoo. She spent a lot of time in the sewing room while being house trained. She actually chewed the vinyl flooring to pieces, starting in the center of the room. Lovable dog. She hated Gary.

• Gretel- Miniature Dachshund. She was pre-Muffin. We bred her and kept one of her pups, Longfellow. Poor dog died in her food bowl. Literally.

• Chip McCoy- He was a blue parakeet. One day after school I must have opened the door to my bedroom and entered too fast as the bird flapped wildly a few times and fell to the bottom of the cage. Dead. A friend who was with me at the time helped me bury him, but not before we used his shoe-box coffin as a percussion instrument for his funereal parade. With him in it, of course. Not one of my finer moments of pet ownership.

• Jazz- Maybe a Jack Russell mix, maybe some Basenji mixed in there. My girlfriend at the time had parents living in Homestead when Hurricane Andrew came through. They took a pretty big hit and wound up living out of a motor home while the house was repaired. One day during breakfast a stray dog wandered up and they fed it waffles. Thus Waffle became their dog. Jazz was the spawn of Waffle. She was a cutey! I could pat my chest and she would run, jump and roll over so that she landed in my arms face up. She got out of the fence one day and was hit by a car. Sad day.

• Lucy- She was my Granny Franny's mutt in West Virginia. She had two spawn, Peggy and Patty, and my grandmother still tells the story of how the three of them would hunt critters. Very loving dog and very smart.

• Amonte- Probably had some dachshund in her, maybe basset. My MeMaw's dog. I think my Aunt Ella named him. It was sad going to my grandmother's house and finding out the dog had died. Of all the many trips to Panama City to see MeMaw, I remember that one especially well.

• Monk- Our guess, Jack and Chihuahua mix. Currently he's our only pet. He would be number 1 if cuteness were the only factor. We got Monk when we had another dog, Dizzy. I wanted another big dog, but somebody else won that battle. I don't regret it at all. I chose him at the pound one morning and picked him up after work. He rode standing with his hind legs on the passenger seat and his front legs on the dash, looking out the window as we drove home. About 3/4 of the way home he came over into my seat to say hi and we've been buds since then. He's a great rat/mouse killer and is pretty serious about it. Displays all the smarts of a terrier but also is a tad neurotic and a little OCD. Case in point, just about every time he comes through the front door he has to go under the desk and loop around the chair even if his ultimate destination is in the opposite direction. But I love this guy!

• Dizzy- He was a small yellow Lab. He passed away unexpectedly in October of 2009 at 10 years old. It's likely he ingested something that ruptured his stomach and/or intestines. This is odd because he never was a dog to explore with his mouth. We got him from Big Dog Rescue when he was three. His name was Jesse, but we didn't like that name. Within days his new name came to us because of his incessant running in circles around us. He would do this until the day before he died. So, so tragic to see such a spark of energy pass at an early age. Our biggest problem with him was that he loved to fight. Actually, he loved everything. If another dog wanted to play...he loved to play. If, instead, they wanted to fight...he loved to fight. And he was kind of good at it. Strangest thing-- from the day we got him he was afraid of water. I don't know what was done to him those first three years, but it scarred him pretty bad. Dizzy was a lover boy. I miss him dearly.

1. Niko- Best pet ever. Intuitive. Smart. A gentleman among dogs. Not so much of a lover boy, he'd rather play fetch or Frisbee than be petted or fawned over. Was always gracious to visiting dogs, allowing them to hit the water bowl first or not minding if they got their treat first. When it came to swimming, he was always the first mammal in the water and last one out. His last days, with cancer creeping in, we had to lift him out of the boat and into the water, his desire to be swimming was so great. I don't bother comparing other pets to Niko. He was the saint among the mere mortals.