The Rest of the Crew, Pt. 1

Since Saké and Sushi do not live in a vacuum, I thought I'd spend the next couple of Fridays introducing you to the rest of the pets. There is a surprising amount of interaction in our house between dogs, cats, and rats and it's been fun to see everyone make adjustments to having Saké and Sushi in the house.

Today we'll start with our canine companions. First we have Annie, a 7 year old gigantic black lab with severe hip dysplasia. She will put up with just about anything.

Annie wears the Sorting Hat. I'm pretty sure she belongs in Ravenclaw.

Annie checks out the rats on a regular basis and is tall enough to go nose to nose with them (when they are in their cage) when she wants to.

Pac-Man is an 8 year old golden retriever who has shown virtually no interest in the rats since they arrived. I'm sure he appreciates them though, since they occupy a large part of Parker's time that would otherwise be spent licking Pac-Man's ears.

Pac-Man should model for a high-end camping supplies catalog.

Finally, we have Parker. Parker is an 8 year old lab/German shepherd/beagle mix with hip dysplasia and pancreatitis. He is on a strict low-fat diet, which has been complicated now that we've learned the rats are feeding him the items they don't like from their food. Parker is also rat obsessed and checks on them frequently, spending hours sitting a few feet away from their cage staring intently. We often find him standing on his hind legs, nose to nose with Saké. The rats show no concern for him and often come to the front of the cage when they see him.

Parker - part beagle, part lab, all pain.

We didn't intend to have three dogs but they complement each other pretty well. Annie is the brains, Pac-Man has the looks, and Parker, well, he's Parker.

Size comparisons

Next Friday we'll meet the cats who observe and get harassed by the rats on a regular basis.