New Pup...That I'm Totally Going to Steal!

So my house has always been a haven for animals that are abandoned or left over from previous owners, or simply dropped out at our house because their owners can't take of them or no longer have any desire to do so. We used to have lots of beagles that we bred and sold but Dad put the brakes on that once all these random animals seemed to show up at our house! Now he calls our house: "the Haag home for geriatric animals"...pretty clever huh? He seems to think so...

Back when the bro and I were kids we had a beagle named Sadie, but that didn't seem to be enough so the parentals let us each adopt a cat from the county shelter and we got to name them, Rambler and Chevy. What can I say, we were into cars I guess. I can't seem to find a picture of them off hand but they're both still alive and kicking!

Oh and for a summer, the neighbors housed three of their ponies in our pasture (they've also had chickens and pigs too, we're a regular petting zoo out on Campfire Rd.!) and all had many good, terrifying attempts at breaking the wild boy pony...my brother even went to the ER to get stitches from a bite to the shoulder!

The next animal that popped up at our house was Tess. We think she is part black lab and part greyhound but can't know for sure because somebody dropped her off on our road and told her to stay. And she is such a good dog that she did...for three whole days. Finally my dad picked her up and took her home and she hasn't left since. Tess is such a sweet dog and probably wouldn't anything except for the coyotes if they get too close. She loves getting treats from the UPS man and he knows to pack extra if he's coming to our house. :)

Casey was the next dog that came to live at our house. He was a chocolate lab that was originally my cousin's dog but he no longer took care of him and sent him off to my aunt. She lived in town and Casey love to run and play outside all the time and being out in the country suited him better, so out to the Haag ranch he went. He used to sleep in my parents bed and was quite the bed hog, loved to go for rides in the car with my dad, and begging for scraps from my brother!

 For awhile after Sadie and Casey died, mom and dad thought they were done adopting random animals and were going to slowly ween themselves off of new pets until they didn't have any. That is, until our neighbors moved away and left their 85,000 cats behind. Lucky for us we only ended up with one cat, but boy is he one of a kind. He meows constantly until he gets food, so my dad named him Ralph after a friend who talks non-stop. This cat also thinks he is a dog, chasing after balls and responding to Tess's name instead of his own. He also thinks Tess's bed is his own and sleeps with her every night. When he came to our house he was very skinny, but now he's close to a solid 20 pounds! He also isn't the sharpest tool in the shed...

The most recent addition to the family is Blaze/Hank. Dad says he looks more like a Hank so he is on a mission to change is name. Anyway... Blaze/Hank came from the brother's girlfriend's family. They recently got another dog, and living in town, couldn't handle having three large house dogs...or something. So now we have another lab back in the house and have completed the lab trifecta by having one in every color. Blaze/Hank is a yellow lab who is about 3.5 years old with lots of energy and loves to play fetch and sit in your lap even though he is an 80 pound dog!

I'm thinking this will pet will last my parents for a while since Blaze/Hank is so young compared to the other animals, but who knows? My parents can't seem to turn down a helpless animal :)