I once had hamsters as pets. I’m still not sure why. They were cute and relatively friendly. Also, they didn’t bark. They rode the little wheel like crazy, but that’s okay, because my friend Steve, who is not a hamster, but a darn good lawyer, rides a stationary bicycle. But this is about all he has in common with the creature we know as the hamster. Or is it?

The longer I had hamsters the more involved I got in creating a perfect living space for them. I became obsessed. At first I bought a glass aquarium cage then a month later decided it wasn’t big enough so I bought bigger glass cage. Read the rest of this entry »

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There is a fad, and I don’t know that I am sold on it, for people to name their dogs by people names. My brother has had dogs named Tyler and Gracie. My other brother has a dog named Cassidy and another named Shelby. My dog is named Zeus, and I gave him a nickname, Zinky. I think dogs should have nicknames. Very important.

Sometimes a dog enjoys his nickname because he appreciates the informal address. It’s like if your dog lived in Paraguay and you decided to address him with the “tu” form instead of the “usted.” Or if you and your dog lived in Berlin, you’d call him by the “du” form rather than the “Sie” form. This means a lot to a dog with a strong command of the language. Multilingual dogs would get a kick out of this article thus far.

Shakespeare once said “A rose by any other name would still be a rose,” or some such thing. What did he mean by this? Think about it. Bill simply was saying whether your dog is named Fido or Ernest, he is still a dog. I don’t agree. Sorry, but I don’t.

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