pets Quotes

“Got a new pet?” I inquired. “Chicago people have pets,” she said. “But there’s a new litter living down in the cobhouse now, and I let ‘em. They keep down the vermin. Don’t need all of them though.”

New kids always laughed about that till they got a look at the cat. It was the meanest looking animal I ever saw. It had one short leg and a broken tail and one missing eye, and the mailman wouldn’t deliver anything to the Herdmans because of it.

“It was wonderful indeed how I could have heart-to-heart talks with my dogs and they always seemed to understand. Each question I asked was answered in their own doggish way.”

“He taught us the are of unqualified love. How to give it, how to accept it. Where there is that, most other pieces fall into place.”

“Kill a plant, buy a puppy. Well, of course it made perfect sense.”

“Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day. It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them.”

“Our rambunctious, wired dog stood with his shoulders between Jenny’s knees, his big, blocky head resting quietly in her lap.”

“But you have to be smart and keep watching their feet. Because sometimes they stand on their tiptoes and cheat.”

″‘You know all that stuff we’ve always said about you? I whispered, ‘What a total pain you are? Don’t believe it. Don’t believe it for a minute, Marley.’ He needed to know that and something more, too. There was something I had never told him, that no one ever had. I wanted him to hear it before he went. ‘Marley,’ I said. ‘You are a great dog.‘”

“This animal had touched our souls and taught us some of the most important lessons of our lives.”

“A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things- a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. ”

“In a dog’s life, some plaster would fall, some cushions would open, some rugs would shred. Like any relationship, this one has its costs. They were costs we came to accept and balance against the joy and amusement and protection and companionship he gave us.”

“The deal I had struck with Jenny when I agreed to come here was that we would check the pups out, ask some questions, and keep an open mind as to whether we were ready to bring home a dog ‘This is the first ad we’re answering’ I had said. ‘Let’s not make any snap decisions.’ But thirty seconds into it, I could see I had already lost the battle. There was no question that before the night was through one of these puppies would be ours.”

“During our next outing, Marley surgically removed the woofer cone from the same speaker. The speaker wasn’t knocked over or in any way amiss; the paper cone was simply gone, as if someone had sliced it out with a razor blade. Eventually he got around to doing the same to the other speaker. Another time, we came home to find that our four-legged footstool was now three-legged, and there was no sign whatsoever—not a single splinter—of the missing limb.”

“I believed that Fufi was my dog but of course that wasn’t true. Fufi was a dog. I was a boy. We got along well. She happened to live in my house. That experience shaped what I’ve felt about relationships for the rest of my life: You do not own the thing that you love.”

“I buried Little Ann by the side of Old Dan. I knew that was where she wanted to be. I also buried a part of my life along with my dog.”

“People have been trying to understand dogs ever since the beginning of time. One never knows what they’ll do. You can read every day where a dog saved the life of a drowning child, or lay down his life for his master. Some people call this loyalty. I don’t. I may be wrong, but I call it love - the deepest kind of love.”

“It’s a shame that people all over the world can’t have that kind of love in their hearts,” he said. “There would be no wars, slaughter, or murder; no greed or selfishness. It would be the kind of world that God wants us to have - a wonderful world.”

“Old Dan must have known he was dying. Just before he drew his last breath, he opened his eyes and looked at me. Then with one last sigh, and a feeble thump of his tail, his friendly gray eyes closed forever.”

“I found her lying on her stomach, her hind legs stretched out straight, and her front feet folded back under her chest. She had laid her head on his grave. I saw the trail where she had dragged herself through the leaves. The way she lay there, I thought she was alive. I called her name. She made no movement. With the last ounce of strength in her body, she had dragged herself to the grave of Old Dan.”

“I suppose there’s a time in practically every young boy’s life when he’s affected by that wonderful disease of puppy love. I don’t mean the kind a boy has for the pretty little girl that lives down the road. I mean the real kind, the kind that has four small feet and a wiggly tail, and sharp little teeth that can gnaw on a boy’s finger; the kind a boy can romp and play with, even eat and sleep with.”

“Some time in the night I got up, tiptoed to my window, and looked out at my doghouse. It looked so lonely and empty sitting there in the moonlight. I could see that the door was slightly ajar. I thought of the many times I had lain in my bed and listened to the squeaking of the door as my dogs went in and out. I didn’t know I was crying until I felt the tears roll down my cheeks.”

“I wanted so much to step over and pick them up. Several times I tried to move my feet, but they seemed to be nailed to the floor. I knew the pups were mine, all mine, yet I couldn’t move. My heart started aching like a drunk grasshopper. I tried to swallow and couldn’t. My Adam’s apple wouldn’t work. One pup started my way. I held my breath. On he came until I felt a scratchy little foot on mine. The other pup followed. A warm puppy tongue caressed my sore foot. I heard the stationmaster say, ‘They already know you.’ I knelt down and gathered them in my arms. I buried my face between their wiggling bodies and cried.”

“What especially upset her was having to abandon her room – so ideal for poor Loulou.”

“Olivia lives with her mother, her father, her brother, her dog, Perry, and Edwin, the cat.”

″‘Well, dear me, I never thought we would have a penguin for a pet,’ said Mrs. Popper. ‘Still, he behaves pretty well, on the whole, and he is so nice and clean that perhaps he will be a good example to you and the children.‘”

“He was very fond of animals and kept many kinds of pets. Besides the gold-fish in the pond at the bottom of his garden, he had rabbits in the pantry, white mice in his piano, a squirrel in the linen closet and a hedgehog in the cellar.”

“Sometimes when I’m tucked into my potato chips bag, I look up at all the cozy windows and wonder what it would be like to live with creature comforts. To belong to somebody. To be a real pet.”

“I just love being a pet.”

“Andrew says, ‘On the whole I feel very well cared for. And Miss St. Clair is good company. But it’s kind of embarrassing when we go shopping.’ I don’t think clothes would suit me. But I would do almost anything to be somebody’s pet.”

″‘I’ll take him.’ Mrs. Trill says, ‘Are you sure?’ And Mr. Fortesque says, ‘Oh yes, I’ve been looking for a brown cat as nice as this one for ages.‘”

It is a story about family, pets, animals, the sea and its numerous creatures, an island nestling a forest and its mysterious beings; an old man in his world building it to a kingdom of his own along with the orangutans and the gibbons; men and animals living together; separations and wars.

“It’s not easy to keep Clifford. He eats and drinks a lot.”

“One day I gave Clifford a bath. And I combed his hair, and took him to the dog show. I’d like to say Clifford won first prize. But he didn’t.”

“He runs after cats, too. We don’t go to the zoo anymore.”

“But he’s a very good watchdog. The bad boys don’t come around anymore. ”

“I throw a stick, and he brings it back to me. He makes mistakes sometimes.”

“I’ll keep Clifford... Wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t care. You can keep your small dogs. You can keep all your black, white, brown, and spotted dogs.”

“With them there is nothing like the Browns, to the third and fourth generation. ‘Blood is thicker than water,’ is one of their pet sayings. They can’t be happy unless they are always meeting one another.”

“The story of Crictor, the versatile boa constrictor, who belongs to Miss Bodot the teacher.”

“Once upon a time in a little French town lived an old lady whose name was Madame Luise Bodot. She had one son who was in Africa studying reptiles.”

“To make sure it was not a poisonous snake, she went to the zoo. She identified it as a boa constrictor. So she called her animal Crictor.”

“He was too jumpy! I sent him back.”

“He was too big! I sent him back.”

“He was perfect! I kept him.”

“I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet.”

“He was too naughty! I sent him back.”

“So they thought very hard, and sent me a ....(dog)”

“He was too grumpy! I sent him back.”

“He was too scary! I sent him back.”

“He was too fierce! I sent him back.”

“He was too tall! I sent him back.”

“He even knew that they were all fond of him, in their own way. ‘But more as if I was a kind of pet, or something,’ he thought. ‘As if I’m just harmless. Not as an equal. I want to be equal.‘”

“He’s not so good at that yet,′ said Noah. At Sammys house, Sammy said, ‘Noah, meet my budgie, Sweetie.’ ‘Hello, Sweetie,’ said Noah. ‘Sweetie likes you,’ said Sammy. ‘How can you tell?’ asked Noah.”

“Can she do anything else?′ asked Noah. ‘Oh, yes,’ said Sammy. ‘Sweetie is very smart. Sweetie _come.’ Sweetie hopped up onto Sammy’s wrist.”

“Old Tom grew up very quickly. In fact, it wasn’t long before he outgrew his playpen. And when he did, Angela gave him the spare room. It was all clean and neat.”

There are a whole series of truly dramatic events (in gerbil terms) for the gerbils when Sid’s ability to keep them is seriously threatened, right up to the end, but all is well in the end and the family dynamics seem to have improved as well.

There were so many situations that children can engage with in terms of wanting to the keep the pets in the face of a parent’s opposition. There is also then the relationships within the family of the children and their stepfather.

A simple tale that will delight lovers of gerbils, which should not be confused with jerboas, which despite the similarity of their name belong to a totally different family, nor with golden hamsters.

The Parker children’s home becomes a battlefield because they want a pet while their mother declares that she will have no gerbils in her house.

“Sid may not have loved his gerbils in the way that Peggy did, but he was conscientious about them. He changed their food and water daily, and cleaned out their cage every weekend. He exercised them often. What hey seemed to enjoy was the freedom of a limitless time -the living-room table would do- with a great many tunnels.”

It’s a story about a family that take on a couple of gerbils as pets, much to the utter dismay-disgust of the mum. She hates messy things, especially gerbils that chew soft furnishings.

“Old Tom tried to be good...though sometimes he was a bit naughty. ‘Aren’t you a little too old for such things?’ Angela Throgmorton often asked. ”

“But Old Tom loved bath time most of all, when he could splash about and make a mess. He always liked to look his best.. especially when he went out to play.”

“Winnie, the Witch lives in a black house. She has black chairs, black floors and black doors. The trouble is that Winnie’s cat, Wilbur, is also black. ”

“He felt the warmth of the body and the fast beat of the small heart. Suddenly, holding Fluff firmly in his left hand, he pulled himself out of the door Keith had used and walked across the pavement to the front gate.”

“Dogs can never speak the language of humans, and humans can never speak the language of dogs. But many dogs can understand almost every word humans say, while humans seldom learn to recognize more than half a dozen barks, if that.”

“She often remembered that building and wondered who owned it. Someone very kind she was sure for in front of every one of the many seats there had been a little carpet-eared puppy-sized dog-bed.”

“Any cat can make a house seem haunted.”

“There is a connection between Dalmations and gypsies.”

“Thirstily and gratefully. ‘My pride as an innkeeper’.”

“They were lucky enough to own a young married couple of humans named Mr. and Mrs. Dearly, who were gentle, obedient, and unusually intelligent—almost canine at times.”

“Henry’s heart hurt and he cried for an hour.”

“The caravans bark but the dogs more on.”

“He whined a little, alone without Henry.”

″...he stood 3 feet tall, and he drooled.”

“When they turned back, they did not see anything. Jerry decided that if anyone was following them, then that follower was after his dog.”

“Ginger Pye went missing on Thanksgiving Day. Jerry and his sister Rachel searched for the puppy all around Cranbury but could not find him.”

“They discover Ginger tied up in a shed, and uncover the identity of the thief: Wally Bullwinkle. Ginger home safe to a happy family.”

But Shane talks and strokes the kitten to calmness, and decides to take the ‘Spitfire, Kitten Number One,’ home with him.

No gang of boys, or avenue of dense traffic, or fierce dog can stop Shane carrying his new found friend to the place he calls home.

Throughout this book, Shane is always telling the cat that they are close to home so the reader is left guessing as to where Shane lives.

“I have a dog that looks like a cat. His name is Weenie. Sometimes I put sunglasses on him. I have a turtle. His name is Skipperdee. He eats raisins and wears sneakers. The Plaza is the only hotel in New York that will allow you to have a turtle.”

″ A little dog sat on the hearthrug, and he kept looking up at them, as much as to say: ‘You must let me play with you, whatever it is.’ He was the dearest little dog, whit shaggy hair and bright eyes. His name was ‘Tip.”

″‘You’d have me believe you just walked right up to him, picked up the chain, led him back, and tied him up! A five-year old brownie, half grown, maybe more.’ ‘Well, I petted him some first, and scratched his ears, and rubbed him under the chin. He likes being scratched under the chin.‘”

″‘If he needs a pet,’ his father said, ‘we’ll get him a dog.’ ‘It’s too late,’ his mother’s voice answered. ‘Mark’s given his heart to Ben.‘”

“But the true lover of an ancient and honorable breed would have recognized the blood and bone of this elderly and rather battered body; would have known that in his prime this had been a magnificent specimen of compact sinew and muscle, bred to fight and endure; and would have loved him for his curious mixture of wicked, unyielding fighter yet devoted and docile family pet, and above all for the irrepressible air of sly merriment which beamed in his little slant eyes.”

“With a great effort of will he shed Ludwig from his mind and turned to his friends.”

“When your puppy arrives, if you wish to keep him and train him for the house, see that he is taken outside into the garden for a few minutes, at every every two hours, during the first two or three days.”

“Every dog has a character of some sort _some good, some undeveloped, and some few bad. My two dogs, Micky and Cracker, come under the first category; also they are both prize-winner at dog shows.”

“Although the bravest of dogs when thoroughly roused, there is no doubt bull terries are shy as youngsters and even as older dogs. They also have a habit of eating themselves out of any strange place in which they may be shut up.”

“Now, puppies, like all young things, are by nature mischievous. They will tear up gloves, stockings, and soft shoes if the oppotunity occurs, and if not corrected for ding so.”

“Originally published in 1902, the costumes and settings in the detailed illustrations provide a fascinating glimpse into life at the turn of the last century.”

“Stealing food, muddying the house, and attacking the household cat are all in a day’s work for this mischievous yet lovable dog, who always manages to get off scot-free.”

“Woke up feeling rather below par, owing to disturbed rest. Hardly enough energy to stretch myself. In the middle of the night a strange man came in by the kitchen windows, very quietly, with a bag.”

“This roguish hero tells the story of a rather eventful day in his life in his own voice-captivating old and young alike with his wit and ability to get away ...”

″... squeezing paint tubes and holding brushes in his mouth. He’s so busy that he appears four times on each exuberant spread, covered in splotches, streaking paint everywhere.”

“Windy, Breeze, and Stormy heard this and their ears perked up. An adventure meant a car ride, and they did love car rides. So they thought, ‘why not? Let’s go!”

“He lay down beside the fawn. He put one arm across its neck. It did not seem to him that he could ever be lonely again.”

“Meet Windy, Breeze, and Stormy! They belong to Gary, a cool TV weather man who has been making people smile with stories about his dogs for more than 20 years.”