Happy As A Puppy or a Cat Bird Horse Fish Reptile Spider

The pets that made me, when I was a young boy, as happy as a puppy we two small brown dachshunds sand a chameleon. That was many years ago.

Since then we have had many pets in our home, including many cats, fish, and a dog. These were mostly pets for the children, and their story will have to wait for another post.

I grew up in a little town North of San Francisco called Tiburon. The name Tiburon means shark, not that that makes any difference to my story.

There were miles of open fields starting a short walk from our home, and I loved hiking in those hills. Most of the hills were covered with dry grass and wild flowers. Some areas had shrubs and small trees on it. Creeks ran in the gullies. There was a great abundance of grass hoppers. The creeks had frogs in them and dragon flies above them. It was paradise for a young boy, and I spent hour upon hour there.

My first dog was a small brown dachshund. His name was Fritz Von Alp, Fritz for short. My Dad finally got him for me after much begging. He and I immediately became the best of friends.

Fritz loved to join me on my adventures in the hills. Though he had short legs he was a trooper and always stayed near me. We had great fun together. Fritz slept on the bottom of my bed. I fed him and cared for him. We loved each other. When we were together we were both happy as a puppy.

It was very hard on me when Fritz got sick and died. Shortly after his death my Dad bought me another small brown dachshund, which we named Fritz. This may sound strange, giving him the same name. But I had no problem with it.

My new Fritz very quickly became my best friend and also companion on my hikes in the hills. And we loved each other. He lived until about the time a graduated from high school. Shortly after that my parents sold the house and I had to get an apartment in San Francisco.

My other pet was a chameleon. Her name was Christie. We know that it was a female because she would occasionally lay an egg. Christie could change her color from brown to green, depending on what she was standing on.

Her home was a large glass platter filled with sand and some drift wood to climb on. We had a large green domed screen that fit over her platter and set on the table, as the diameter of the screen was greater then that of the platter.

I enjoyed taking Christie out and letting her run around on my arms and hands. A few time she managed to get away. Then we would have to search for her. I remember it once took 2 months before we found her.

I had a small plastic container which I used to catch flies. Every day I would go from room to room in the house looking for flies on the windows. These I would catch in the small container and then let it lose in Christie’s home. She would usually go after them fairly soon, then her tongue would flick out and the fly was gone. Flies and an occasional small moth were the only things my chameleon ever ate. She was a fun pet.

So that is the story of my boyhood friends. I was happy as a puppy when I was playing with one of my dogs or with my chameleon.