Choosing cats, dogs or both means choosing friendship and family

Pet owners are generally a happy breed, getting plenty of laughter and smiles from the antics of their furry friends. Pets are people’s companions on walks, hunts, car rides, couches and more.

Tina Kramer and Alex Blake are two pet owners who show their animals lots of love and kindness, treating them as nothing short of full members of their families.

Kramer owns three cats and two dogs. She said it’s hard for her to choose if she’s more of a cat person or a dog person since she grew up with both animals. However, Kramer has become close with one specific cat who doesn’t typically like people, and this would not have happened without a knack for befriending felines.

Blake is a dog groomer and owns five dogs, and she says many aspects of dogs’ personalities make her prefer them to cats. Her five dogs illustrate the range of personalities pets can have.

Whether you’re a cat person, dog person or something in between, pets can enrich our lives and cheer us up when things are hard.

Kramer’s natural skill with animals turns feline friendly

Kramer has always had a way with animals and seems to make friends with them wherever she goes.

She said her son tells her that his pets become basically like her own pets since they always like her so much.

Kramer said once she and her family were passing through St. Louis, Missouri, returning from visiting family, and they decided to stop to visit the Budweiser brewery.

Kramer said the Clydesdale horses walked right up to her without any problems. She said horses are usually the one animal that doesn’t seem to get along with her, but it wasn’t the case this time.

Kramer wasn’t as surprised when Chip the Budweiser Dalmatian wouldn’t leave her alone and constantly wanted her attention. Even Chip’s handler apologized.

“I didn’t mind at all,” Kramer said, adding that her husband Garry told Chip’s handler that this sort of thing happens all the time with Tina and animals.

Tina grew up in the country and had numerous barn cats. She remembers walking with her brother looking for their cat Frisky. They had difficulty finding her until they eventually heard noises coming from under a lilac bush in their yard. They looked in the bush and discovered that Frisky had given birth to four kittens.

Tina pointed out that this was one of her many memories of growing up with pets. She also remembers a black and white collie named Mikey who would always make sure she and her brother were safe when they played outside.

She currently has two outdoor cats, Jim and Abner, who sleep under a heating lamp and patrol the outbuildings by her house.

“For the most part, they tolerate each other,” Tina said, pointing out that Jim had been the dominant outdoor cat until Abner got bigger and became the boss.

Jim and Abner typically stay close to the house until night falls, when they go hunting. Tina said the cats seem to think they earn their keep by leaving their kills on the sidewalk by the house. Kramer said she has received gifts of dead birds, mice and rabbits from the two outdoor cats over the years.

Tina’s reputation with animals has prompted her daughter-in-law to note that Tina “can even make a cat with the worst attitude purr.”

Tina has had her work cut out for her with her indoor cat Shelby, who at 11 years old has been called “the devil incarnate” by her daughter.

“She’s such a wonderful cat,” Tina said. “She tolerates me and Garry,” she continued, pointing out that Shelby has gotten calmer over the years. “No one thinks she has, but she has,” she said.

Tina got Shelby as a 1-day-old kitten, meaning she had to be bottle-fed and kept warm with blankets.

She recalled a time when Shelby was younger and getting her shots at the veterinarian’s clinic. Shelby got loose during the process and bit Dr. Jeff Tharp’s hand when he caught her. She latched onto his hand, refusing to let go.

“Shelby has quite the reputation,” Kramer said.

Tina said she has a friend who is very good with cats and can usually be around any cat without problems, but Shelby is a rare exception.

Maybe the reputation as the devil incarnate is not fully accurate, or maybe Shelby is indeed getting calmer over the years. Either way, Shelby does seem to like Tina and Garry.

For example, Shelby sleeps on Tina’s shoulder at night, and Garry plays with Shelby gently on the floor. Tina said Shelby acts as though she hates it, but Tina said they can tell she really loves it.

Shelby also has a playful relationship with one of Tina’s dogs, Ohlee, a 15-month-old cockapoo. Her other dog Shorty is a cocker spaniel/dachshund mix.

“Ohlee constantly torments her, but she torments him right back,” Tina said. She added that Shelby has a safe haven whenever she wishes if her games with Ohlee get too wild.

All Shelby needs to do is get on the rocking chair in the living room, and Ohlee will leave her alone. Tina said Ohlee is so frightened of the rocking chair that he won’t even get on it to retrieve his toy if it gets stuck there.

Blake blends professional and personal life with dogs

Blake is a dog groomer and owner of Tuxedo Paws in Holyoke.

She said as she was growing up, her family owned only a cat as a pet, and it wasn’t until she was in sixth or seventh grade when they got a dog, a Yorkiepoo named Sofie.

Blake said she once gave Sofie a haircut and she and her family thought it looked really good, and that was part of what sparked her idea of attending dog grooming school in Loveland.

“When I was at college,” Blake said, “I was dying for a dog.”

She now has a total of five. Bear is an 8-year-old Pomeranian; Newt, a 4-year-old silken windhound; Roo, a 3-year-old miniature Labradoodle; Leo, a 1-year-old miniature Aussiedoodle; and Minnow, a 1-year-old standard poodle.

Blake first saw Bear in a pet shop when she went to a mall in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

She got Newt through a friend who had introduced her to the silken windhound breed while they were in college.

Blake said Roo came along when she felt that Newt needed another puppy companion after Blake’s former roommate’s dog no longer lived with them.

She got Leo because she originally wanted to breed him with Roo. She decided that it was not the right time for a litter of puppies, so she kept Leo as her fourth dog.

Blake had Leo for about a month before getting her fifth dog, Minnow. Blake said standard poodles like Minnow are “basically a groomer’s dream.” Their fur holds its shape and a lot can be done with it. She said they are also hypoallergenic and do not shed their fur.

Blake said feeding five dogs can get complicated. She divides her dogs into two groups based on size.

 Newt, Minnow and Leo, as the largest dogs, make up the group she calls the “bigs.” They get different food than Bear and Roo, who comprise the group Blake calls the “littles.”

The larger dogs also have maze bowls that make them eat more slowly. Blake said if they finish eating quickly, they sometimes try to get food from the dogs that haven’t finished eating yet. Blake feeds both groups at the same time and stands in the middle of the group to prevent any roughhousing. She then ushers the dogs outside as they finish eating.

Blake said she prefers dogs to cats because she feels dogs are not usually as independent as cats.

“This entire pack of five shifts with me every 10-12 feet,” Blake said, pointing out that simply walking around her house means she has five dogs padding after her. “Cats don’t really care where you’re located,” she continued.

Blake said she likes being able to walk dogs, which is not something commonly done with cats. She also said when her dogs are upset, she can just put a muzzle on them.

“When cats rage,” she added, “all bets are off.”

As the oldest of the pack, Bear gets some perks. He gets to play solo games of fetch with Blake and go on walks with her without any other dog coming along.

Blake said Newt is a conversation-starter when she takes him on walks due to his unique breed.

She calls Roo “The Diva,” since she has been known to get jealous for people’s attention. Blake said Roo is the worst barker of the five, and she will jump on people in the hopes they’ll pick her up and hold her.

Standard poodle Minnow is the tallest of the five and is constantly on the lookout for something she can steal off the kitchen counter. She is also a good hunter and has brought rabbits back into the house, once leaving one on Blake’s bed.

Blake noted that Leo seems to be a mix of the personalities of the other four dogs. Like Minnow, Leo tries to steal things from the counter, but as a short dog it’s beyond his reach. He also tries to steal Blake’s socks to play with, only to have them quickly stolen from him by another dog.

“Leo’s the odd man out,” Blake said.

One thing that does set him apart, however, is the fact that Leo is the only of Blake’s dogs that has a docked tail. Blake said she feels dogs seem to understand and express emotions a bit better than cats, and she especially loves when a dog with a docked tail expresses joy, appearing to wag more than just their tail in their excitement.

“Their happy butt is something else,” she said.