My first pet as a kid was a toy poodle. Her name was Suzie, full name Suzanne Cherie. She died at the ripe old age of 14, after having survived the canine equivalent of breast cancer and a radical mastectomy.
Our second dog was Lance. How he got his name is interesting. My mom and I were at a mall, waiting in line to get autographs from two Detroit Tigers, Lance Parrish and Alan Trammel. This little kid came by, pushung a shopping cart with puppies in it. He was trying to give them away. Now, Suzie had just died a few weeks before, so needless to say, we were weak, and these puppies were just entirely too cute. So, we got a puppy and named him Lance Alan. The security guard at the store where the ballplayers were signing autographs was very kind, and let us take him in. We told Lance Parrish & Alan Trammel that we’d named our new puppy after them. They thought it was cool. 
I went for a long petless stretch. Then three years ago, a stray cat adopted us. My husband wanted to name it. He named it Joaquin, after a guitar player named Joaquin Murphy. Turns out the cat was female, but the name stayed. Then another stray adopted us. Hubby named that one too. His name was Sovtek, because he was black & white, like my husband’s Sovtek amp head.
Joaquin lost a fight with a dog, and Sovtek just died this past Father’s Day. We got a new kitten a few days after Sovtek’s passing. I named this one, and in keeping with my husband’s musical theme, our kitten’s name is Telecatster, a play on Telecaster. We call him Tele. I want to get another kitten and name him Stratocatster, just because I like the way that works.
We also have a dog, a Shi-Tzu named Teddy. He was my grandmother’s dog. My grandma died last fall, and when my great-grandmother moved in to an assisted-living facility this past February, she couldn’t take the dog with her. Teddy is a small dog, and very good with kids. He needed a home. My uncle took him, but it just didn’t work out. He couldn’t give Teddy the attention he needed. So my mom called me. Since my husband & kids are home all day, Teddy would get the care & love he needed. So we took him. He’s a good little dog, and taking him was definitely not a mistake. He’s not given us one lick of trouble. He even tolerates the kitten, who gives him no end of grief.
