We have a full house of pets.  

First, there's the dogs.  Boo-Boo is an old yellow lab that is pretty much convinced that she runs the place.  When Todd came to live with Sharon, Todd and Boo-Boo got mutual lessons in what it means to be "Alpha".  Boo-Boo was pretty sure she knew what it meant, but Todd had never been subservient to a dog before.  

Boo-Boo had a nasty habit of asserting herself at the worst times, like when Todd wasn't wearing pants (a bathrobe, nothing kinky).  Todd would tell Boo-Boo to do something, like NOT sleep right next to the bed under the nightstand where she was underfoot, and Boo-Boo would growl.  Time for a little attitude adjustment.  Todd found that lifting the old lab up by the collar and setting her down on her back had the desired effect.  It helps to growl back.  Eventually, Boo-Boo learned her place.

Holly is a retired racing greyhound.  Sharon adopted her off the Coeur D'Alene Idaho dog racing track (since closed).  Holly started her new life with Sharon as painfully shy.  Holly was a bit of an anomaly for an ex-racing greyhound.  They're almost universally docile with people (race trainers breed out the trouble-makers), but most of them are friendly, too.  She has become more and more acclimated, and now she will actually approach new people in our home (provided they're here for more than half an hour, the typical time it takes for curiosity to overcome trepidation).  Greyhound Color Chart

Ruby is an African Grey Congo parrot.  Todd had owned a wild-caught African Grey several years back; that is definitely not the way to go.  Wild-caught birds are still "pining for the fiords"; that is to say, they're hacked off, and never let you forget it.  Actually, you hardly ever see wild-caught birds in the USA anymore, there's been an import ban for about 5 years.  Todd traded the wild grey in for a hand-fed baby, but that bird departed for Arizona with his first wife.  

Ruby was spotted in a pet store that specializes in birds.  She was a hand-fed baby, just ready to finish up her weaning process.  She seemed to be exceptionally interested in people, so we bought her.  Ruby has been a lot of fun to have around.  Greys are the best talkers of the parrots, and extremely intelligent.  Dr. Irene Pepperberg has done research with greys indicating they have the cognitive ability of a human 5 year old.  They don't merely mimic speech, to an extent, they understand it.  Ruby has a vocabulary of around 100 words, and would certainly learn more if pushed.  She entertains us by having her own phone conversations, etc. The startling thing about greys is their ability to mimic a wide range of voices / sounds.  When Ruby says "Honey?" it sounds enough like Sharon that you can't help but answer.

Griffen is a Blue - Headed Pionus, one of the many sub-species of Parrot.  Ruby started out being "Todd's Bird", so Sharon wanted one of her own.  At the time, Ruby was somewhat nasty to Sharon, and had nipped her a few times.  Sharon was after a well-behaved bird with some personality, and attractive looking.  Pionus in general fit that description, but birds are individuals, and Griffen is a brat.  Ironically, there has been a switch of allegiances.  Ruby is now crazy about Sharon (perhaps a jealous reaction to having a rival bird in the house), while Griffen has decided that Todd is the one for her (him? it's almost impossible to tell the gender of most parrots by looking at them).

In 1999, we actually tried to get the pets to pose for Christmas Photos. Not much luck.

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