We love our pets. Maine ranks fifth in the country in highest pet ownership. In New England, only Vermont has more pets.
For dog lovers, our canine of choice is the Lab — black, chocolate and yellow. A close second is the golden retriever, followed by German shepherds.
And, while the Maine coon — known otherwise as an American longhair — is Maine’s official state cat, it’s the gentle Persian that’s more widely owned.
Then, there are the gerbils, birds and reptiles of all description that we welcome into our homes.
Our Labs share our lives for as many as 14 years. They lick our wounds, absorb our tears, make us laugh, corral our children and guard our homes.
And, while gerbils will live just 3 to 4 years, they can become a young child’s best friend and greatest responsibility.
It all speaks to our love for what often becomes a furry family member. For that reason, we invite you to share news and stories about your pets with our readers.
Starting today, the Sun Journal will feature a weekly pet page offering stories, obituaries, birthday celebrations and special occasions. We’ll share news about pets, and offer tips and information about how to keep pets safe and properly fed.
Some of the material will be produced by our staff, but we’d really like to hear from you. We will charge a fee for processing, much like we do for other memoriums.
My own family has owned a number of wonderful pets over the years, including — at different points in time — two cats, two dogs, two red-eared sliders and too many goldfish to count.
One night, as we were cleaning up from dinner, my husband and I heard our daughter, Laura, shriek from her bedroom. She screamed for Phil to come save the goldfish that had lept out of its tank.
Phil did. He held the quivering fish to his lips and “resuscitated” the thing.
As I stood there rolling my eyes, Laura cried in relief.
I never did get the allure of the fish tank, but she had fish and turtles in her room for more than a dozen years.
I’m more of a dog person, having grown up in a family where at one time there were 12 golden retrievers roaming the house, shedding over absolutely everything.
Phil and I had a beagle before we had children, and she was very badly behaved. She — OK, we — failed obedience school twice before we gave up and decided to tolerate her bad manners.
Then, our son Christopher was born.
The beagle developed an instant sense of responsibility, sleeping under the crib and pacing as soon as Chris started crying.
After we moved to Maine, our beagle would bay loudly if Chris ever wandered out of the yard and over the stone wall into the woods. It was like Brandy was our son’s self-appointed guardian, and we loved her for that.
We also loved our chocolate Lab, who we adopted when our children started middle school. In those tough teen years, AC was their friend and confidante — probably more than I’ll ever know.
Pets don’t just live in our homes, they’re part of our families. We celebrate their lives and mourn their deaths. We note their birthdays and — while I would never do this — dress them in Halloween costumes and wriggle them into sports jerseys.
So, if you have a happy occasion to share, or want to honor your pet’s life with an obituary, we’d like to hear from you.
To submit an obituary, birthday celebration or other special occasion, email [email protected].
Cost starts at $25 for a 2-by-4 inch space to run in print and online, with an additional $15 cost to upload a video — cat or otherwise. Maximum length is 2 minutes.
Our pet page will run Wednesdays; the deadline for submissions is 10 a.m. each Tuesday.
For more information, please call our customer service department at 800-482-0759.
