January 20, 2012 — If I had known how irresponsible the small people in the Valentine household would be with their pets, we might not have gotten a puppy! Both Sara and Daniel got small animals for their birthdays about six months ago. Sara got a Bearded Dragon named Dude and Daniel got a Dwarf Hamster named Felicia. Both animals were well-loved, to the point of near abuse, by the small people who took them out of their enclosures to play with them and carry them around all over the house. Two weeks ago, Felicia was out “watching TV” with Daniel on our sofa and somehow didn’t get put back into her cage. She was forgotten on the sofa where she was found a little while later, no longer alive and probably sat on under some pillows. She joined our pet cemetary in the backyard. The kids were discussing this death on the way to the shelter to get our puppy and I kept reminding them if the shelter finds out we sat on a hamster and killed it, they might not allow us to adopt a dog! Then, two days ago, Sara took Dude out to “help her do homework” and left him on our living room sofa. When she went back for him an hour later or so, surprise, he was no longer there. We turned the living room upside down, hoping he wasn’t about to become a dog or cat snack. He’s pretty big now so we kept expecting to find him under the TV or behind the sofa. Yesterday, our housekeepers came and I was worried they would kill him with a broom or something if they found him. I warned them about the missing lizard. A few minutes later, one of the housekeepers told me “dragon, dragon” (I’m assuming that’s lizard in Spanish) and pointed to a wicker basket in Greg’s study. Sure enough, Dude was hiding under some papers in the basket! I need to give those ladies a reward!