I think I understand why some people will often say that they are dog people or cat people. Many people will when asked if they prefer one pet over another will answer quite resolutely. I’m a dog person, or I’m a cat person. I almost always find that those answers stem from a single childhood experience which was good or bad or sometimes even neutral that they had with a pet.
I was quite lucky to have had wonderful experiences with pets of all shapes and sizes growing up and into adulthood so I am neither I just love all pets. Wait scratch that I wasn’t too fond of my husband’s tarantula, icky spiders. One thing is certain for me however and that is that my home is not complete without an animal wandering about.
Some pets are of course recalled with more affection than others. Three stand out in my mind.
Scooter my cat. It’s not hard to reason why she will always be the first pet I think of as I got her at the age of 5 and she remained a part of my life for 24 years. She was affectionate and smart and she worshiped the ground I walked on. I was her person I suppose you would say, she allowed me to dress her up in bonnets and doll clothes without complaint and never failed to choose my lap over someone else’s. 
Duchesse the first dog I really remember was silly and not all that smart but loveable all the same. She is also the mother of the dog who really did capture my heart. Born under my brother’s bed I was the one to find him and after exclaiming “there’s a puppy under here!” Kody was cemented into my memory as one of the best things ever.
My two favorites got along in a way that many cats and dogs do not, they played together slept together and sometimes cuddled with me together. It is something I’ve always hoped my own children would get to experience with their own pets and luckily enough Lucy and Chase are as great a pair to them as Scooter and Kody were to me.
