- how many of you, had a couple of standard pets such as dogs or cats as children? My first animal was a daschund named PaddleFoot Bismark Von Merchant. She was my 5th birthday present. Everyone in my family had cats, dogs, birds. I had lots of fish growing up. Even caught a huge catfish I refused to let Daddy kill. It lived in my pool for two weeks at which time I was given the ultimatum to eat him or throw him back. Daddy thought I would eat him. I didn't. Lol. I was about 7. A neighbor had tarantulas when I was a kid. Oh, I also grew up around barns and riding horses and being around cows. And does playing in the rivers and bugging the crawfish every year count? Of course, I grew up in the south, in a small city. Spent summers in the Ouachita (washita) national forest. Blessings, Margie [Posted in FML issue 5272]