Our Family Pets

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing what kind of pets we have here in Russia. When our family moved to a house in the village our kids immediately became excited about having pets of their very own to take care of. Each day as part of their chores, they do just that even in the winter months. We have had everything from chickens and turkeys to turtles as pets but currently we have it narrowed down to the basics.

First of all, meet Roxy, our best security system ever! She is a Caucasian Shepherd. You can read more about her breed here. 

Roxy - this Summer.

The kids were so excited to find out that a friend of ours' dog had puppies not too long after we moved out to the village. When they were old enough, David took Ryan to choose a puppy for our family.

The kids with Roxy the first day we brought her home, 7-17-06.

Another pic of Roxy the day we brought her home.

Roxy is a great guard dog and pretty much everyone who "meets" her is afraid of her, which is a plus for a dog who is to protect your family and guard the house and property. She really is great with our kids and loves to get attention from all of us. We just love her! She can handle the cold winters we have and stays outside year round (can you just see me keeping this big dog in my house!?) She also eats snow for hydration so we don't have to give her water in the winter.

Several years ago my husband brought home a small kitten for our daughter, Rebekah. It was to be her Christmas present; her first kitten. She was very sweet and Rebekah was so happy and surprised since she knew her daddy's hate strong dislike for cats. However, the next door neighbor's dog also strongly disliked cats and she felt the need to do her part to help control the cat population. Our poor cat, Tinkerbell, happened to be the next victim on her list. Since "Tink" had recently had a litter of kittens, we kept one of the girls to "carry on the name" as my daughter said. So, a few years later, 2nd Tink had a son who is also named "Tommy" after his uncle Tommy (another one of the 1st Tink's kittens). Are you getting all this? 

2nd Tink and her son, Tommy

Most recently we have added these fluffy little guys to our family. They are called  Muscovy ducks. Alexander, one of the men who attends our services, has several different types of birds, including Muscovy ducks, on his property. David began reading more about these ducks and soon realized that they were the ideal solution to several needs we have with our land. They are great eaters and will devour any flying/moving critter i.e., mosquitoes, flies, spiders. This is a blessing for me since those that we will keep for breeding will live at the bottom of our property thus, greatly decreasing the amount of bugs that hinder me when I am working in the garden. Also, they love grass, weeds, etc. So, instant bug zappers and weed eaters! Sounds good to me! Those who we will not keep will be eaten for dinner. That's right! They have some good meat on their bones so we will be eating a few. Alexander tells us that their eggs are also delicious. Many good points about these pets - who will not all remain pets. 

The ducks when we first bought them. They are much larger now.

Shh! That is why we didn't name them all! If you name them, you'll want to keep them!