Our Pets

For most of our relationship together, we’ve had pets as part of our family.  We currently have one dog, Sipapu and one cat, Lovebug – and while Kim has been angling to add to that total, Scott’s not budging.

Sipapu

Sipapu (pronounced SEE-pah-poo) is a Border Collie/Australian Shepard mix that we rescued from the Navajo Reservation, between Mexican Hat, Utah and Monument Valley, Arizona. On the tail-end of our 2004 Engagement Roadtrip, we were on our way to Navajo National Monument when we pulled off the road to take some shots of the landscape. We noticed ‘Papu on the side of the road, dehydrated, very thin, and stumbling towards the vehicle to beg for food. We made a makeshift water bowl and gave him a bunch of Nilla Wafers we had in the vehicle. Not knowing about “res dogs,” we took him into town to find a shelter. Needless to say, we didn’t find anyone to help, so we just brought him home to Phoenix. After getting him checked out by the vet, we decided to add him to the family. He was about 4 months old at the time but already had a broken tail.

We named him Sipapu after the “emergence hole” often found in kivas of the Ancestral Puebloan culture – I guess that’s what happens when you’re faced with naming a res dog after spending several days in Mesa Verde National Park. We rarely call him by his full name, though, usually resorting to just “Papu.”

Despite being a border collie, Papu hardly plays at all. He’ll chase his bone if we throw it down the hallway, but otherwise doesn’t fetch at all – nor does he show any interest in pull or chew toys.  He’s not the most social dog either, and will often bark annoyingly at visitors. Papu used to spend a lot of time barking over the backyard fence; he’s mostly given that up these days which has allowed us better nights of sleep.

That being said, he’s incredibly affectionate, frequently to the point of being irritating. He spends hours each day looking for attention, whether that’s staring at Scott until he gets petted, or leaning up against you until you show him some love. It’s actually quite cute, at least if you’re not trying to do anything else at the time. And it’s tough to turn him away when he affectionately launches himself into your lap. You can see more of Papu here and here.

Lovebug

We also have an 8 year-old tabby cat named Lovebug. Kim named him because he was so immediately friendly with us. Lovebug was originally intended as a gift for Kim for graduating ASU with two bachelor degrees in May 2000. We ended up taking a trip to Oregon to visit Kim’s family that summer, so the gift was postponed a few months. When September rolled around, we headed off to the Arizona Animal Welfare League, a local no-kill shelter, to find the right kitten to bring home. There were two there we loved, one was Lovebug, who was energetic and friendly. We also liked another orange tabby, a bundle of fur that was incredibly cute. It was a tough decision. In the end, we ended up getting them both and counting it as both a graduation and birthday gift.

Lovebug is a large cat. He’s down to about 22lbs after several years on weight-control food – but try to trim his nails or give him a bath and you’ll quickly discover that there’s a lot of muscle packed in there. On most days, you can find him hanging around on his five-story cat condo or on his own special afghan blanket we keep on the living room couch. Unlike the dog, Lovebug actually plays a game of fetch – if you play with him then throw one of his favorite toys across the room, he’ll run over and retrieve it and demand more play time. Of course, few of his favorite toys are things we bought for him – he’s just as content with random pieces of string or elastic.  Even at age eight, he still loves attention, especially if it includes rubbing his belly, and doesn’t seem to mind that it makes Papu incredibly jealous.

But it’s not always fun and games. Play time for Lovebug starts when we go to bed. As soon as the lights go off, you can hear the cat scurrying around the house playing. That’s probably because he’s quite skittish in the house. Part of that seems to be his nature, but it doesn’t help that Scott chases Lovebug around when he’s been bad. In fact, Scott can send him racing to hide behind Kim’s desk just by shooting him the evil eye. Lovebug’s “respect” for Scott is evident in the morning, when he won’t do anything to wake Scott up. However, if Scott isn’t there, the cat will jump on the bed as soon as it’s light out and gently scratch at Kim’s eyes to wake her up and feed him. He’s certainly not shy about meowing for food either – even if he’s just going to gorge himself and puke it up later. Scott is quick to remind Kim that the cat was a gift and belongs to her, so it’s her job to clean up both the puke and the catbox. You can see more pictures of Lovebug here and here.

Sipapu and Lovebug aren’t the only pets we’ve had. Unfortunately, we’ve lost a few pets along the way: Pouncer, the kitten we got with Lovebug, an older cat named Crunch, and a leopard gecko named Quicksilver. Learn more about them.