Ed Arnow: Best pet isn't always a cat or a dog | 9th Arkansas

Its easy to fall in love with animals when theyre our pets. Most of us have had those love affairs, mostly with dogs or cats. We take them into our homes and lo and behold a bond is formed. Some bonds are better than others. The best one ends up as a member of the family and is the most wonderful pet we ever had.

A pet owners age, the timing, and the circumstances have a lot to do with it. Locals talked about the best pet they ever had, and it isnt always a dog or a cat.

Sixty years ago Ann DePalma of Antioch had a horse named Red. I was a teenager, and girls do love horses before their minds drift to boys, she laughed. I was the only one who rode him, and it always was bareback. He was wonderful.

I never let anyone else ride him.

Kandi Mariani of Brentwood has three cats, two dogs, a parrot and a horse. But shell never forget her first horse when she was 15. I always loved horses and my first one at age 15 was the star. We named him that, she said. Over the years Ive had better horses than Star, but theres nothing that can match the excitement of a girls first horse. Pets offer their owners so much pleasure. They give so much and expect so little.

Betsy is a 9-year-old Boxer. Shes the best for Julie Strausser of Discovery Bay. I had lost my only child and Betsy taught me to love again, she said. Ive had other dogs and loved them all. But Betsy was the right dog, with perfect personality and no aggression,

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