I'm down to one cat now. A little grey tabby, a stray we got when she was a year old. She's a great cat, minds as well as a dog.

I'm on an open view lot, backing to golf course, open space Preserve beyond.....Lots of wildlife out there! But my cat knows the boundaries, hardly ever leaves the yard. People are amazed I can trust her. She wants to please me like a dog does.

I've had animals all my life. Raised with them, even paid extra for them way back when I was renting.....

I lived on a farm in Iowa. Big long driveway, fronting a highway. I wasn't supposed to be out there. But one day I got out on the highway, my dog ran in between me and a car, and was killed. I hadn't even started school yet.

My favorite dog belonged to my first husband. A Doberman he'd raised from a pup. From the very beginning, that dog chose me. She slept on the floor on my side of the bed. She followed me everywhere. If I went in the bathroom, she'd wait at the door for me to come out.....When I sat in a chair, she'd lay at my feet with one of her paws on my foot. I loved that dog.

Pets are great Screeners for Character. In between husbands I was dating two men. One sat on my couch scratching at his ankles like a flea got him.

The other hung his shirt on the back of a chair. One of my cats walked over and sprayed it! I'm mortified, jumping up, throwing it in the wash.....He's just shaking his head, laughing, saying "That's what they do."

My other cat at the time was a Scaredy-Cat. Scared of anything and everyone.....But, through his quiet, calm patience, eventually that man had my cat choosing him for a lap, eating out of his hand. And he was a dog person!

Which man do you think I married?

Can you tell I prefer people who prefer animals, and make room for them in their lives? Cats, dogs, horses, doesn't matter.....It speaks volumes about Character, to my way of thinking.