In our latest edition of Staff Pets, Annika introduces us to her fish and her family dogs.
What types of pets do you have?
I personally only have one fish right now, his name is Mel. He is a small Tiger Barb. My family has two dogs, one is a 10 year-old mixed breed named Bella and then we have a 3 year-old Plott Hound named Barney.
How would you describe their personality?
As much as I love Mel, he is a semi-aggressive fish so he does hide a lot. I put lots of plants and decor in my tank for him to feel more comfortable. He used to chase my other fish around the tank, which is just a part of his personality as an alpha fish.
I may be biased, but Bella is the sweetest dog! She loves to cuddle especially if it means she can jump up onto the couch. She’s getting bad hips but still loves has the playfulness of a puppy. She runs and jumps still, but knows when to just curl up and cuddle!
True to a hound, Barney still has lots of puppy in him and is in training. He loves playing tug of war with anything he can pick up. He acts like a little brother to Bella. He can be a bit of a trouble maker and knows how to open the food cabinet and likes to sneak snacks whenever he can.
How did they get their name/ nicknames?
I named Mel after my friend Melinda. She has a strong and independent personality. She won’t let people walk over her and will be heard in a crowd and this personality reminded me of Mel, the fish!
Bella was adopted from a local humane society and originally named Missy. Once we adopted her, we had a whole list of good names and we could all agree on Bella, it was short and sweet -just like her! Over time we ‘shortened‘ it to Bells, otherwise we love to just call her puppy dog!
Barney got his name within a few days of us picking him up. We thought it’d be cute to find another name that started with ‘B’. He was such a playful and cute puppy that we thought it’d be funny to name him after Barney from the show How I Met Your Mother. He has many nicknames now including Barns, Barnyard, Barney-boy and any other variation of Barn that you could think of!
What’s one of your favorite memories with your pet?
Mel is only two months old at this point, but I loved to watch him search around the tank both when he was first put in the water and also when I added more decor for him to hide in. He has his favorite spot in the tank, but it’s fun to watch him adventure a bit into the other objects and plants.
What’s the funniest thing each of your pets has ever done?
Since Mel’s only a few months old and still figuring out his environment, the funniest thing I’ve seen him do is swim into a small space between a decoration and the side of the tank (a space about a quarter of an inch wide). He had to swim backwards to get out, which took him a minute to figure out!
Bella’s agility is downright hilarious! When we adopted her, there were many dogs in the shelter, but she stood out, even as a large black dog, because of her amazing ability to jump. She first caught my dad’s attention because she jumped so high that she was eye level with him! She got so excited when someone walked by that when all of us came to see her, she would just jump straight into the air. We called her half-kangaroo when we adopted her.
I think Barney is just a funny dog. Sometimes, his behavior reminds me of that of an obstinate 5-year-old. The funniest thing he does is sit on Bella. As strange as this sounds, he does it all the time! If Bella is laying down, he likes to come up, walk over top of her, then sit. It looks horribly uncomfortable, but he does it so often he must find it comfortable! Bella does not seem to mind, and just keeps napping.
