National Love Your Pet Day: Tell us about your pet

According to a realtor.com® online survey, three quarters of homebuyers with pets who closed on a home last year would not put an offer down on their dream home if it weren’t right for their animals. And nearly 90 percent put their pets’ needs into consideration when purchasing a home.

And Realtors® aren’t any different. In honor of National Love Your Pet Day, we asked some PAR members to share photos of their pets and talk about what they love most about them.

Bette McTamney, PAR past president, and her husband recently adopted Baylee. “Dogs truly are our best friends,” she said. “We lost our last doggie when she was 15, but shortly before our granddaughter was born, so we surely were given a blessing in her. Our granddaughter and grandsons have dogs, so we took care of them a lot. It’s a very sad and hard time to lose a pet and we actually took a few years without one.”

When McTamney saw a post about pups up for adoption, she knew it was time to bring another dog home. “What a sweetie she is, she won’t get much bigger than 12 pounds, according to the vet. Talk about a change in lifestyle, with only my husband and me at home, this was really going to be a different time. All of the sudden, dog crates, dog toys, walks, house training, we were deep in the thick of it, especially house training in the middle of winter. She stole our hearts immediately, along with the rest of our family, the kids and their friends. Baylee has now been with us for four months and it’s not hard to tell who runs the show in our house. She has a spunky personality, and she’s the center of attention everywhere we go, and she goes almost everywhere. What a change in our lives, for sure, but it has made us smile a lot and I hope she, my husband and I get to grow old together. Dogs are the best medicine one needs to keep a smile on your face and someone who needs you to care for them. When you come home to that little sweet puppy with the tail wagging away, kisses all over, we are loving every minute, even though she is a handful, she has brought a whole new outlook in our lives,” said McTamney.

Heidi Powell, a Realtor® with NextHome Dynamic in Freeport, brings her pooch Lacey to the office each day. “She is a five-month old French Bulldog. We lovingly call her our “transactional support animal.” We find that most people love to snuggle and hug this puppy. When clients come for closings, she helps them celebrate, and she often entertains their children,” said Powell.

Butler County Association of Realtors® President Julie Sebock has a pineapple conure parrot named Paco. “He is a pint-sized bird with a huge personality. He loves to be with you and give you ‘kiss-kiss.’ That love for us is what resulted in a story where the pet hospital staff now call him ‘Paco, the miracle bird,'” said Sebock.

“He learned at a very young age to escape from every cage.
At first, we thought it was cute. He would hear the garage door open and he would lift his cage door to come out and anxiously await our ‘hello.’ Still learning to try to fly, one day, my husband was carrying groceries in and Paco fluttered to the floor and walked toward the door. Unknown to my husband, he opened the door and stepped on Paco,” said Sebock.

“He was in critical condition. We rushed him to an animal hospital, and they told us his intestines and pancreas were ruptured and he probably wouldn’t make it through the night. They did a small procedure, gave us medication and prepared us to say goodbye. To our surprise, he was alive the next morning. The doctors called to check on him and we told him he was alive and licking the juice from grapes, his favorite. They were stunned. Paco lived to escape his next cage. Three years later, he is still bringing joy and humor to our family.”

District 7 Vice President Sandy Stevens is mom to Pippa. “She is a really great gal and accompanies me to the office if I have desk duty. Pip is a mother to probably 20 to 25 stuffed critters. She knows them by name and she will bring all of them out to the main area of the house and if she is in the bedroom, she will carry each of the critters to the ‘crib’ at night before Pip finally goes to bed herself. She is much like a goat, she leaps from carpet to carpet through the house. I just love her,” said Stevens.

Billie Joe Easterlin, a Realtor® with Howard Hanna in New Kensington, has a tuxedo cat named Katie who may also part mermaid. “She doesn’t really know she’s a cat. Since she was a baby, we just about took her everywhere. She sits patiently on our lap or being carried. Whether it’s a golf cart ride, pontoon boat ride or a car ride, she doesn’t care as long as she’s with us. But what is most unique about her is she likes water. She walks into the shower while you are taking a shower and even likes to swim in the lake. When she was a baby, we decided that if we were to take her on the boat, we needed to know if she could swim. We placed her in the water and she swam to shore and once she could touch, she just stood there and let the water wash over her. Every now and then, she jumps into the water and swims,” said Easterlin.

North Central Penn Board of Realtors® President Carol Hoke enjoys snuggling with her dog, Deisel.

Lynn Kimler, the 2019 president of the Pike/Wayne Association, said she has been called the cat lady of Greentown. “Both my husband and I have been saving abandoned cats for the last 22 years, since we’ve been living at Lake Wallenpaupack,” she said. “We live in a small lakeside community with only five full-time residents. It seems to be the practice for some to abandon their pets on our road and over the years, we have helped more than 25 cats and kittens. Some have really tugged at our heartstrings and we have increased our pet population from one to now seven cats, who are our forever live-in pets.”

“Never in a million years did I ever think that we would be the parents to seven cats,” she said. “They all have different personalities and they all have different issues and needs.” Lynn and her husband Charlie, also a Realtor®, are currently parents to Oreo, Mulligan, Tigger, Boo, Scooter, Midnight and Socks. “All different, all greatly loved,” she added.

Tell us about your pet in the comments!