Herbert (Kathryn Hicks and Miranda Johnsen)

The first featured pet living here on campus is Herbert, a nearly eight year old dog that lives with roommates Kathryn Hicks and Miranda Johnsen. Rescued from a shelter when Hicks was 15, Herbert has spent almost 6 years with her.

Do you have a fun story about how or when you got your pet?
“I was out driving with my dad practicing for the test and it was snowing. My dad thought it would be a good idea if I learned how to recover from a fishtail (when your car goes wild when driving in the snow) so naturally, he grabbed my emergency break and pulled. No surprise I did not recover well and ended up in the ditch. After getting out, either out of pity or maybe it was the plan all along, but my parents took me to the shelter and we brought Herbert home,” said Hicks.

What is your pet’s personality like? Do they enjoy certain things, do anything funny, or have a cute feature?
“Herbert can be a little shy at first. As basically anyone who has met him can tell you, when you meet him for the first time he usually just sniffs you and ignores you,” said Hicks. “His absolute favorite thing in the world is to play fetch! He has literally played fetch for close to three hours one day. So when people meet him, I always tell them as soon as he brings you his ball, then you know you two are friends.”

What’s your favorite thing about your pet?
“There are so many things I love about Herbert it is hard to pick just one thing, but I love how cuddly he is. Writing a paper is a lot more enjoyable when there’s a dog laying next to you!” said Hicks.

What are the benefits of having a pet on campus?
“Herbert reminds me that I need to take breaks!” said Hicks. “Either a break to go for a walk or a break to play fetch! He reminds me that it is good to set the homework down for a bit and take care of myself (and him)!”

Anything else you want to share? (Funny story, whatever!)
“I was a ball of stress on November 6 for so many reasons. And I decided to stress buy him a new toy. He completely lost his mind over this new toy and carried it around with him everywhere. He and my roommate Miranda played an hour-long game of keep-away with it!” said Hicks. “Today he decided he needed to carry the toy outside; however, he took two steps and dropped it, and then made me carry it the rest of the walk.”

Phoebo (Tessa Longshore)

The last pet we get to meet is Phoebo–who student Tessa Longshore initially thought was a girl and had originally named Phoebe!

Do you have a fun story about how or when you got your pet?
“The story behind how I got him is pretty cute. I had gone home one weekend to visit last fall and he was a stray that jumped in my car and I just couldn’t let him go,” said Longshore.

What is your pet’s personality like? Do they enjoy certain things, do anything funny, or have a cute feature?
“He is a very playful and curious cat. He actually has wobbly cat syndrome so he has a bit of a tough time walking, running and jumping,” said Longshore. “He’s just a very good boy.”

What are the benefits of having a pet on campus?
“One benefit of having a cat on campus is he is an Emotional Support Animal so he knows how to help me when I’m having a rough day and he’s always ready to cheer me up,” said Longshore.

Anything else you would want to share? (Funny story, whatever!)
“He loves the online classes because it means I get to spend more time with him and he gets to pop into the frame and say hi to the class as well!” said Longshore.

Ellie and Broccoli (Cadence Paramore)

The next pet feature for this week isn’t just one pet: it’s multiple! The Gustavian Weekly’s very own Photography Editor, Cadence Paramore, has snails named Ellie and Broccoli (Broc for short). “Ellie is named after Carl’s wife in Up, and Broccoli is named after the vegetable. I just liked the idea of having a serious name and a silly name,” said Paramore.

Do you have a fun story about how or when you got your pet?
“I got them a year ago. Originally I was buying a milk snail (his name was Apollo, he just died about a month ago but he’s the snail in the picture) and these guys came as ‘extras’ that I was not intending to buy,” said Paramore. “I’m glad I have them, though!”

What is your pet’s personality like? Do they enjoy certain things, do anything funny, or have a cute feature?
“Broc is a lot more social than Ellie, and their favorite food is cucumbers,” said Paramore.

What’s your favorite thing about your pet?
“They’re really fun to hold and it almost feels like someone is licking my hand when they crawl!” said Paramore.

What are the benefits of having a pet on campus?
“Taking care of my snails reminds me to take care of myself,” said Paramore. “I get super busy but I remind myself to feed them and then I grab food for myself. I call them my therapy snails.”

Anything else you want to share? (Funny story, whatever!)
“They just had babies! Now I have about 20 little snails crawling around!” said Paramore.