Comments on: Ada and Fugu

By: Gazza

Gazza — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 19:27:02 +0000

My daughter has been after one for a while, i still haven’t made up my mind. She is only 6…. I would like to see is she has the dedication to look after it…. Maybe after Christmas

By: Parker Green

Parker Green — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:49:23 +0000

This is a great article! I am not to fond of rabbits because a few years ago I got brand new carpet from smartcarpet.com and I had three pet rabbits and they kept going to the bathroom on my new carpet. I had to give them away but they still are fun animals to have.

By: Courtney

Courtney — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 23:06:13 +0000

I love that people can have pets on campus! My senior year at Midd, we found a tiny kitten under a bush and she lived at the Italian house with us for most of the year. Beyond helping all of the residents relax between classes, she attracted a lot of visitors to the house, especially other students who were homesick for their own pets. I also remember many ridiculous late night walks to the Chinese house to see the resident iguana.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:51:39 +0000

How terrific that the college is allowing pets, albeit on a limited basis, on campus. There were quite a few “secret” pets when I was at Midd in the early 70s. My beloved cat lived with me for most of my sophomore year in my ground floor Kelly single, which worked quite well as she could let herself in and out through my window. Unfortunately she had to go home when someone fed her some kind of drug that made her pretty sick. Kudos to Midd for recognizing the benefits of welcoming a few pets to campus.

By: Steven Less

Steven Less — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:48:27 +0000

Wonderful! What was once an act of defiance now enjoys the college’s official sanction. Back in the early 70s, my canaries didn’t especially endear me to the Dean of Students, Wonnacott. But other students were far bolder. Never heard of the wolfhound, but someone in Stewart, my freshman dorm, tried to keep a raccoon. I would have ratcheted up my rebellion if the driver of the Greyhound bus I took up to Middlebury from NJ after spring break had allowed me to board with a caged puppy. His refusal left my unsuspecting parents holding the bag, so to speak, but I still had the birds. They miraculously survived various types of fumes, my taste in music and the volume at

which my room-mates and I enjoyed listening to our records, my pitiful attempts to play the guitar, icy winter drafts, as well as erattic sleeping patterns and feedings during my Middlebury years. Following my winter-term graduation, they kept me company on the drive to Houston, Texas, and later on my return to NJ in the sweltering heat of August. Back where I started before attending Middlebury, Young Dude and Sampson continued to soothe me with their song and chatter as the madness of law school unfolded.

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By: Pam

Pam — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:58:44 +0000

Some of us at Middlebury had “Easter new born chicks” in our dorm room, and to cover for them we all had to learn how to do the “cheep” through our teeth, so when any authorities from the dorm were around we would all start “cheeping” at each other to cover up the chicks’ cheeping. I can’t remember who ever ended up inheriting those cute little chicks, but we had fun figuring out how to keep them as long as we could. (We’re talking back in the 60′s – maybe around 1964)

By: Joy Kluess

Joy Kluess — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:07:26 +0000

It’s great that students are allowed to have pets in their rooms. While I was at Middlebury, 1942-1946, this was not permitted. We always had kitties at home. When I returned home for vacations our kitty, Nicky, always recognized me. It is wonderful to learn about all the changes at Middlebury. I do not return for reunions now. It is too far and there are few remaining members of my class. I enjoyed those four wonderful years in Vermont. But now I love living in Florida as I don’t do well in the cold New England weather. Greetings to all, Joy Kluess, Daytona Beach, Florida.

By: Towny Anderson

Towny Anderson — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 01:45:37 +0000

Good to see a pet friendly policy. Tanya, our Shepherd-Huskie, went through school with me in ’72-74′. Attended every class, including 3 hour art studios with David Bumbeck, and accompanied me to the Library. I was married and living off campus, and Jodee was working, so it was Tanya and me, and no one seemed to object, but then I heard that other students liked Tanya so much they began to bring their dogs on campus, it got out of hand, and the Administration clamped down — I think about the time I began my independent scholar program … just in time apparently! It would have been a drag to have not let Tanya finish school with me!

By: Erin

Erin — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 21:02:45 +0000

Like Valkyie, I adopted a bunny from the Addison County Humane Society during my junior year. I tried taking him out to Battell Beach one day on a leash, but he didn’t quite take to it like Fugu! Still, he was so well trained that we just let him run around the common room of our suite instead of cooping him up in his cage. The cleaning staff didn’t mind — they loved him too! He’s now a whopping 7 years old, and has moved with me to Boston, Chicago and now London. Bunnies are great college pets if you treat them well!

By: Valkyrie

Valkyrie — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:54:00 +0000

Aw! I adopted my pet rabbit from the Middlebury Humane Society during my senior year and he’s still with me, having travelled cross-country to Monterey and now back in Georgia. At Midd we lived in the Japanese house and he was certainly a key member of the dynamic there haha. It’s neat to find an article about a pet rabbit at Middlebury!

By: Susan (Currie) Price

Susan (Currie) Price — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:16:33 +0000

I knew a fellow student who kept an Irish wolfhound in his dorm for a couple of months before being found out in the early 70s. While I think that may be pushing it, at least in a shared-room situation [that's a BIG dog], I see no reason that dogs, cats–yes, and even ferrets–can’t be allowed in dorms, with suitable policies about cleanliness, that also spell out the consequences, both of pet-expulsion and monetary penalties if the pet-keeping student does not show proper regard for preventing property damage, adverse sanitary conditions or avoiding excessive noise. BTW, as the keeper of 3 ferrets, I can attest that it’s not the ferret that smells bad, it’s the uncleaned cage–just like a cat’s

litter box smells if not scooped regularly.

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By: Caroline Freeman

Caroline Freeman — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:26:22 +0000

Nothing new here. In the late 1950s there were several small pets in the women’s dorms, among them my pet guinea pig. Either my roommate or I had to get up at 5:30 a.m. on our room-cleaning day and dash with the pig and cage to a room we knew wouldn’t be cleaned that day. That room housed a large, very tame white rat. When it was cleaning day for Rat’s room, he came to stay in Pig’s room. No one except our friends ever knew a thing. No one ever questioned why our rugs and bedspreads were missing their fringe and the wires for lamps and record players gleamed copper-bright without their insulating black cover. Pig survived the years

in the dorm and went home with me after graduation (June 1960), where he served honorably as entertainment and companion for my dying mother.

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By: Cecilia

Cecilia — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:17:59 +0000

Another reason to love Middlebury! (as if we needed more)

By: Francois DivaMan Clemmons

Francois DivaMan Clemmons — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:19:40 +0000

GREAT article!!!! I have my little doggie-woggie, HRH The Princess Nepal and couldn’t have gotten through the recent death of my mother without her!!!!!!!!!! Her unconditional love is beyond value. Many of my Cosmic Children come over to walk her and play with her. God bless pets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MuchLove,
Francois DivaMan Clemmons,
Alexander Twilight Artist-In-Residence

By: Molly

Molly — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:25:10 +0000

This is such a great article!! Love to Ada and Fugu!! <3

By: Meredith

Meredith — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:55:32 +0000

That’s great! Just don’t forget that in this case the article should have said ” every day”, not ” everyday”!
That is one of my pet ( as it were ) peeves and I hate to see it being committed by people at Midd!

By: Elizabeth Douglas Mornin

Elizabeth Douglas Mornin — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:33:31 +0000

That’s great. I had to have my Middlebury pet in secret back in the 70′s– my cat Nicholas lived with me in Jewett House for two years– and I had him for another 11 years after that.