by Bernadette Alvarez-Candelario

Created on: February 20, 2010   Last Updated: February 22, 2010

I was looking to adopt a Quaker parrot when I met him; I was told that he was in the back room because there was no where else for him to stay. I waited as they brought him out and as my eyes met his, I fell in love. Temple was a 6 month old Sun Conure and was green and orange. I pointed in his direction as I turned to signal my husband Chris and he immediately jumped on my finger. I stood still pretending to contemplate whether I could take on this responsibility, but I had already said yes in my head. Chris and I had decided to take Temple home and make him part of our family. We already had a big family which consisted of a Shih-Tzu named Pepper and two Lovebirds named Romeo and Juliet. My mother had just died and I wanted to occupy myself by giving another animal a chance at having a good home. As we walked in through the door and let Temple out of his carrier, the first thing he did was fly on top of Pepper’s head. Pepper had hip dysplasia and was blind and deaf and at the ripe old age of sixteen, she looked around wondering what had moved. She had no idea Temple was around and occasionally she would look in the direction of his cage trying to see what was making noise. One night Pepper was walking around and had gotten stuck under the bed. Since she was blind she had no idea which direction was out. Temple screamed until I came to help Pepper. He was Pepper’s watchdog. As weeks passed, Pepper’s hip dysplasia became so painful that she spent most of her days crying. She was not eligible for surgery because of her age and all other attempts had failed at relieving her pain. Chris and I decided to have her euthanized. I could not let her suffer in pain any longer. We took her to the hospital and spent time with her after they put her to rest, I lost a friend. When I came home I was so depressed that I spent weeks in bed crying. Temple stayed by my side kissing my nose and my tears away. We had bonded.

Temple was my sidekick, if I ate French fries, Temple would try and steal them off my plate. He was funny to watch trying to drag a French fry that was half the size of his body. If I ate pound cake, he would be on my chest eating it from the bottom. We were quite the duo. Months later I decided I wanted to try and adopt a dog. After a lot of research, we adopted Duke, a three year old Manchester terrier. Duke and Temple did not get along at first. Temple spent his time with his back turned to Duke. When Duke approached his cage Temple would

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