family . “ That dog ! I told him , ‘ You can ’ t get all the wood ! Quit doin ’ it !’ And he and Lil ’ Bit ended up breeding and having puppies . I was able to find good homes for some before my wife fell in love with them and we kept Onyx , a female and Toby , a male . You ’ ve got to get rid of those puppies quick before you get too attached .”
Nungesser became smitten with Lil ’ Bit and her remarkable personality . “ She was probably the dog I had the longest and the one we were most attached to ,” says Nungesser . “ Lil ’ Bit was like a person . You ’ d talk to her and she understood you . She knew when we were leaving when we got luggage out and she would give you those sad eyes or stand by the door and block you and bark at you , like ‘ You shouldn ’ t be leaving me !’ She slept in the bed with us and in her later days we ’ d have to pick her up and set her down in the bed . When she was ready to get up , she ’ d bark and you ’ d have to go in there and get her . When she got older , we put a carpet runner down so her legs wouldn ’ t slide out from under her . She was a member of the family . It was incredible — she could feel your emotions . We had a special bond .”
Lil ’ Bit passed away in January 2021 and shortly afterwards Onyx died in November 2021 . The mother and daughter were two peas in a pod that followed each other everywhere . At one point , the Nungessers had Lil ’ Bit , Yella , Onyx , Toby , Lucky , a pup rescued from a ditch along with her brothers Moe and Curly , and
26 a Norwegian Elkhound named Bullet that Nungesser had before meeting Cher . And their brood didn ’ t stop at dogs .
“ We would take in stray animals and put them all at the barn which was a shelter for a lot of pets ,” says Nungesser , who may discover the name “ Doolittle ” in his family tree . “ We had a cat with one eye , a cat with three legs . One day a cat scratched on my back door and I opened it and the cat jumped up on my kitchen table . Now that cat is my best friend . Another time a goose just followed me up the driveway . We had some ducks in our pond and every night this goose would flap his wings and yell and keep the coyotes away and protect those ducks . Every morning that goose would tap the back door and I ’ d sit on the back porch and pet the goose , and that goose would bite anybody else that came around , it really was funny ! His name was Goose . Cher called him Goosie , and he pecked and chased her and everyone else . I raised elk and cattle and had horses and a family of donkeys , and the pets all got along . It was kind of a special family of pets .”
Currently the Nungessers have the cat that showed up from nowhere , whose name is Kitty Cat . “ I ’ m good at those names , huh ?” laughs Nungesser . “ I never thought cats paid attention or listened , and this cat will stand by the back door to go out . At night when she ’ s in the bedroom she ’ ll call you if you ’ re in the kitchen late . She ’ s a great cat with a personality
Life Unleashed