Here at home I have a large household: a cat, a dog, a rooster, three horses and a goat. But I have to admit, all of them are quite "useless" in traditional sense. We don't ride horses for past 10 years, last time we milked the cow was around 6 years ago, the dog is too friendly to bark at people and the cat doesn't catch indoor mice, she is only interested in wild ones, and only the rooster has some "useful" functions - he is regularly pecking our guests' feet.
It wasn't always like that... The road that connects our village to civilization used to become unpasseable for any type of motorized vehicle in spring 7 years ago - so we used to rely on horses for transportation. At that time the goat was providing milk for my younger children. Ryska, the cat, was protecting my cabin from foxes in Kamchatka one winter. (Her efforts even got awarded -
this photo won in BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest in 2009). And the dog, Nika, is very patient and has never bitten my sons, despite the fact that sometimes they deserve it when they torture her too much while playing (like all children do sometimes).
So these animals are truly a part of my family...
