Fred Strike a Pose!

Mary Longsine has the picture she wants in her head before she shares it with Fred. It's just easier that way. The retired physical education teacher scoops him up, hugs him to her shoulder, kisses him lightly and then puts him behind the wheel of a blue car.

The camera clicks. Once. Twice. As many as eight times.

Did we mention that Fred was a rat?

Longsine, 63, volunteers 16 hours a week at the Wisconsin Humane Society.

The bulk of her job is taking photographs of the small animals awaiting adoption for the Web site (www.wihumane.org).

She gives personality to guinea pigs; magnetism to mice; beauty to bunnies; charisma to cockatiels; and, in Fred's case, racing stripes to rats.

"If you can get a picture that's good enough that someone goes "aw,' they'll adopt it," she said.

...Fres's in Vogue

Teacher's Pet

The teacher's pet in Donna Fortenberry's kindergarten class has shiny auburn hair and loves a nice, long nap in the afternoon.

Sassafras, known at Winnona Park Elementary School in Decatur as Sassy, is Fortenberry's miniature dachshund.

Teachers say there are many inconveniences in having classroom pets. They can smell bad, especially when their habitats get ripe, and they have to be cared for during long breaks and the summer.

But Kathy Medick, a fourth-grade teacher at Chattahoochee Elementary in Forsyth County, said her rats, Jessie and Jasmine, are worth the trouble.

"They're teaching children to take care of a living thing," she said.

The rats occupy a swanky four-story cage in the back of the classroom. Students are responsible for cleaning the cage and feeding the rats cheese cubes, carrots and sunflower seeds. Kids who want to take Jessie and Jasmine home over long breaks put their names into a hat. Their teacher draws the name of the lucky winner.

"They help us enjoy school more," said Bethany Hammond, 8. Several girls in the class describe the rats as "cute."

...who's the teachers pet then?