The Last night I thought about what to write about. I looked at my three pups and felt like dogs would be a great topic. I even created an I Love Dogs design.

As I type this my Frannie is next to me snoring. Marshal is on the other end of the couch sleeping. Lady is on my left curled up next to me. For all you cat lovers, I have a cat too.

A Cat Lover

I grew up loving cats. We had dogs as well, but I had a deep connection to the cats we had. Tiger was the first cat from my childhood. He was an orange tabby. My cat now, Rocky, is also an orange tabby. They are special and have their own unique personalities, but I digress. This is about dogs. 🙂

I was living in New York with my two cats, whom I adopted after losing a soul cat, but I went to the shelter to look at dogs and I came home with two cats. Go figure.

Enters A Dog

I met a cocker spaniel in 2007. He was 6 months old, he looked up at me with the most adoring eyes and I picked him up and put him in my lap. He proceeded to fall asleep. I went back another time and asked about him.

This time he sat in my lap and looked up and me with the same adoration and then I started asking the questions: how do you take care of this? Will he get along with cats? What do I need to do to have a dog, let alone a puppy? It’s winter in NY and it’s super cold so I would have to walk him. Am I ready to take care of a puppy? Do I want to change my lifestyle to adjust to pretty much having a baby?

My friend said I could take him on a two week trial and if things didn’t work out for me or with the cats, I could bring him back.

The Adoption

When I went home that night and thought about it and then I got the call that said someone else wants to adopt him so I need to decide. I went to the pet store and I purchased $200 worth of doggy stuff for my temporary dog. I named him Taylor. Taylor was a perfect dog in temperament. I took him to training and he went to sleep during it.

The trainer asked another person what they wanted from the training and they said to be like my Taylor. The cats didn’t mind him. I went out in upwards of negative degree weather and snow to walk him, sometimes in a skirt! He loved the cold. The biggest issue Taylor had was health issues. He sadly died at 8 years old, which was way too short for a pup that stole my heart and went everywhere with me. I’m tearing up as I write this because he meant that much to me. He passed in 2015.

Dogs I Love

Lady

Lady was adopted in 2014 as a terror 6 month old pup that destroyed anything and everything making her the exact opposite of Taylor. She’s also a cocker. I love the breed. They are the perfect size and they are couch dogs that don’t need too much daily activity. Lady is the mediator of the pack. She makes sure that everyone stays in their lane and if they don’t she does something about it. She’s silly and loving and the only one that can go outside with me off leash. She tells me what she wants and will even look towards what it is. She’s 10.5 years old now. I went to Kernersville, NC to adopt her.

Frannie

Frannie was adopted in 2018. I wanted Lady to have a friend so we went to Saving Grace to look at the little dogs. She’s a Japanese Chin, so a very far stretch from a spaniel. I didn’t know what to make of this small pup with messed up teeth. She was super cute though. I went to look at other dogs and she propped herself up on the fence to watch me walk away. I came back to learn that detail and started looking up what is a Japanese Chin? Well, they were bred for Japanese royalty.

Japanese Royalty

They are not an off-leash type of dog because they get distracted very easily and then realize they are lost, trust me it happened a few times in the early days of having her. I’d never had a small dog so she was able to get under fences and through places that the cockers couldn’t. I had to put in a fenced area in my backyard so she couldn’t get out of the yard. What wouldn’t we do for them, right? I adopted her at the perfect time because they took her to get spayed and they realized she had an issue that would have killed her had it gone on for much longer. She’s my travel pup. You’ve likely seen her at some of the festivals and events. She’s my emotional support pup. She also has heart disease and is on meds for the rest of he life.

Marsh

Marsh was adopted at the Fayetteville Vegfest on a very hot day in 2019. I couldn’t leave him there. I convinced the women to let me take him home. He is anxiety ridden and gets CBD whenever I leave the house. This dog would kill for me, he loves me that much. Granted when I am eating popcorn he won’t let anyone near me, but that is likely because he loves popcorn. Ha Ha. He ended up also coming with heartworm. He was treated over the course of a few years and was cured. Yay! Marsh is a taller cocker so he came with another set of issues, counter surfing!

Other Dogs I’ve Helped

There was another pup I had for a very short time. Kirby was adopted from the Wake Shelter and he came with a avian type disease (he’s in the doggy medical journals). He was barely two years old. It was awful. He was a nut though. If I left the house without saying goodbye he would howl like he was being stabbed with a thousand knives. I am not exaggerating. If I said goodbye Kirby, I’ll be back soon, he wouldn’t howl.

I’m guessing you can feel the love I have for these fur kids. They are my children. My home is filled with so much love and fur. All four of them sleep with me at night. It’s a good thing I have a king sized bed. 🙂

Do you have a fur kid story you want to share? I’d love to hear it. We know they will not be with us for a very long time, yet we continue to open our hearts to these little loves.

On another note, I was interviewed on the I Love Tofu podcast. You can check it out by clicking here.