meet my babies

So you know those people who babble endlessly about their children and how wonderful and special and intelligent they are and all the while you are envisioning muzzling them or reminding them that you recently witnessed said child eating dirt from the bottom of their shoe or envisioning breaking in to their monologue and asking politely why they don't try getting a life and pulling their head out of their ass?

Well I'm pretty sure that's how people feel when I start talking about my dogs. And I gotta tell you, I don't care! Because the fact is, they are the most special-ist fur babies who ever did live.

Yeah, that's right, fur babies. Deal with it.

Oh, and don't even get me started on my cats. I've got a cat who plays fetch and kisses me on the lips and other who befriends raccoons and brings them home. You know you're jealous. And yes, I know a good percentage of you are grossed out by the kissing thing...don't care. He's the coolest cat ever.

Anyhoo, I've been overwhelmed by questions about my dogs (okay so one person asked, but I'll take any excuse to show them off) so I thought I would formally introduce them.

This is Sugar.

Sugar is a pit bull/lab. She came to us 11 years ago when my brother got her as a present for his girlfriend at the time. When her family heard the words "pit bull" they refused to let her keep the puppy.

Their loss. Of course Sugar has some terrier like tendencies but she's more lovable lab than anything and as with any dog, Sugar has been mostly influenced by her training and her treatment with us.

Sugar enjoys walks on the beach, rolling in the sand, diving for rocks and attention from humans.
Sugar is my father's greatest comfort right now and she takes that job very seriously.

This is Dolan.
Dolan is my baby. She came to us accidentally.

A friend of ours was coming up from the city to pick up one puppy from an island native reserve near here. When she arrived at the ferry dock to meet the man with the pup he showed her an entire litter of 6 week old babies and basically said, "Take them or I'm dumping them off the ferry on the way back."

She took the puppies.

She was coming by our house to see us in any case and so she arrived with the whole litter in the back of her van and I fell in love...with all of them. I was immediately told by SeaBass that I was not allowed a dog but, um, well, he's not the boss of me! So, with the help of our friend, I hid the cutest pup in my dad's car until our friend had left and when my family started talking about how cute they all were and, "maybe we should have taken one." I ran outside and recovered Dolan from her hiding place.

As far as we can tell Dolan is a border collie/husky and she lives up to both breeds by being both incredibly intelligent and incredibly stubborn. She picks and chooses when to listen to me and it's really remarkable to watch her wheels churning. She requires a lot of stimulation and attention. If I didn't work from home I don't think we'd be able to have her.

She's a giant pain in the ass sometimes.

Dolan enjoys running on the beach (and running away from home to the beach), playing fetch, being chased, meeting new dogs to play with and herding anything and everything.

I've since learned that the native reserve has a major problem with stray dogs and unwanted puppies. There is a local rescue group that adopts these puppies out to good homes.