Newest pet: Archie

I sent my husband out for pizza,

he came back with this...

mY pEtS

It all started in 2005...

My husband and I took in 2 stray cats - Betty (who has no tail) and Veronica.

And then, a little over 2 years later...

Bo was a stray - wandering the streets eating whatever he could find (from garbage cans, no doubt) for weeks, maybe longer. When I found him, my plan was to locate his owner - and if I couldn't do that, I would take him to the nearest humane society.

But those plans changed.

After unsuccessfully trying to locate the dog's owner, my husband and I became attached to him. It wasn't hard. He's a great dog! So we kept him ourselves.

Our vet said he's "Black lab, maybe. Something else, definitely." And several people have commented that he has pit bull-like features. Some say he seems to be part border collie. We think he's a lot like a canaan dog. I'm sure we'll never know for sure!

We named the dog "Bo" and set out to find a second dog...



About 2 weeks later, an old friend sent word that he needed a new home for his great dane, Hank. My husband has always wanted a great dane, so we agreed to take him in.

Hank was about 8 months old when we got him - a bit older than Bo.

They got along from the start (despite a few brotherly squabbles...)

And then, this past Christmas, I found a homeless shih tzu. I tried for weeks to find his owner, but no luck. The poor dog was missing and eye and several teeth and, according to the vet, had not been well taken care of. But he was absolutely the sweetest, most loving and trusting dog.

My mom thought so, too. So she and my dad took in the one-eyed shih tzu, Captain Jack.

Over the years, I've encountered a lot of homeless/lost pets. Sometimes I think I'm a magnet for them. Luckily, all of them have been returned to their owner or re-homed. Because of these experiences (and a love of animals inherited from my dad), I've become involved in The Animal Resuce Site and the ASPCA in recent years. In fact, my good friend/neighbor and I have hosted our own ASPCA booth at Gadsden's "First Friday" and we held a community dog walk this past ASPCA day. We've also handed out flyers in our neighborhood encouraging responsible pet ownership. It's a cause we care a lot about.


What you can do to help animals:

Make adoption the first option
Have your pets spayed/neutered
Visit http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/ and/or http://www.aspca.org/
If you can't adopt, make donations to local shelters/pet sanctuaries