My OWN Doggies (who contribute their hair for my coffee!)

This is Willow. She was the first dog I saw (on line) that I fell in love with, and HAD to have. She was a rescue dog from a shelter three hours away from here. We had the perfect dog as our FIRST dog - Reilly. He was a Golden Retriever, and was just "THE" dog. After he passed away, in February, I lasted til April before I BEGGED to get another dog. My husband knew no one could ever live up to Reilly, so he didn't want anotehr dog. But I had been infected with "dog love" by that point, and could NOT live without a dog. I drove to Syracuse and "rescued" Willow - and came home with one of her pups, Bridget, as well. (Can you say SUCKER? Yep, you'll say it again in a minute, too!) Willow was skin and bones when we got her, and would have NOTHING to do with my husband, or any other male, for a very long time. She was terrified of everything,and skulked around, acting like we were going to beat her. She was obviously abused before she was abandoned. She has turned into the most loyal, loving, devoted dog ever. I can't take a step but what she's there. If I move from one room to another, she follows. She is ANNOYINGLY loving at times. But we love her for her lovingness. And she adores my husband and everyone else in her world these days. She is the ONLY dog out of the 4 that I have who does not need to be hooked up outside, and who will not run away even if the gate is left open. Are you kidding me, she must think to herself. WHY would I want to run away from HERE? This is Abai (Abigail Beatrice, actually, but I call her

Abai B (AB-B-B). She is the "replacement" dog for Bridget, who did not live long due to a very unfortunate accident several months after we got her. I felt TERRIBLE for Willow, because she was a very good mother dog, and I felt bad for my daughter, who had claimed Bridget as "her" dog, but who was gone out of state when she passed away. I felt like I had to quickly get a replacement for both Willow and my daughter's sake, and so, since my husband had loved our original Golden Retriever so much, I "replaced" Bridget with Abai. Unfortunately, there is simply NO comparison. Reilly was smart - Abai is dumb. REALLLLLLY dumb. Reilly was light blonde - Abai is dark red, like an Irish Setter. The only real similarity is that Goldens are, by nature, very gentle and sweet dogs, and Abai certainly is. She loves anyone, and everyone, and that would even include anyone who thought perhaps they should break into our house, or kidnap a child of mine. I have no doubt that Abai would welcome them, to the house or the child, and lick them to death, and then miss them when they were gone. I KNOW I should love her lots, but she's just SOO dumb. I don't NOT love her. She just is at the bottom of the dog hierarchy here.

This is Anvik, an Alaskan Husky, named after a town on the Iditarod Trail, called just Annie, for short. She hd a brother, Moose, and they came together. Moose deserves a post of his own another day.  I actually saw their pictures on line, from a high kill shelter in Kentucky, and decided I had to have Moose. He had the gorgeous husky face, and  typical blue husky eyes. He looked more like a husky, and was a BIG BOY. They were rescued by an animal rescue group in Buffalo, put into foster care, and when the lady brought Moose down to visit and check out my home, she also brought his sister Anvik, "just for the ride, and to get her out of the house for awhile."  Yeah, right. She knew a sucker when she saw one. She left here with NO dogs, and I suddenly went from two dogs, to four. As it turns out, I am SO glad I kept Annie.  She is a sweetheart of a dog. The only bad thing about Annie is, she's got so much husky blood in her, she runs away EVERY STINKING CHANCE SHE GETS. And she is literally "uncatchable."  Our back yard is fenced, but for the quickness she has in finding or making escape routes, it might as well not be. And now, she takes Bramble with her. Annie had gotten so that, without having Moose to run with her, she would return home fairly soon. Now that she takes Bramble, I have to immediately go looking for them, because I'm not sure Bramble would know how to return home, and truth be told, she's my favorite, and Annie is my second favorite, and I would be DEVASTATED if something happened to them, so as much as I HATE it, I get in the car, and begin trolling up and down the streets around town, trying to find them. I feel like a huge creeper, just driving slowly, slowly up and down the streets, and covering the same streets over and over, looking in people's yards, until I find them. But the sense of relief when they are safely home is worth every second of discomfort in looking for them.

And, obviously, this is Bramble, the long-awaited

Border Collie. She, too, will get a longer post of her own soon, since she just had her first birthday, and I really owe the breeder a letter and some pictures.

Clearly, from the looks of Annie curled up on the

couch, I am very strict with my dogs. All the things I said I would NEVER do  - dogs on the furniture, dogs licking out my ice cream bowl, feeding a scrap or two from the table, buying REALLY GOOD dog food. Yeah, they suffer here. Can you tell? (Did you catch the fact that Abai was laying on a pillow on the floor up there? Rough life, dog!)

The

cats come and lay down in front of Willow, usually within her front paws, so that she will "groom" them. She takes her teeth, and very gently, goes up and down their heads and backs, nibbling, grooming. The cats purr so loudly when she does this for them that you can hear them across the room.

While I was spending time in the hospital with my dad, I think it was the first time, back in January, I was missing the time I wasn't spending with my children and my dogs.  My oldest son, who was home on break at the time, sent this picture to my cell phone to show me that my babies were still having fun,and getting their exercise, even without me. He's a good boy!