Hi Mark:  My wife Tamara and I acquired two samll dogs in 1985, a mini pin and a beagle.  They were born within months of each other .  Over the years we moved from San Diego, to Reno to Fresno.  They were always both with us.  In 1998, at the ages of 13, the Beagle became very sick, cancer.  We were forced to put him down.  Within a month, the lonely minipin layed down at the foot of our bed on \’his\’ blanket looked at us and then went peacefully and unexplicably to be with his lifelong buddy.

We had always been with dogs and cats.  At this time we only had a big Calico cat \’Big Foot,\’ left.  His name is big foot because he has extra toes.  Being dog lovers my wife and I went to the pound and picked out a pup, about 1 year old, a queensland Healer we named striker.  1 month later we opened the door one morning and found a puppy staring at us,, an English Mastiff.  We searched for her home and could not find her owners.  A month later another pup turned up on our doorstep, just sitting there.  After searching the neighborhood, we still could not find the owners.  So.. we added the Em, her name is Cheyenne, and the Lab, shepperd, named Cody.

One year later we found another stray, a chihuahua mix we named \’Ginny.\’  We refuse to take strays to the pound.  My Aunt turned up with dementia, and could not take care of her dog, so in 2001 we added Collie, a weird terrier.  They are all old now, averaging 10 years, we have given them great lives and they in turn have given back ten fold.  But the parade did not stop there, We have added Sassy, Prissy, Emma and BK, all cats.  With 5 cats and 5 dogs we have our hands full.  My wife and I were discussing that all the animals were becoming aged and we probably would be making some terrible decisions within the next several years.  Two months ago, my wife found a mini fox terrier, that was starving, with its bones sticking through its ribs and its stomach concavelicking our grass in search for moisture.  We took the pup in and have  searched for its owner, no luck.  My older dogs sleep alot, this little guy is full of energy.  We will not put him in the pound.  The old dogs have adopted him, even the chihuahua.  We never intended to have this many animals, but here we are.  We love them all.  They are part of our family.

David from CA