This occurred many of years ago and it would not right if i did not give pre-text to this chapter…
it was 1990  my service in the US Navy had been ended due to the loss of my wife and the care of my four year old son Nick had been the grounds for my dismissal.
We arrived in NY with little aside from the clothes on our back. My son was young and there were not many ways to help him understand the why\’s and hows to all the many questions he had

To make ends meet i had taken on several jobs and meanwhile Nick had became a bit quiet, caught up in his own sense of loss. he had lost both parents in a sense and it was beginning to manifest itself in behavior problems.

One day my son was visiting with his cousin and discovered they had adopted a a young shepherd mix. It was love in a NY minute between them. Later that day it was all he could tell me about and asked incessantly on when we could have a dog.
I tried to explain our situation as best as one could to a young child smitten w/ a playful canine pal. It was a struggle to keep food on the table and pay the rent.
In two weeks time i thought i had dodged the bullet on adding to our gang of two. But I had to ponder Nick\’s renewed solitude, Each conversation was yes and no… There was no adjectives in the description of the days events. In a effort to get him to open up again I asked about the dog.
\”she\’s gone\” with tears almost immediately flowing out. Given all we had lost I didn\’t understand –  I instantly assumed the dog had passed away. Read the rest of this entry »

This year (2008) my wife and I were finally able to afford to buy a house and to make it complete we thought we should get a dog.  I wasn\’t too keen on the idea at first but I finally gave into my wife\’s begging. I told her we can look at the local dog shelter but no promises.  We took a look in the Shelter and saw a bunch of dogs barking and wanting to be saved.  The only one that was well behaved and just wagging his tail looking at us was a brindle boxer.  I told my wife that this dog was the only one that had a chance.  But i still didnt want to bring a dog home.  My wife name him on the spot.  Oscar.

For the next day or so she kept on talking about how cute and sad oscar looked. I went back to the shelter to have another look at him and they let me go outside and play.  He warmed up instantly.  I called my wife to come on over and oscar loved her with a big hug.  We took him home.  Oscar was the perfect dog.  He was well trained and did everything anyone could wish in a dog.  He loved to play and go on walks.  He liked giving the other family members lovies. After about 3 months Oscar lost about 5 pounds in a week. and wouldnt eat unless we made it taste really really good.  we were in and out of the vet for the next couple of weeks, and he could not find anything wrong with Oscar.  finally we went to a different vet. The doctor felt his tummy and found something wrong immediatly so we had an x-ray done.  There was something taking up the whole chest of our Oscar making it so he did not want to eat. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s bad enough that the election is shaking out this way, but to make matters worse, a new groomer scalped our sweet cockapoo. He’s razor burned and shell shocked. Didn’t even recognize the poor thing.

Sue & Steve from SD

It started with a Pug. A pug named Jake, to be exact. He came into our lives December of 2000 and we instantly fell in love with the breed. By April 2002, we had Zoey and began breeding, enjoying our first litter that summer.

A few years later, and with a few litters behind us, we sadly had to put Zoey down for a brain tumor in December 2005. It was a devastating loss, but fortunately, her legacy continues with Luna, a female from Zoey’s last litter. Sunny and Rhapsody soon followed Luna to our home, and we retired Jake from stud. With another male from a friend, we’ve been able to continue our life with puppies, puggies and meeting new people.

Karen from OH

It was approaching my 9th birthday and all I wanted was a dog. I was an only child and with my parents in the process of separating, my request for a dog was probably not the best timing all things considered; but it was all I wanted. When my request was granted my mum and I paid a visit to the local rescue centre.  I can remember seeing all those pleading eyes willing for mine to meet theirs and pick them – it was just awful, but pick one we did, a golden labrador aound 3years of age. We were told that we had a weeks grace to wait in order to allow his previous owners to claim him, and if they didn\’t come forward he was ours.

One week later THE day arrived, the day I felt I had waited forever for. I got home from school with my friend to meet my new doggy companion. As I walked through the dining room I noticed a lead and a note on the table. Quickly scanning through, I just saw the words \”dog in the kitchen, hope you like him\”. As I was just about to open the door my friend who had read the letter properly said \”it\’s a different dog!\” I read it again and sure enough, my mum had left a note saying the labrador\’s owners had claimed him and that the dog in the kitchen was a different one who was due to be destroyed that day. I rushed over to the door, opened it and peered inside – nothing! I could see no dog, then, all of a sudden a small black and tan sheltie like cross ran past me into the room. With paint marks on his back as the only reminder of him having a previous owner, this is how I first came to meet Scamp. Having been saved from the jaws of death by the skin of his teeth Scamp was to become everything that made our house a home for the next TWENTY years!! Read the rest of this entry »

Dear sir, greetings from Portugal.I just read your book in two days and i must say i enjoyed it very much. Im a 40 years old man, a keen windsurfer, snowborder, car and motorbikes fanatic but nothing reach my love for dogs. i have lost 6 dogs since childhjod, some i dont remember very well because i was young but the last ones i do and i must say i miss them a lot!! I have now 8 dogs i rescued from the streets, i share when with my parents ( they are also crazy dog loveres) all of them special to me.

Nothing in the world make me more sad than turning my head around when i see a lost dog.. i normaly say to my friends that if i was rich i would take care of people and animals, as im not i can only take care of animals.Take you very much for your time and your book.
Best regards

João from Portugal