Moxie was a very special Miniature Schnauzer who was our constant companion for 13 years. She travelled everywhere with us from the East Coast to the mountains of British Columbia.
She loved going in the car with us and immediately curled up and slept through the drive.
A friend of mine had a schnauzer and I loved the temperment of the breed, so when I was looking for a dog this would be the type I would like to have found.
Through yet another set of sychroniciities, I found a local couple who had a small kennel outside of town where they had raised schnauzers.
By the time I found out about them being so close by, they had sold all their puppies but for one. She was now four months old and was still with the family being the runt of the litter.
Regardless, I wanted to meet her. She was a sweet, gentle little thing, already house trained. She carried around a toy rabbit that was bigger than she was.
When I sat down she came running over to me and gave me her bunny. The owners were surprised because they had told me she doesn't let anyone take her bunny.
So the little princess came to be known as Moxie and she came home.
She was indeed a wonderful family member. She was so aware of our feelings and stuck close to any of us who were under the weather, often sleeping at our sides.
When she was close to 13 years old she began to fail and it was then that we found out she had lung cancer.
I now believe that she had taken on the lung issue of someone in our family and gave herself so that the one she loved could carry on.
It was a very sad time when she left us but I feel in a small way I provided comfort for her with regular Reiki treatments.
As you know, four years later we found Carney.
When Carney came in the house the first thing that attracted her attention was a sand cast model of Moxie. We had put her old collar on the neck of the dog to remind us of our precious pup.
Carney still to this day regularly goes to the leather collar and licks it gently.
To me, it is as if she is saying thank you for sharing your family.

A couple of years ago after watching the Secret, I could not stop thinking about one particular image I had seen in the movie. It was of a guy laying on the grass patting a little dog who was by his side. I knew in that instant that I was ready for a puppy of my own.
At the time it was late winter, very nasty, and I was home and not feeling the best.
I had the thought to look on our for sale conference from work and wouldn't you know someone had puppies for sale. I knew what I wanted was a Toto dog [from the Wizard of Oz] but I had no idea what the breed was.
I checked out the pups for sale and found out that not only was this someone who had worked for me but the puppies were Cairn Terriers. When I asked what they were she said "you know, like Toto in the Wzard of Oz'. Well needless to say my heart skipped a beat.
I knew I wanted a female and also I was unable to go visit the pups due to bought of the flu.
I searched the internet to find out everything I could about Cairns.
One Sunday morning a few weeks later, I gave her a call to see if she still had any pups and if there were any females. Of course there was one female.
That very day I went to see her.
When I walked in the door there was a chaos of puppies running around and the family was all there as well.
Immediately one little pup came running over to me and sat on my foot, never moving away from me. I was watching the others play and looked down at the pup.
The breeder said 'Well it looks like she found you". It was indeed the little girl.
I asked if she had been named and was told they had been calling her Princess but she was not officially named.
Another set of chills ran down my back - it was as if this was a message from our beloved Schnauzer that had passed on 4 years ago. When we went to pick her those owners had also been calling her Princess, though she was not officially named.
Coincidence? I don't think so, since there is no such thing!
Carney came home with me a week later.

I dreamed her. I knew she was female and I knew her name was going to be Sasha Michael's Sylph...she told me in the dream. It was around late June
In the dream, I would be squatting down and a puppy would come up behind me that I was unaware of and it would poke me in the back right on my spine...at least that is what happen in the dream
So we started looking for a Siberian husky female pup
We went to the dog show but nothing came up.
Then in early September, one day we had made 2 appointments with different breeder to go see their pups One was in Grass valley which is about an hour from here and the other was a little farther out. The first place we went to had 5 pups the whole litter was all female which is unusual
Both her parents lines were champions big time but that wasn't the important part to us. While there I found this one little female that seemed to be especially attracted to me and I was in with the pups playing with her. I was down on my haunches and without me knowing it this other pup I hadn't noticed so much came up to me from behind and poked me in the middle of my spine. I got the chill as I slowly turned around and our eyes locked...it was her our Sasha
That was it...no other dog was present for me and I picked her up and said this is my dog
She came home about 3-4 weeks later

In November of 2003 Chris and I decided that it was time to add a special addition to our home. We had a new house, with a large backyard and an empty spot in our hearts that could only be filled by a puppy. I've never had a dog, well, that's untrue, I had one when I was about 6 years old named Strider, but he ran away about 3 days after we adopted him from my uncle. But Chris has always had dogs and desperately missed their companionship.
We started occasionally popping into the Humane Society as we both firmly believe that those special animals that live there need to be adopted out as soon as possible.
The second or third time we wandered though the Humane we encountered the most beautiful pup. She was shy, withdrawn and sat at the back of her cage, head hung low, this tiny little creature lost in a huge cage. She had been named Emma. As we flipped though her chart we noticed little updates over approximately a 9 day period...ate a little of her dinner today, and the most famous one...wagged tail today.
One of the volunteers approached us as we tried to coax Emma over to say hello. The woman advised us that she was "temporarily" adopted out to a family with small children. Our hearts sank. There was a catch though, this was a very special dog who had been through a horrific ordeal in her short life. They weren't sure she would be suitable for a family with small children. Our hearts leapt at the the prospect. The volunteer took our number and said she would let us know the outcome.
The next day the Humane called and asked us to come in. Emma was not being adopted out to families with children, were we perhaps interested in being interviewed? We couldn't get there fast enough.
As we completed the interview process we were advised that they needed to review all of our information, contact our references etc. They would get back to us as soon as they could. We were told that we were good candidates as we didn't have children, had a fenced yard, and lots of love to give.
About 2 days later we got the call, come on in. She's yours if you would still like to have her. Absolutely! Unfortunately I had to work the day of picking her up so Chris went in to make the donation for her, sign the paperwork off and have a chat with the girls about Emma's history.
It was a very unfortunately start for her. The people who had her deserve no less than to be put in jail for the rest of their lives. That's all that needs to be shared.
I will never forget Chris pulling into my work with her so that I could meet our new pup, live, in person, no cage. She sat so pretty in the front seat of the pick up truck, her head tilted looking at me with the right ear flopped down. I believe she may have actually wagged her tail that day! It was true love.
After a few discussions her name was changed to Vega. (and yes like the car she springs leaks occasionally) Emma just didn't suit her well enough.
Our first evening was unforgettable. We had purchased a crate for her to sleep in. We had her in our spare bedroom with all the doors open so she could see us. I'm pretty sure that was our first mistake. She whined and cried and barked until 1am. As we laid there staring at the ceilling wondering what to do, because you can't give in, she belted out the louded howl I have ever heard. Then, complete silence. Doesn't Chris start laughing, and he can't stop. On come the lights, we go in to see our new pup, and there she was sitting pretty, with a nice little package for us. We firmly believe she quite literally scared the "crap" out of herself by howling. (as a side note, she has never howled again)
After weeks of sleepless nights and regular carpet cleanings she finally settled right in.
We did take her back to the Humane Society when she was about 6 months old. All of the volunteers were quite attached to her and asked if we would bring her in so they could see how she was making out. It was quite the scene. There was me, standing in the lobby with her, a bag of food and a glum look on my face as I waited in line to donate the food and show her off. The volunteers kept looking at us sideways, my loving husband pointed out the obvious, that we looked like we were giving her back. Well didn't that start the giggles going. As we approached the counter I gave them the bag of food. As they sighed expectantly and started grabbing some papers, I let them know at that point that this was Emma...don't you guys remember her! That got the party started. They all came running around the counter, loving her up, commenting on how beautiful she was, how big she had gotten. You haven't seen such happy people.
5 years later, and still some sleepless nights, we wouldn't trade her for the world.
Here's to many many many more years to come.....

Shannon had wanted a cat for a long time but wanted to make sure she got the right cat. Her last one was a fruit loop... wild and mean.
This time she wanted a cat that would be okay with all the kids and a cat that would allow each person to handle it a lot and think that they were the cats favourite. She also wanted a kind of big cat, female, not frail so she would fit into the family, as well she must be a cat with a sweet personality.
So, she visited Petsmart and told them what she was looking for in a pet. They said..."Oh, then this is your cat! "
Bina fits into Shannon's family like a glove!
First she is a chatty Cathy, She talks a lot along with everyone else in the family.
She is good at ruff and tumble and loves to cuddle as well.
If you show her, her brush she lays down on the floor and grabs the carpet with her claws so you can give her a really good brushing
But she is also a big baby that likes to be held and carried around
She is a total character with family members. MacKenna plays with her and can get her to do flips. Zachary can pick her up and hold her like a baby for a long period of time anytime he wants. But she is Shannon's cat, yet when anyone leaves the house she mourns for them like she will never see them again.
She licks furniture, window blinds and doorways- quite a sight!
It is hysterical she, will walk under the dining room chairs and stop and lick them.
What a character, indeed!

We just decided 6 months before we got her that we wanted another golden...Grendel was getting older and we knew that the new pup would "learn" from Grendel...
But the breeder we got Grendel from wasn't breeding any longer, so she recommended this breeder in the Hudson River Valley of New York...about an hour and a half away...
The breeders place was way off the beaten track...high on a hill with lots of land and a big barn on the property.
There were about 5 of his own goldens all over the place and we watched then play for a long time.
Then he took us to the barn and opened this little door in the back...out came 4 puppies about 11 weeks old... And Lija was going NUTS trying to get at me! So I immediately "knew" she was the one, so I picked her up and she started licking me all over the face and "singing' and "smiling" the whole time! We let her play with the big goldens for awhile and she was running all over the place with them. Finally we gave the breeder the check and put her in the front seat for the long drive home. Boy was she dirty...and she smelled...
Grendel was in the back seat and she couldn't care less that we had another dog with us... Grendel was always the more sophisticated dog...Lija was a wild puppy and Grendel was very mellow... So we finally get home and I immediately take her out to the woods and meadow and we went down the path to visit with my neighbours who were waiting with baited breath to meet her and of course followed that with a bath.
Soon we got into a daily routine...a long walk in nature in the morning (always with Grendel, of course) and she was housebroken within 1 day...