These are our best friends, our family dogs, both past and present.                                                                  

Sandy was my companion for 11 years when he died of liver problems, and we didn't even knew he drank.  His real name was Sandy Paws, we got him on Christmas Eve.  He went to work at the store I had every day with me, and had a lot of friends there.  When we got him we also got his sister Beatrice Bear, she looked like a bear cub when we got her.  She was killed on the highway during a thunderstorm.  Sandy stayed by her for about two hours, when he finally came home we went and found her.  He never got over being afraid of thunder, and had problems with the sound of tires on the highway when it was raining.  

This is  Jessie our older dog when she was young

Now she has gained a lot of weight and has arthritis.  She even has a wheel chair for when she can't walk or has to walk a long way.  Found it off www.petswithdisabilities.com  a great site if you have a dog with a disability. The actual company for the wheelchairs is www.eddieswheels.com . When Sandy the dog in the picture with the clear fairy was sick and didn't want to eat she was willing to help him out eating chicken livers, meatballs, double cheeseburgers, any thing I could tempt Sandy with.  So she gained a lot of weight and it put her down, so she got the wheel chair and a diet.  So we put her on a diet, she lost about 25 pounds, so with that and swimming every day this summer she is back on her feet, she can get around the house and go outside for things that doggies do outside, don't know how winter is going to treat her.  She needs assistance getting up steps and into the vans, but she is still happy  and very bossy around the house, I seem to have lost my couch, when I want to sit on it she is there and doesn't share well.  She can get up on my couch without assistance, so she can do what she wants if she wants to do it bad enough. She misses going hunting, but is still Jerry's constant companion, goes everywhere in the pick-up with him.  She was so sweet when Sandy died, she was laying by Jerry's feet not even being jealous because he was paying attention to Sandy, then she got up, licked him on the nose, and went over to lay under the computer where they have a bed.  Two minutes later he died, she must have been saying goodbye to him.

Now we have said goodbye to Jessie.  We had to take her for her final trip to the Vet.  She could no longer stand, even when she had to go out, she had to be carried and held up.  She also had a growth in her tummy at the end.  She had a good last day, since she could eat up a storm, she had cans of dog food and a round steak that was given out in pieces. We even got a sympathy card signed by everyone at the Vet's Hospital, which was so nice.  So now she had joined Lucky, one of our first pets from North Carolina, Bear and Sandy in the family grave site by the big rock. 

This picture was taken on vacation last year, we were out on the boat fishing, it was cold and rainy so she had a towel and tarp over her, Maggie didn't bother. When we do vacations they are always somewhere that we can take the dogs.  Once a year it is to Crane Lake, Minnesota to fish.  We have done houseboats, cabins, an apartment and a condo there.

**************************************

       This sweet little puppy is Maggie, the "Puppy from Hell"

This little darling came into our life after Sandy died.  Isn't she sweet, she is supposed to be collie and chow, but she has short hair and webbed feet so there is something else in there too.  After you've had older dogs you tend to forget about puppies and how they act.  So we had two "houses", a pen for the house and one for my van, and she spent a lot of time in puppy jail, the one in the house is gone now and the one in the van is only used once in a while.  Of course Jessie thinks she should be taken back to the pound, she forgets that she came from a pound too.  Jerry calls Maggie the little "sinister".  She is almost a year old, she was about six months old in the photo above, now the legs are long and can take her running and hunting really fast.  She can disappear in an instant, in fact we had to get a training collar for her for a while, but now she comes when we call or get out the boat whistle.  I guess we are both going to live through this, for a while I thought one of us wasn't going to make it until she grew up.  Since I wrote the praise above she ate part of the arm off the passenger seat of my van, now she doesn't want to see it, she knows she was bad, but I've forgiven her, for now, until she does something else.  If you like to travel with your pets there is a web site that lists motels, campgrounds, even restaurants where you can take your best friend, it is www.petswelcome.com                

A grown up Maggie on the boat last year.  She loves the water but not swimming.  She wades in until only her head and tail are out, sometimes she gets a fish nibble and jumps and is out of the water in a flash.  She also likes to chase waves. 

Now that Jessie is gone she is the big girl around here, not a puppy any more, but still my puppy and constant companion.  When I do craft shows with the jewelry she is very put out and waits not so patiently for me to come home.

*************************************

  And now there is Lindy.  My friend Linda's dog had two puppies in December and in February Lindy came to live with us.  On her first trip to Dr. Collins we were told that she was too healthy.  Another puppy from hell, I guess you forget what it is like having a puppy around after having older dogs.  Although there is really something wrong with her, the only things she has ruined are some branches on a bush outside and a rhododendron bush we bought at Biltmore House, but they should both survive.  She hasn't chewed anything, just plays with her toys and shakes them and growls at them.  We have been really lucky with her, and she travels well so the trip to South Dakota and Minnesota in July shouldn't be too bad.  We have even done away with the puppy jail and she is four months old, usually Labs eat your house until they are two.          

And now Lindy is a year old and a big girl.  About 75 pounds of Lab.  And she is her Daddy's girl, she has to go everywhere with Jerry and really whines up a storm if he goes somewhere and leaves her at home.  She loves to swim and has never seen a piece of food she didn't like.  In the winter she loves to roll in the snow, actually dives into it and roll over.

a