I am a definite pet person. I love having a pet around the house, but I am a one kind of pet only. Growing up we had several dogs and my dad fed (maybe still does) all the stray cats around the neighborhood. I also had a hamster, or probably more than 1, but they always escaped and died. I am very much a dog person, so when my husband and I got married, I really wanted a dog of my own.

The first dog we got had 1/4 wolf in him. He was a great dog, but was very independent and didn’t listen very well. He was hit by a car one day when he ran off to go fishing. He was about 2 years old. Even though I wanted this dog, he was my husbands for sure.

The second dog we got was a husky/German shepherd mix. He was my dog. He went everywhere with me. He was way better trained than the first dog and I absolutely loved that dog. He developed cancer in his foot when he was about 5 years old. We had his leg cut off because the vet assured us the cancer was slow growing and they could get it all. They didn’t. He died about 6 months later. I was heart broken.

About 6 months later we got a third dog. By then we had 2 kids. This dog was definitely the kids dog. I got pregnant shortly after we got him and I couldn’t be around him without getting nauseas. We bathed him, but I could still smell him. He was ok trained until one day he was attacked by 2 Pitbull’s that had wandered onto our property. He almost died. He developed a huge amount of anxiety from that experience. That was when he was 2 years old. When he was about 8, he developed a lump on his foot and we found out it was cancer as well. We didn’t trust the vets to cut off his leg this time, and we had him put to sleep about 4 or 5 months later.

This was enough for me, I was heartbroken and tired of our dogs dying, especially from cancer. So I decided we were done with pets all together. I maintained that for close to 10 years. But, one of my daughter’s really wanted a dog. About 2 1/2 years ago, I was selling art at the Farmer’s Market, when someone walked around the market with a sign advertising puppies in the parking lot. I couldn’t resist and went to look.

I called my daughter and she came and looked. She went home with one of those adorable puppies, an Asian shepherd/German shepherd mix. I was instantly in love with this puppy. My husband, who is not a dog person per se, was not as pleased initially, but you wouldn’t know that now. While she is my daughter’s dog, she has been such a wonderful addition to our family.

I don’t know what caused the cancer in our 2 previous dogs. I kind of wonder if it was the food we were feeding them, so I encouraged my daughter to get a higher quality food. The vet said she had picked a good brand. She is such a well behaved dog, and she is so easy to train. We have truly enjoyed her as part of our family. We shall see how her life plays out, but we will love her as long as she is with us.