| PUBLISHED DECEMBER 31, 2012 |
| The year 2012 turned out to be quite a roller coaster ride for our family, both 2- and 4-legged. As we close out the year, we all look forward to a better year coming up without any more serious health issues. We had to say goodbye to two of our beloved pack members during 2012. We lost our April earlier this year. Then on October 4 we lost Benji at the age of 16. He fought hard to stay with us a bit longer but his body was very tired. Diagnosed with cancer in March of 2012, he was only given 2 months to live but his spirit was not willing to adhere to that prediction. He finally told us his time had come 7 months after diagnosis. |
| When Benji began his journey to Rainbow Bridge, Bailey became our oldest pack member at the age of 14. She does enjoy sleeping a lot and has lost her hearing, but a good game of "fetch the tennis ball" and swimming with packmate, Rusty, are also high on her list of ways to pass the time. |
| Bailey's two oldest daughters are now 12 years old. Holly has gone nearly deaf now but both Holly and Sarah are enjoying their senior years. |
| Rusty is 10 years old and is beginning to show his age although he can still swim laps in the swimming pool for 30 minutes at a time. He has some digestive issues and also suffers from a type of muscular degeneration, but remains active. |
| Jennie is Bailey's youngest daughter at 8 years old. She's a bit overweight but we're working on that. |
| Oh yes, then we have the Weenies, Amber and Max. They'll turn 9 years old in January. |
| Earlier this year we welcomed Annie to the family. The story of her arrival can be found on our last update page released in June. She has turned into a very loving, wonderful girl who will turn 5 years old in March. |
| NEWS FLASH! Since September we have welcomed 3 new girls to our family. Autumn and Shelby were the first to arrive. Autumn is 4 years old and Shelby is 9 months old. They have both blossomed in our family and I just can't imagine not having them here with us. Please meet Autumn and Shelby. |
| With the arrival of Peppermint Patty (AKA Pepper), our family is now complete. Pepper has only been with us a week but she's already dug her way deep into our hearts. Pepper is 7 months old. |
| SOME BAD NEWS During the second half of 2012 we noticed that Amber was having some difficulty with her vision. Her distance vision didn't seem too bad, but she couldn't focus on items that were right in front of her. Our vet suggested we take her to see an eye specialist. Sadly Amber was diagnosed with an inherited condition called PRA, or "Progressive Retinal Atrophy". The bottom line is that our girl will lose her sight. There isn't a timeline for this to happen, and we're giving her supplements to try and give her more time to keep her vision. One day at a time on this one. |
| My next news item really doesn't affect the dogs directly but it sure has had our lives in chaos since August when we decided to tear down our old family room and have it rebuilt and remodeled. The dogs have had to live with the confusion of constantly having their access to their bathroom area in the yard moved. Here are a few photos of what we've all had to live with. And I must add that I'm very proud of the way the dogs have handled all of this. I wish I could say that much for myself. |
| In August, the old walls started to come down |
| Suddenly we found ourselves with walls made out of tarps. |
| This contraption was sitting in our driveway for a month! |
| The tarp walls and roof came down during a windstorm. The above photo shows part of the plywood path we put up for the dogs to lead the way to their yard and keep them from getting into the construction area. |
| Finally, some progress! |
Cinder blocks are delivered. |
| The tarp is our makeshift roof with the dogs' plywood path in the background. |
| Finally we have walls again. The dogs have their own door under the window. Still a tarp roof! |
| We have 1/2 roof! |
| And finally the entire roof is on. The construction company's work is almost done. John will complete the interior. Hopefully we'll have a completed room by 2014! (Just Kidding) |
| Moving on....do we have the sleepy dogs or what! Annie demonstrates her talent for naps. |
| Bailey coming in a close second! |
| GUESS WHO! I do believe it's newcomer, Shelby! |
| And of course, the beautiful Autumn! |
| And, the baby of the family....our sweet Pepper. |
| And in keeping with the holiday season, here are the CHRISTMAS DOGS! |
| Max and Amber show off their holiday best! |
| HOW WE SPEND OUR DAYS! |
| A little tug here and a little tug there! |
| A little neck biting! |
| If I can't see you, then you can't see me! (Right??) |
| Amber learns how to strengthen her mind by playing card games with Dad and learning Kong skills from Shelby! |
| Shelby looks to her big sis for guidance. |
| And some extra advice from Holly. |
| Perfecting the art of proper chewing. |
| The joy of discovery! |
| Secrets to tell! |
| Just Being Together! |
| Candid Jacks! |
| Being Silly! |
| Loving the Camera! |
| BEST WISHES FOR A WONDERFUL 2013! |
| Autumn, Shelby, and Pepper don't have their own personal page yet as they've only been with us a short time. I do plan to include a personal web page for each of them soon. |
| After six long years, we finally have another update page. Please Click Below To Visit Us In 2018 |
