The Kids

Miss Molly
1996 - 2004

Miss Molly came to live with me in Virginia in 1996,  when she was about five weeks old.  A co-worker of my ex-husband had brought a kennel full of puppies into work to see if anyone wanted one.  Miss Molly crawled right into my lap and it was love at first site. We had to think about it though as we already had three dogs at home.

It only took a couple of days for me to decide we needed to bring her to live with us.  When I went to pick her up I found out her mom and the rest of the puppies had already gone to the shelter...so I always have considered her a rescue girl. 

In Sept. of 2002 she began to limp on her right rear leg, by the end of the week there was swelling.  X-rays confirmed our worse fears, Molly had Osteosarcoma (bone cancer).  We immediately had the leg amputated and chemo treatments started at Oradell Animal Hospital 

Although given six months to one year of survival Miss Molly is coming up on her two year anniversary of surviving cancer.  Unfortunately in July of this year Molly started limping on her left front leg, within two weeks it began to swell.  X-rays haven't confirmed it's cancer yet, and I take her back to work on Monday, August 16th. to x-ray again and compare to first ones.  We're keeping optimistic at this time and hope our worse fears aren't confirmed.

Unfortunately our fears were confirmed and Molly had a soft tissue cancer.  We decided not to take any drastic measures and keep her as comfortable as possible.  We let her go on 9/11  out in our backyard, laying in the sun.  She'll be missed terribly.

Finnegan

Finnegan came to live with us in April of 2001 at the age of 8 months (his birthday is 9/2/2000).  He's a chocolate lab who made his way to the U.S. all the way from Finland.  He was originally bought by a breeder, who then decided he didn't have "the look" he wanted.  After bringing him home and getting to know him we figured it was due more to his behavior.  You see, Finnegan is a big chicken baby, he's basically scared of everything and everyone except for myself and Melissa.  He tolerates Stephen, but is still leery. 

Finnegan wouldn't hurt a fly, but shows how scared he is by drooling...big pools of drool.  I took him to a puppy kindergarten class just to get him around other people and dogs.  It helped some, but we realize Finnegan will never change and we're so happy to have him in our lives.  He's a very good boy, smart too, and will follow any command.  He's a "mama's boy" though and follows me everywhere I go.

Razz

Razz came to us in November of 2001, four months after we lost our first Dalmatian, Chase.  We just couldn't live without that quirky Dalmatian personality.  In October I had seen a picture of Razz in the local paper advertising dog's available at the Pequannock Animal Shelter  Of course being a softy I thought "poor girl", but figured she'd be adopted soon.  One month later she was in the paper and I couldn't resist going in to check her out.  Of course it was love at first site, so I had to go home and tell Stephen about her.  He too went to see her and we brought her home the next day.

We don't know a whole lot about Razz's previous life before us.  Her birthday is October 11, 1995 and she was originally purchased from a nasty pet shop in the area.  The reason listed for giving her up was "when playing with other dog in family they would knock a toddler down."  She also has scars on her head and on her left elbow.  We don't know if she had been hit by a car or had surgery on the elbow...it's all a mystery.  

When she first came home we fondly referred to her as a Chia Pet.  She was so obese she had this tiny head and big fat body.  She was so fat she couldn't roll over on her side.  She also had terrible skin problems, but we've taken care of that with a change in diet.  We were also going to rename her, but Razz suits her because she's a little bit of a spazz.

She can get over excited and go after the other dogs.  We've taught her how to control that urge by grabbing a toy instead.  She's very hard headed and we're lucky we have experience with dogs as she's a hand full.  She's very loving though and we wouldn't give her up for the world.

Lily (aka Peanut)

Lily came to us in March of 2003.  Working in an Animal Hospital I see a lot of rescue kitties come in, but not very many puppies.  On this particular day a  CLAWS representative brought in four puppies.  I helped her by bringing one of the carriers in and when I opened it in the room out jumped this little dapple dachshund puppy.  Again, love at first site, so I called Stephen at work and told him I had his anniversary present for him.  He reminded me our anniversary wasn't until June, but I told him it was an early present.  I put in an application for Lily and we picked her up that Saturday.

Lily's birthday is November 1, 2002 and she's the queen of the house.  She's a daddy's girl and gets away with anything cause she's so darn cute.  She originally came from a pet store that was closing down.  We've never been able to completely housebreak her (which is a pain in the neck) and we've recently learned that while we're gone she constantly paces her kennel.  Stephen has tried helping this by getting her a bigger play pen and filling it with toys, water, a new bed and various treats.  Still pacing, but at least she has more room to pace now. (UPDATE: 3/5/05) Lily no longer stays in a kennel, she has free roam of the basement while we're out and does much better.  She also blew a disc in Nov. 2004 and was confined to a crate.  She's no longer allowed to do the steps, so we have baby gates all over the place.

She's great with the other dogs, and all of them allow her to cuddle up with them.  Her favorite place to be is on the couch nesting in the cushions.  Her next favorite place laying beside Finnegan.

Ruby

Ruby came to live with us on January 2nd of 2005, via my irresponsible father.  I had gone down to Virginia to visit during the holidays and he decided he wanted a dog.  I tried to talk him out of a puppy, but he had his mind set on one from a friend's litter.  Ruby is an American Bulldog mix and was born in mid-October (we're going to celebrate on the 15th).  My father had her for a total of two days when he figured out puppies take a lot of responsibility.  He was going to take her back, but I couldn't bare the thought of it.  You see, her mother was full bred AB, unspayed and chained to a dog house which was about 100 yds. from the house.  I didn't want Ruby to grow up the same way and lead a miserable life...especially since she's such a well behaved puppy.  She was already house broken and is a joy to be around...her only fault is...she's a puppy!!  You know how puppies get into everything.  Her worse behavior is playing and eating dog poop...her most endearing habit is curling up beside me in bed at night.