In Loving memory of all of my pups, who are no longer with me:

	Panda, my little 'da, you started it all. Lost to me 11/2/2006.
	Sera, my wonderfully generous foster failure, you brought such joy. Lost to me 1/1/7/2008.
	Tonka, my goofy wild child ambassador, I am so lost without you. Lost to me 1/30/2008.

I have no danes of my own to love and cherish right now but I am fostering danes (and possibly other breeds). Find out about my fosters>>

Gone to the Dogs
My Life Will Never Be the Same

If you've gotten this far, I assume you've noticed that my life revolves around my two great danes? They are the reason I get up and go work every morning, and they help me to find laughter in my darkest hours. What wonderful companions they are to me, asking little of me except to feed them and to love them. In return, I receive unquestioning loyalty and love. And I get the biggest kick out of them and their silly, silly ways and their quirky personalities and their inability to understand or accept their size. Find out more about my pups using the links on your right!

And I've learned a lot from my dogs about life, boundaries, health, and behavior. With Panda, I've learned to be patient and take my time before reacting. Because Panda was fear aggressive, she did best with slow introductions to new people and places. As her person, I learned that it was my duty to protect her from the things she couldn't handle and encourage her to try new experiences. More importantly, I learned to take my cues from her. If she was uncomfortable, we left; if she was unsure, we slowly encouraged her to find out more. With Tonka, I learned to be happy for the little things. I learned to laugh at his joy when he barked because he was alive and free, and be happy for him when he saw a new person to be his friend. Tonka was open and free, yet he suffered from separation anxiety. To alleviate his anxiety, I was casual about coming and going. I altered my routines for leaving. And I encouraged independence. What a joyful pup he was! and what joy to be with him as he experienced life! Find out more about positive training and dog behavior>>

Together, we learned about natural diets and less traditional health care options. My pups have been on a BARF diet since 2000, and were vaccine free (except for rabies) since then as well. When they don't feel well, we try accupunture or chiropractic care, homeopathic medicines or even chinese herbal concoctions. It has been a long and educational journey that won't ever be complete and I recommend it to anyone who is willing to take the time to research. Find out more about diet/health>>

I take pictures occassionally and post them as I'm able. For the most part, the best pictures on this site were taken by my friend, Jen, who is an excellent photographer. Use the links to your right to find pictures

Last but certainly not least, the love I have for my pups led me straight to Great Dane Rescue. I've been a volunteer with the Mid-atlantic Great Dane Rescue League for over 11 years now. During 2002-2004, I was the Coordinator for the PA/DE chapter and a board member. Due to personal issues, I resigned as Coordinator in September of 2004. In November of that same year, I resigned as a board member because I no longer agreed with the spending policy of the organization. Nevertheless, I remain a volunteer and I firmly believe in MAGDRL's mission to care for danes and, in 2007, stepped back up as Coordinator for PA/DE chapter. If you are thinking about purchasing a pure-breed dog, please consider rescue as a sound alternative. Also, consider an older dog--what a nice way to get a great dog without the hassle of housebreaking, teething, and all of that fun puppy stuff! Find out more about MAGDRL>>

My devotion to my dogs also led me to start a seminar business with a friend. In April, 2005, Bambi and I started Nose2Nose, LLC. We offered dog-related seminars in various locations throughout PA and DE that are all about topics in which we are totally, 100% interested. Seminar topics included nutrition, behavior, training, and rescue topics we truly believe in. And we stocking products we firmly believe in as well. Unfortunately, we were so busy running the seminars, we missed out on most of the great speakers and information. Since that was our main goal, we closed up seminar shop in 2007 and voewed to attend at least 1-2 seminars a year elsewhere.