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In Loving memory of all of my pups, who are no longer with me:
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Panda, my little 'da, you started
it all. Lost to me 11/2/2006. |
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Sera, my wonderfully generous
foster failure, you brought such joy. Lost to me 1/1/7/2008. |
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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 is fear aggressive, she does
best with slow introductions to new people and places. As her guardian,
I've learned that it's my duty to protect her from the things she
can't handle and encourage her to try new experiences. More importantly,
I've learned to take my ques from her. If she's uncomfortable, we
leave; if she's unsure, we slowly encourage her to find out more.
With Tonka, I've learned to be happy for the little things. I've
learned to laugh at his joy when he barks because he is alive and
free, and be happy for him when he sees a new person to be his friend.
Tonka is open and free, yet he does suffer from separation anxiety.
To alleviate his anxiety, I'm casual about coming and going. I alter
my routines for leaving. And I encourage independence. What a joyful
pup he is! and what joy to be with him as he experiences life! Find
out more about positive training and dog behavior>>
Together, we've learned about natural diets and less traditional
health care options. My pups have been on a BARF diet since 2000,
and have been 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 6 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. 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.

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