Meet Our Fur Family

Before the babies, there were fur babies. Say hello to our crew.

Brooke’s fur babies (that are all in desperate need of a haircut):

Pants

Just before my husband and I got married, we picked up Mr. Pan, a Jackapoo, at a local pet shop. He was the last puppy left of his litter and had sad little eyes. He looked so calm and gentle sitting there and hubby said he was the one. As soon as we brought him home, his giant bunny like ears perked up (which he wouldn’t show me for these pictures) and he started bouncing all over the place. We originally named him Jake, but me being me, gave him a random nick name over time and Mr. Pants stuck. Forever loyal and the best listener, he remains the king of our little pack of animals, even though he is the smallest and now the grayest.

Cha

A year after we adopted Mr. Pan, my animal hoarding began. However, I didn’t know it at the time. I wanted to pick up just one more dog for Pants to play with during the day. So, I drove back out to the same pet store and found the smallest, fluffiest marshmallow of a dog I could find. Cha, a Malchi, joined our family looking like a little walking cotton ball. Instead of bouncing off the walls, he has always been a gentle and lazy little guy, who prefers to spend his days eating and sleeping. So, you can imagine, Cha is also a bit on the chunky side. He isn’t the best listener, unless you’re shaking a treat jar while calling him.

Buddy Lee

I promise we were going to stop at two dogs until we took a trip floating the river. We were with a group of friends, all tied out in inner tubes and canoes when we hit a patch of the River that had a few small rapids. We look over and see this big brown lab struggling to stay above water. My husband jumps out of his canoe and grabs the dog and we bring him aboard. He lacked any tags to find his owner and we didn’t spot any houses nearby so we had no clue how long Mr. B Lee had been swimming down river. So, he came home with us. He is big, goofy and has a big ol heart. He may dig holes sometimes but hey, dogs gotta do what a dogs gotta do.

Now, I mentioned I hoarded quite a few animals prior to having babies. In addition to our three dogs we also have two cats, that I just had to have two of so they could be friends. Turns out, cats don’t need friends. Also turns out when you adopt one too many animals and then have two kids, it’s quite the chaotic mess sometimes. But it sure is a lot of fun!

When you have a heard of dogs, what do you feed them? Well, when you take into account that Cha has a few allergies and both he and Buddy Lee are slightly overweight, the mix can get a little difficult. Plus, we do love our dogs like family, so we try not to just feed them anything. We recently stumbled upon Petbrosia, a website that lets you customize food blends for your dog or cat based on their breed, activity level and overall health! They also take into account any allergies the animal may have. The entire process was really easy and fun and the ingredient list on each blend we received was full of whole ingredients. So, you know you’re not feeding the one you love something sketchy.

Mr. Pan with his custom blend that one of the cats so graciously opened for him.

Erica’s fur baby:

Marley

Marley was rescued during a camping trip that my husband and I took a little over 4 years ago.  I had just finished getting cleaned up in the bath house and was walking back to our friend’s camper when this sweet little black dog came darting towards me to greet me hello!  Apparently he had been hanging around the boys at the campsite while I was in the shower and they weren’t sure where he came from.  He had no collar, was underweight and was covered in ticks.  I thought he was like 6-8 months given how lanky he was and that maybe he was a leave behind by a previous camper (turns out he was actually estimated to be closer to a year and a half old).  Instantly I was in love with this dog.  He hung around my feet while we ate breakfast, sweeting sitting at my feet (surely hoping for scraps) and happily let me pick ticks off him.  A man from the campground eventually came by our site in his golf cart to tell us “our dog” needed to be leashed.  We told him that we don’t know who he belonged to, when he then realized who he was, stating that he came from the home of an older man who lived behind the campground.  He told us that he would frequently get loose, ending up at the campground in search of food and the guy had tried on several occasions to get previous campers to take him home due to his currently poor living situation. My heart sunk and I immediately knew I wanted to save this dog and take him home with me.  I told the guy that if the owner didn’t want him anymore, that I would happily adopt him.  Marley was taken to the campground office with me keeping my fingers crossed that his rotten owner would happily agree to me taking him off his hands. 

As soon as we got back from being out for the day, the campground guy came rolling up and asked if we would like to take him home.  I eagerly accepted!  The guy was nice enough to watch him for the night since we were staying in a friends camper and I had to run out to get some dog supplies.  Marley did great on the car ride home and quickly acclimated to his new home!  While not a picky eater, he loved his chicken flavor blend made just for him by Petbrosia!

Tell us about your fur babies!