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 Residents aka "OUR STAFF" Oreo is the true matriarch of our family. She even pre-dates Tony!!! I purchased Oreo in 1995 as a tiny kitten from a Persian cat breeder in the Dallas area. This was long before being introduced to the world of rescue, and realizing how many perfectly adoptable and sometimes even purebred animals are euthanized in shelters across the country every single day. Nonetheless, Oreo was a perfect pet then and she still is today. Like most Persians, she's quiet and low key. Mostly she's just sweet and well mannered. She's witnessed a lot of foster animals in and out of our home over the years, but seems quite confident that her position here is secure......and it is. Oreo has been a constant in my life for many years now. She's a little slower these days and sleeps a lot more, but she's still my #1 girl and she knows it!!  Tony and I adopted Dakota as a puppy in the spring of 1998. We wanted two puppies that could grow up not only with us, but with each other. We researched breeds for quite some time and finally decided on the Chow Chow. They're most often not barkers or chewers. They're not known for digging in the yard much either. They're clean dogs and very easy to house train. All this good information made them sound like the perfect breed for us! The one thing we didn't take seriously enough was the part about them being extremely loyal to their owners. Sometimes that can be too much of a good thing. Chows are not for the inexperienced dog owner. They're wonderful dogs, but their temperament can sometimes be quite a challenge. Early socialization is instrumental in molding their personalities to accept humans and other animals. We enrolled Dakota & her sidekick, Maverick, in puppy classes with a trainer from the get go. We took them everywhere we went so they could be exposed to many different people and situations. We were, and still are, committed Chow Chow owners. But we soon realized that no amount of training and/or socialization were ever going to help Dakota overcome being people and animal aggressive. That's just her personality, and unfortunately that can be typical chow behavior. Certainly not all Chows are like our Dakota. There are many out there that have the gentleness of most Golden Retrievers........ but not our Dakota. She loves Tony and I. She loves Maverick. And oddly enough she's befriended "Meanie", a foster cat that's too cantankerous to ever be adopted. We've accepted the fact that he'll probably be our cat forever. We've caught the two hanging out together on more than one occasion and have yet to be able to apply much logic to their odd friendship. Most other critters that dare to venture onto Dakota's turf don't fare very well. There have been many times that Tony or I have distracted Dakota in order to allow a transient squirrel, raccoon or even a possum make their way back through the wrought iron fencing surrounding our yard before being noticed by her. All that being said, Dakota has been a wonderfully loyal companion to us as well as to Maverick, her partner since puppyhood. They've been inseparable. She's always catered to Maverick in a "motherly" sort of way. Now at this juncture in their lives and with Maverick's total blindness, she's his eyes to help him get along. They have a truly amazing friendship. And did I mention that Dakota would choose Tony over me any day of the week???? She's definitely daddy's girl!  Maverick joined our family in the spring of 1998 on the same weekend as Dakota. He was the cutest little ball of fluff we'd ever seen, making it impossible for us not to bring him home that very day. Maverick doesn't have that typical Chow Chow personality. He never has. He's been a snuggle bug since the day we brought him home. He cried so much that first night that we got him a fleece "baby" to sleep with for comfort. He's carried that thing around with him ever since. Heaven only knows how many of those "babies" we've gone through over the years. Once it begins to look a little worse for wear, and can't possibly be washed one more time without falling apart at the seams, we throw it out and quickly replace it with a new one. We keep a stash of fleece babies in reserve so we never run out!!! I think it's pretty safe to say that Maverick is responsible for my overwhelming affection for dogs. Maybe once or twice in a lifetime you're lucky enough to have a true bond with a dog, and he's been the one for me. Like any good dog mom though, I never show favoritism!!! Maverick has been our faithful companion for all these years and we love him so much. This past year he's encountered some real challenges with Glaucoma and has since lost both eyes. As traumatic as it was for us, Maverick came through like a true champ! He's taught us so much about making the best out of every situation and forging through the tough times. He even won the Pet of the Year Contest in our community for 2008!!!! That's our boy!!!  We literally scooped up Snickers from the middle of the road on October 2, 1999. We remember that day vividly because we were on our way home from a family reunion. It was just after dark and cars were coming and going in both directions. When our headlights caught something moving and I realized from the tiny silhouette that it was a kitten, I asked Tony to stop the car immediately. I got out and coaxed her over to me, fearing that if I approached her too quickly she'd be frightened and might run into oncoming traffic. Fortunately she came right to me as if she had been waiting for us to find her. She was small and very thin. She also had several gashes on her face and body, but immediately started purring when I picked her up. While Tony pulled over to the side of the road to avoid further traffic, I went door to door trying to find her owner. She was so pretty and so friendly, we just knew that someone was really missing their beloved pet. Surely someone was looking for her, right??? We were surprised to discover that nobody knew anything about her or where she came from. Not wanting to leave her behind, we decided to take her home with us until her owner could be found. We did all the things you do when you find a lost pet. We called all the vet's offices, the shelter, and watched our local newspaper for a "lost kitten" ad. Nothing. In the meantime, I took Snickers to our vet and he estimated her to be about 6 months old. Not wanting to expose Oreo to any possible feline diseases, we opted to go ahead and run the usual battery of tests on Snickers and then vaccinate her just to be safe. A short time later we decided to go ahead and have her spayed knowing this would only make her more adoptable since she hadn't yet been claimed. By then, we realized that this little bundle of personality actually fit into our family quite well. She waltzed into our home that night in early October like she owned the place, and has never looked back. Even though Snickers runs circles around Oreo on a daily basis, Oreo absolutely loves her. They do most everything together and they provide good company for one another. At this point, we can't imagine Oreo being an only cat. Snickers just seems to complete her.  Yukon just showed up on our doorstep early one morning in January of 2000. He was probably drawn to our house because we were doing some remodeling at the time and there was plenty of activity outside. He apparently came up to introduce himself to our painter, Ken. Immediately we noticed his stunning blue eyes, and thought he was the most beautiful dog we'd ever seen. We were certain he was lost. We called a local boarding facility in the area to make sure there had been no recent escapees. With Yukon being an obvious purebred, it was hard to comprehend why he might be roaming the neighborhood unattended. He was wearing a dirty, tattered blue collar that was too small for him. It had to have been uncomfortable being that tight around his neck. He had no tags attached to his collar, so his story remained a mystery. We called the vet's offices and the local newspaper to post a "found" ad, and then decided to put him in our backyard where he'd be safe until his owner could be located. Over the next few days, we decided to take him to our vet so we could gain a little insight into his approximate age and condition. Dr. Wilson estimated him to be somewhere around 2 years old and relatively healthy. He was a bit underweight, but other than that was in good shape. At the vet's office we also discovered that Yukon still had old stitches in tact from a past neuter surgery. They were long overdue for removal, so we took care of that while we were there. With no information on his medical history, we decided to go ahead and get his vaccinations as well. Weeks passed with no owner stepping up to claim Yukon. It was apparent that Yukon had settled in quite nicely and made himself at home with us. We were equally smitten with him, so all was well. Yukon absolutely loved running laps around our yard and seemed tireless most days. He dug, he chewed, he playfully destroyed everything in sight, but he was also the most gentle and intriguing dog we'd ever been around. This being our first experience with a Siberian Husky, we quickly learned what a spirited breed they are. If Yukon ever figured out a way to get over, under or through our fence, he would run to Arizona before ever looking back. He was quite the challenge. Very soon after Yukon became an official member of our family, we took him to Dallas for a much needed stay at obedience school. Upon his arrival there, his trainer acknowledged that Yukon would be his greatest challenge...hands down. The independent nature of the Siberian Husky preceded him. Yukon emerged from his class the same free spirit he was when he entered. We embrace our Yuke for what he is. He's proved himself over and over to us throughout the years, and we've never once regretted providing him with a place to call home........no matter how many things we had to replace in those early years. He's definitely been worth it!!  Shiloh is the smartest dog we have around here - hands down. He's fluent in 3 languages, and he understands everything we say. We're convinced he even knows what we're thinking most of the time. His arrival was in and around around the same time that Yukon showed up. I can remember seeing him around the neighborhood back then and wondering who he belonged to. We spend a lot of time outside, and Shiloh seemed to always hang around when we were working in our yard or visiting with the neighbors. Oddly enough nobody seemed to know anything about him or where he came from. As impressive as he was, we already had enough mouths to feed and weren't interested in yet another. No way, no how! Pretty soon Shiloh began sleeping on our front porch at night and always greeting us with a hearty tail wag each morning when we'd open the front door to leave for work. We began to wonder if he was eating at any of the neighbor's houses. Was he hungry? Did he miss his family? Was he dumped in our neighborhood by someone that could no longer care for him? What exactly was his story? Haunted by the notion that he wasn't being regularly fed, we bought a raised doggie diner and kept it outside with food and water in it just in case he got hungry. Shiloh seemed most appreciative. Then one night the temperature turned bitter cold, or should I say as cold as Texas can get in the winter. The wind was howling and it was just plain miserable. I layed in bed thinking of Shiloh outside. He had a covered area to sleep, but nothing to keep him warm. I quietly got up and went downstairs to retrieve blankets to make a bed for Shiloh on our porch. At least he'd be warm for the night. When I opened the door, that dog was never so happy to see anyone in his life. He was literally curled up sleeping on the threshold of our front door. I put together a warm bed for him and he crawled right in it. You could just see the relief on his face when he snuggled in for the remainder of the night. That was the last night Shiloh ever spent outside. I'll never forget the look in his eyes when I brought him those blankets. This dog deserved better and we were determined to see that he got it.  Sierra Clementine
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