I think it is important to know my history with pets. I've always had a pet - at least as long as I can remember. Growing up on a farm there was always a cat or dog that found its way into our home. But I think it is more important to share our relationship with our furry family today. My husband and I share our lives with four rescue pets. They all have different stories and they are truly members of our family. We have two cats - a five year old orange tabby named Dorito and an eight year old calico named Patchwork. Dorito was found wandering a grocery store parking lot late at night and taken in by a rescue group. Patchwork was found on the side of the road with her mother and sibling that had been hit by a car. My husband literally nursed her by hand. And we have two rescued dogs - a 12 year old border collie/golden retriever mix that was left with his siblings (9 of them) on our family farm. We found homes for all of them and his sister is with my mother. The other dog is our most recent rescue - a seven month old Labrador named Oslo that was rescued by an amazing rescue group in Nashville. We hadn't planned on adding to our family but an unexpected tragedy led us to Oslo. Our hearts were broken in March 2018 when we lost our beloved Delilah to cancer. Delilah, a Yellow Labrador had been a companion to Samson her entire 10 years. She was rescued by me from a kill shelter and she literally became the heart of our family. Her sickness was thankfully short and she didn't suffer. But I didn't think I would ever recover. I remember the good times and the grief doesn't hurt as much. And then there is Oslo. My husband and I weren't the only ones grieving. Samson had been by her side for ten years and he seemed to be aging right in front of us. So we knew we needed to find him a companion. And that search led us to Oslo. We hadn't sought out another Yellow Labrador but we were led to him. He's hyper, smart and can be somewhat annoying at times. But he's become best friends with Samson and when he isn't being super annoying with the cats too. We've become part of a training and obedience group and he's achieved his AKC Star Puppy certification and in the spring will work on his AKC Canine Good Citizenship certification. In addition to our four current fur-babies, we've lost two others over the years. Cheetoh was another orange tabby who died of kidney cancer at the age of 16. He was also rescued from a kill shelter as a kitten. Miss Kitty was a black cat who lived to the age of 21 and was rescued from the family farm and that I inherited from my grandmother when she passed away. I have administered medication to both cats and dogs - dogs are easier; giving a pill to a cat is kind of like wrestling a hairy tornado. I will treat your dogs like its a member of the family - because they are family.