In our house we love dogs. My wife tries to proclaim she likes cats better, but I am not sure I believe her. We are or at least I am a dog person through and through.

We have been fortunate to bring so many different dogs into our home over the years. Some dogs came to us as puppies and lived with us until old age. Other dogs came to us later in life and stayed with us to the end. Sometimes doge we thought would stay with us forever couldn’t. We also had foster dogs come through our house on their way to finding their forever home.

From 7 dogs to 3

At one point we had as many as 7 dogs living with us. I don’t think we ever foresaw that happening, even though when we first moved into our ow home we quickly went from 2 dogs to 4 and then had 5 dogs living with us in fairly short order. We have never been shy about adding a new dog or dogs to our home.

Right now we are trying to slow things down a little bit. At least, by slow down I mean have fewer dogs. There have been times when I have felt that having a lot of dogs makes it hard to spend as much time with each dog as I would like and just give them the one on one attention they deserve. So right now we are committed to having fewer dogs. Well, at least I am committed to having fewer dogs. Other people in our house are constantly sending me pictures of dogs available for adoption.

At this time our house is a house of extremes in our dogs. We currently have three dogs. The fewest dogs we have had in a long, long time.

Mojo

We have Mojo. Mojo is our senior citizen dog. Our 15 year old white Siberian Husky. He has been with us since he was a puppy. He’s always been like living with a ghost. He has always liked to be alone and only comes to see the humans when he wants to. Now as a senior dog this is even more the case. Mojo also likes to just stay outside as much as possible. When he was younger he would spend a lot of time outside because that was what he liked, but now we find ourselves making sure he is not outside too long due to his old age. I think if we didn’t go out of our way to check on Mojo these days we might not ever see him.

Colton

We love all dogs, but we really love Bernese Mountain Dogs. Currently we only have one Bernese Mountain Dog. Colton is our first solo Bernese Mountain Dog. WE love on him a lot. Colton is a super chill and relaxed dog. He doesn’t move around or get excited much. You would never think he is only three years old. He definitely doesn’t act like a young dog. But his calm gentle demeanor makes him perfect for taking on road trips and takin gout to events. Colton loves to get out in public to see people. There really is no level of love and attention that Colton will not accept especially from strangers. It’s funny because he is not a particularly lovey and snuggly dog at home, but he loves being out amongst other people and having people stop to see him and pet him.

River

On the far extreme from either of these dogs is River. River is young. Still around 1 year old. She is a Border Collie and as is their nature she is high energy and always ready to play. And that is exactly why I wanted to bring a dog like River into our home. I love to get outside for hours on end. Hiking and running are so much fun but I have always wanted a dog that is more compatible with taking on long adventures with me. River never stops. She constantly brings us toys to play with and throw for her. And she is getting better and better with her manners. She will even bring us a toy and set it right on the couch or table right next to us. Then back up and wait for us to through it for her.

We love dogs for all the different ways we can share our lives with them. Having three dogs that are at very different points in each of their lives really drives home the different ways we live with dogs. Finding ways to make different dogs part of our lives in different ways. A dog is not a dog, is not a dog. All dogs are individual and deserve to have individual lives. Lives that suit their needs as well as the needs of their humans.

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