I love my dogs!

My whole family is crazy for animals...we currently have and have had some great pets over the years. Stray dogs, cats, and even some little rabbits have found refuge in our home and my Grandparents' homes.

Olli (Olls McGraws)

When I was in college, my parents surprised me with my first dog, a Yorkie - Olli - for Christmas. They thought I was too immature to have a dog (which I was), but I reasoned by saying that my brother had a baby, so I could have a dog...great argument, I know.

My whole family and I fell in love with him. He lived with me some at school, but mostly stayed with my parents. One day soon after summer break had started, I was at home listing some clothes on ebay and Olli was laying on the bed beside me. I looked over at one point and noticed that he had gotten sick and was just laying pretty much motionless. I ran and got my parents immediately, and we hopped in the car and drove 45 minutes to Chillicothe to meet a vet. He told us there was nothing he could do at that point and instructed us to drive another hour to Columbus to the 24-hour emergency vet clinic. So, we arrived at the emergency clinic around 11:30pm and dropped him off. The Doctor gave us some hope, and we wished for the best. We sat in the waiting room for 5 or 6 hours. My Dad wouldn't even come inside because the situation was so upsetting...he sat in the parking lot in a lawn chair. I can remember reading every pet magazine I could imagine, and learned everything I'd ever wanted to know about the Sphynx cat. I also remember that the "My Immortal" song by Evanesence was playing when the nurse finally called us into a room. It was 4 in the morning, and she called us in and sat a box of tissues in front of us. The doctor then came in and told us that Olli had suffered cardiac arrest and wasn't strong enough to handle the surgery. He was only 8 months old to the day.

That hour and a half car ride home was the longest trip of all time. We were all so unbelievably devastated over those 2 precious pounds. We still think about him and miss him so much. We love and miss you , Olli!

Sugar (Boogie Bear)




About two months after we'd lost our little Olls McGraws, even though we were all still incredibly upset, I went out and bought a Westie puppy. When I showed up at my house with Sugar, my parents weren't exactly ecstatic...but I did promise that she would stay in Athens with me at school and they wouldn't have to take care of her. Two and a half months later, she was evicted from my apartment and took up permanent residency with my parents. They LOVE her. She is pretty amazing!

Today, Sugar is 4-years old, and had to get surgery to remove stones from her bladder. We were all, of course, pretty nervous - but it was supposed to be a fairly easy surgery. This afternoon, my Mom called to check up on Sugar's condition, and the vet told her that her heart had stopped beating at the beginning of the surgery. They had to put her on an IV, and thankfully, she came out of it. Currently, she is in pretty good condition, but staying overnight just to make sure.

I called my Mom to check up on Sugar, she told me that she was doing well, but also told me about the earlier problems. While relieved that she was doing better, this pretty much set us both off, and I started bawling at work. Even though she was ok, it was terrible to think that it had been so bad at one point. I'm so thankful she made it through the surgery and is still here with us! She now has to stay away from our Black Lab, Kobe, for two weeks and my parents have to ensure that she isn't too active. They will take great care of her. Anyway, some may think it's crazy to get so worked up over a pet, but they are little, furry parts of our family. :)


Cooper (Pooper, Poops, Coop City Dancer, Detroit Coop City, etc.)




In lighter news, my latest addition, Cooper, who is a Silky/Maltese rescue dog and lives here in Cleveland with me, discovered himself in the mirror last night. See the video below, he really wanted to beat himself up! It was quite amazing.