I wanted to give the other animals that share our lives a page of their own.  We share our home not only with the exotics but also six dogs and two domestic cats.  They are like children to us, weird little furry children that will never learn to use the toilet but will never ask to use the car either. 

Boo Boo will be 14 this year but doesn't look a day over 10.  Many years ago a friend called us when she found a litter of puppies that had been born in a tree.  Yes a tree, a huge oak that had rotted out and was hollow at the base.  The five puppies were only about 10 days old so we had to bottle them and eventually we were able to place four of the five, Boo was just too ugly.  Seriously, no one wanted him so we kept him. 

Elliott is a half rott and half pit with the heart of an angel.  That's not to say that he wouldn't defend his hearth and home with his life but it would take a lot to make him that upset.  It's funny but most people are nervous of him at first but he often winds up being their favorite.  Elliott came into our lives when a close friend couldn't keep him anymore.  She had rescued him when as a puppy he had chewed his way off a lead and ran in front of her husband's car.  When she looked into where he came from she found out that they were keeping him in their back yard with no food or water during the summer.  Elliott was even shot at some point and still has the bullet in him but he holds no grudge.  He is just a big, happy guy now.   

Goober came to us three years ago in very bad shape, his previous owners had starved and beat him and Goober had made up his mind that all humans treated their dogs terribly.  We took our time with him and over a year he gradually learned to trust and love again.  Now, Goober smiles all the time! 

This is Duncan when he was a puppy.  He is four years young now but still acts like a puppy most of the time.  He has this weird personality where he can be so loving one second then attack Elliott the next.  I think it's just a Corgi thing, they can be very intense dogs. 

Pepper Ann is the queen of our home, she has been the most wonderful dog that we have ever had.  She is huge for a female Bernese Mountain Dog, at 112 lbs she is closer to the size of most males and all her wonderful hair makes her seem even larger!  She was a natural therapy dog and was doing visits at nursing homes since she was 8 or 9 months old.   If you are interested in doing therapy visitations I highly recommend the group we joined, TDI.  They are a very nice and professional group.  Pepper is retired now but we have many nice memories of all the people we met through the therapy dog program. 

This is just another picture of Pepper Ann without the snow.  Unlike some of our animals she actually poses for the camera! 

Shelby is our newest addition.  Seriously we did not need dog number six but when I read about how wonderful English Shepherds are I desperately wanted one.  The sheep and goats are normally well behavied but when they are naughty it would be nice to have a dog to help me.  We didn't need a puppy so I did some online research and found the English Shepherd rescue.  The ES rescue had recently rescued over 200 dogs from a puppy mill breeder in Montana and were frantically looking for good homes for the dogs.  So I filled out the application and mailed it out after whispering a prayer that if there was a dog out there that needed us as much as we needed him or her, please help them to find their way to us.  A few months later, Shelby came to into our lives.  She was terrified of everything and about a whisker away from being feral but it has been about a week and she has decided that living here is pretty cool.  Today she was actually playing with Pepper Ann, a big step for her since Pepper is about 100 lbs bigger than Shelby is.  A word about English Shepherds, they are the ultimate farm collie, they herd, they drive, they protect their homes from vermin and strangers alike but will know the difference between who is supposed to be here and who isn't.  If you have a farm, please check out this breed, they are wonderful, smart and active dogs.  We will post pictures as soon as we can of our newest little addition to our farm.