Zoe came to live with us when she was 9 months old. We had been looking for a dachshund for about a year. We had fallen in love with the loving personality of a friends long haired dachshund.We bought her from a breeder in Oregon, who had purchased her to add to her breeding kennel. Zoe was small enough in size so she was concerned about breeding her. So we brought her to the east coast.

        She is all of 10 pounds, and a bundle of love. That is an appropriate size for Michael ( my husband) and I , as we live in a 3 room apartment. 

     To know Phoebe's story you need to read the story of Nicky and Molly.  Phoebe was my little girl. I never had her ears cropped. She was full of life.  To make friends with Molly she started cleaning her ears on a daily basis. It got to the point where Molly would lay down on Phoebe's front paws as if to demand service.

   Nicky and Molly and Phoebe all got new parents when they went into the Miniature Schnauzer Rescue Society.

     Molly came home to live with us, one year after Nicky was with us.  Molly well, Nicky wanted to play all the time and Molly was not an active dog. She was lazy. It was so true it was entertaining. After Phoebe came to live with us when Molly was 3 and Nicky was 4. Molly was never one to play with Nicky, but she was very jealous when Phoebe came to live with us. Molly's take on it was....I am not interested in playing with Nicky....but I'll be darned if anyone else will either. It was very cute, we had a long rope, long enough for the three of them to play with. I would throw the rope for them....and Phoebe and Nicky would run and grab the rope. They would get about 3 feet from me, and Molly would jump them, take the rope away from them and bring it to me, like she did it all. It was a riot. Molly was a riot...She was so lazy I swear. If someone knocked at the door, Nicky and Phoebe would jump off the bed, and would run to the door. And Molly, well she would literally....and I am not exaggerating, stand up, say woof, and lay back down again. 

     Well, after I was divorced from my husband, and he decided to find them a new home, Molly found a new home.  The foster mother told me Molly's personality really bloomed after Phoebe found a home. So I am sure she has gone over the rainbow bridge.

Nicky was a puppy I could not resist bringing home.  We went to a home looking for a miniature schnauzer puppy. We found a little girl salt & pepper puppy. The last puppy left was a beautiful black little boy. We wanted the little girl puppy and had no intention to bring home a little boy puppy. I had 2 young children. Adam....who swallowed a nickel, at one point. So the little black puppy was Adam's Special Nickel. The little girl became Abbie's Shiny Penny.  We lost Penny at all of 9 months old to a horrible case of colitis. Nickel lived with our family for 10 years...and the story goes on.

    My husband and I were seperating in 2002, and I planned on leaving the dogs (3 miniature schnauzers) with him, as he had the ability to keep them and I did not. A week before I left, Nicky who was always the one of the 3 who ALWAYS asked to go out, stood and looked right at me and peed on the floor. After testing we came to the conclusion, with veterinarian testing, that he was diabetic. I could not bring him along, and my Ex could never have given him the shots he needed. So I got in touch with a Miniature Schnauzer Rescue Society, and they found a loving home for him with a new sister who also was diabetic.

      I am sure by now he has passed away...and is on the rainbow bridge. I so loved this little boy. He was a loving little dog, who although bought for my son, was so very much my dog.

    As painful as this all was, because this happened, there was a connection, with a rescue agancy. About a year or more later, my ex decided he could not keep our other 2 dogs, and I was still in a situation where I could not take them. He contacted the rescue society, and the other two  got wonderful homes thanks to some special people.

Mandy was a little yorkie we bought at a pet store. Well, little is a relative term. By AKC standards she ended up too big to be a yorkie, but human children came quickly after her, so I did not mind the extra size. She was prob 8-12 weeks when she came home to us. We were living in MD when we got her, and she was groomed in WV. Where we lived in MD we had an outdoor run for her to go out. We then moved to PA with our then one month and one year old human children. The new apartment we lived in would not allow us to tie her out. She came along with us hoping that if I took her out in the morning before my hubby went to work, and later in the day all would be well. It did not go that way....so the lady who groomed her in WV knew of someone who was looking for a small dog, and Mandy got a new home. I am sure she has passed away now, but I would have no idea when. She was a sweet little dog. She used to go nose to nose with our guinea pig squeaky.

Pal was a the 3rd Pal in my family of origin. He came into my life when I was 4 or 5 years old. Forty one years ago there was no leash law in our home town, so Pal did a lot of wandering early in life. Eventually a law was passed and he got a run in the front yard. He was the origin of my love of dogs. He was not allowed in our livingroom, which I accepted as a child, and took for granted as I got older but never quite understand. As a teenager we got Began a brown miniature poodle, who was allowed in the livingroom. As a sophomore in College, my Mom told me that Pal was loosing his mind, and needed to be put down. I wish she had let me come home from school to do it. She did it and spent the rest of her life feeling so guilty. Maybe she was afraid I would come home and not see it as she did. Who knows.