2010 Gratitude Challenege - November 16th

I am thankful for my two wonderful dogs. As long as I can remember I have had a dog. When I was little I had a Dalmatian named Duffy. I loved him so much. We also had a Beagle, a Coon Hound, and a German Shepherd (but we only had him for a very short period of time).

Then I remember we had another Dalmatian, whom we also called Duffy (not sure why, but he was the third.)That was before college. When I returned home from college I had a Black Lab mix. Then when I moved away to go to law school my parents had gotten another Lab, this time a chocolate.

After my husband and I got married, I knew we would have dogs. He had had cats growing up so we started out with a cat. Then about 2 months after we were married my best friend called to say her collies had puppies and asked if we wanted one. I was so excited. We have had our girl collie for 10 years this past October. Her name is Harmoni. She is your "regular looking" Collie (like Lassie, except if you didn't know Lassie was a boy collie in real life even though he played a girl on the television series.)

Shortly after we moved we got involved in a Collie Rescue and received our first rescue - a boy tri-color Collie. We ended up adopting him. His name is Treble.

We also have fostered several other collies as well as a long-haired Dachshund named Penny. Penny was a very rambunctious old girl, even though she was probably close to 17 or 18 when she passed.

As my dogs get older I realize that one day, maybe some day sooner rather then later, I will have to deal with losing them. When that time comes I pray that they will go quickly and in their sleep. They will be sorely missed. They have brought much joy and laughter to our family. I am sure though that we will continue to have pets, especially dogs, as an important part of our family. I am thankful that God provided us with such loyal confidants.

Be sure you head on over to Garden of Learning to see what others are thankful for.