thedogma

Who is the Dog Ma?

While growing up my family always had pets including dogs, cats, fish, an iguana, and some salamander type things. Now my immediate family consists of Dingo the maniacal Red Heeler, Mal Mal the wet food loving cat, our newest additon...Jelly, a little Blue Heeler and my boyfriend Adam. Our extended family consists of Breken, Chekov, Dre and Maddie for dogs and Boog, Chloe, and Sadie for the cats with some fish somewhere in there.

Dingo and Mal Mal taking it easy on the couch.

Back in August 1998 I was living in Pullman, Washington and getting ready to move to Seattle. My neighbor Chris was a water quality tester and had been working down at the Clearwater River. He noticed this funny looking dog hanging around eating orange peels. He asked some campers about the dog and they all said that he wasn't theirs. So, Chris brought him home and we fed him a lot of yummy food. Adam bravely gave him a bath the next day getting about as wet as the dog. After about a day Adam and I decided that we would take him even though we were moving to Seattle in a month. Around this time Adam took ownership of his rommates cat Mallory and she was going to come to Seattle with us. After a 5 hour drive in a stuffed Toyota Tercel with temperatures in the 100's we made it to Seattle with two really hot, tired, and confused animals. We immediatly went to Woodland Park so Dingo could get out and breathe. We soon found out how hard it was finding a rental house that would take animals but found a nice little house in Magnolia. We had some great BBQs there too. Then came the house on 78th, 88th, 100th, and now on 46th, right next to Woodland where Dingo took his first big city steps while poor Mal Mal had to stay in the car.

So, after working in a bar for many years I decided it was time for a change. I quit in 2004 and spent the summer just hanging out and having a nice time not working. Towards the end of the summer and fewer numbers in the bank account I decided it was time for a job. I decided I would try dog walking and pet sitting as it seemed like a great way to spend my days. Within 10 days I had 2 clients and thought that this may work. I haven't looked back since. I am now interested in training and will be helping people and puppies understand one another some time soon. Until then I will be walking and watching dogs and cats with the help of my employees. I hope to visit your dog or cat soon.

Dingo & Jelly in the mountains.

We now have a new additon to our family. Jelly, a female Blue Heeler. I guess one crazy Heeler just wasn't enough for us. We got Jelly from the Whitman County Humane Society in Pullman, Washington. I was browsing Petfinder...as I still do...and saw that there was litter of Heeler pups there so I showed the pictures to Adam and asked very nicely. A couple of weeks later a girlfriend and I drove over to Pullman in the morning and came back with a puppy. Adam and I thought it would be a tense 6 months but within a couple of days Dingo was relaxed. He has not eaten Jelly but loves her as you can see.