If you’re here for the caregiving posts, don’t worry — those are coming. But I promised you dog content, and today I’m delivering. Let me introduce the four little personalities who run my house, my heart, and most of my Instagram camera roll.
## The Lineup
**Kaylee** — Cairn Terrier rescue mix, 6 years old. The wise older sister of the group. She’s great… until you try to get her to eat on camera. Ask her one too many times and she will flat out snub you. And if she catches me trying to sneak a camera past her while she’s eating in private, she abandons her bowl entirely and jumps straight into Patrick’s lap like she’s fleeing a crime scene — save me from Mommy the Camera Monster.
**Johnny Cash** — purebred Shih Tzu, 5 years old, born without a tail. Overly sensitive, and for reasons I genuinely cannot explain, if I ask him to do literally anything, he looks me dead in the eye and runs. No idea how he got that way. It’s a personality trait at this point, not a phase.
**Frankie** — Shih Tzu, Cash’s half-brother, also 5. Probably the best listener of the bunch… unless a squeaky toy or ball goes off anywhere in the vicinity, at which point he is mentally, emotionally, and spiritually checked out. Toy vacation. Do not disturb.
**Dublin** — the baby of the group, but also the biggest at 20 pounds. A Pekingese who acts like he speaks no English whatsoever the second you ask something of him. I’m convinced it’s a Pekingese thing. Selective hearing, elevated to an art form.
Put them together and you get four dogs with one shared skill: the blank stare. The second I start “doing something” — camera, leash, car keys, doesn’t matter — they all lock eyes on me like *”here she goes again, what does she want now, aren’t we due for a walk or a car ride, I do not want to deal with this right now.”* They’re too smart to fall for sneaky. Every time.
## The Family Business
We’re working on their UGC (user-generated content) careers, and honestly — they’re naturals. They’ve worked with brands like Snuggle Puppy, Gruffies, and Charlee Bear, doing unboxings and taste tests. Of course, being free-fed and living the absolute life of Riley, they also have their moments where not even lickety liver can convince them to perform on command. Can’t blame them, really — they know they’re the talent.
## The Life I Want For Them
Dogs’ lives are so short, and that fact sits with me constantly. My goal has always been to give mine the biggest, fullest life I possibly can — travel, the beach, the Pennsylvania mountains, Barkfest, Barktoberfest, Bark in the Park, Puppapalooza, Pupfest, Woofstock, Pupstock, you name it, we’re probably there. We also do a family picture every single month at JB Pet Supply in Oakland or Hawthorne — a little tradition that’s become one of my favorite things.
I want them to meet new people, see new places, and have real experiences, not just exist in a backyard. That’s the whole goal. The best life possible.
## My Soundboard
A confession: I give all four of them different voices, and I talk to them all day and night. My husband Patrick still laughs at it sometimes. I’ve been doing it so long that I genuinely believe what I’m saying out loud *is* what they’re thinking. If you talk to your dogs like this too, I promise you’re not alone.
They’ve been my rock on the hard days. I’ve dealt with stress and anxiety attacks since I was a freshman in high school — undiagnosed until I was 26, medicated ever since — and my dogs have always been the ones who could sit with me through it without needing an explanation. Unconditional love, no questions asked.
And it’s not the first time dogs have carried me through something. Two dogs I had before this pack — before Kaylee, Cash, Frankie, and Dublin — quite literally saved my life once. That’s a story for another post.
For now, just know: this blog isn’t only about grief and caregiving. It’s also about four ridiculous, beloved little dogs who taught me what unconditional love actually looks like, day in and day out.
More soon — from both the heavy side of this blog and the happy side.