How Our Pet Journey Began

Growing up, our household had varying allergy issues so we did not have dogs or cats. I recall having gerbils. When we introduced a new one to the cage, they began fighting. When I retrieved the new one from the cage, it jumped up and bit my nose. Shaking your head around with a rodent attached to the end of your nose is definitely memorable. I also attempted to keep hamsters, until I learned the hard way that they will kill their young. Our family also had a guinea pig, a rabbit (briefly, thanks to a fox) and a parrot named Cooper.

In my teen years, a beautiful Main Coon cat was found I found under the bushes by our church. She began as an outdoor cat who then was granted limited access to our bedrooms. She moved out with me, and then back in. She was very loved. Before meeting my husband, I had also briefly kept a Boa Constrictor and then two kittens named Kaiedianna and Eve. Unfortunately, my husband was severely allergic to cats, so they had to be re-homed.

When my then fiance moved to Maryland to be closer to me, he struggled with culture shock. Baltimore, Maryland was very different from Fairbanks, Alaska. He began researching what animals he could have and learned about Miniature Schnauzers. At that time, pet stores were more common and we didn’t fully understand how they worked. We found ourselves a store that sold miniature schnauzers and there we were able to get into a playpen and play with several of them. They were all absolutely adorable and several were playful. One, however, only wanted to crawl up on my chest and snuggle into my neck. I was able to convince my guy to pick the cuddly one. Jake came home with us that day. We took him to our family vet to make sure he was in good health and found that he had severe ear infections. We went back to the store to have them reimburse for the health care, but instead they offered to replace him for “equal or lesser value.” In reality, they were offering to take him back, euthanize him to save costs and let us pick another to replace him. Needless to say, we were horrified and Jake spent the next 13 years of his life as our most treasured pet. He was our first child, our first pet together and eventually the best guardian of our human babies.

Jake began living with us in an apartment in Maryland. He was the best companion to both of us. He was a friend to all who met him and even won over my mother, who was afraid of dogs before they met. When we moved to Alaska, he came along and had many many adventures there. He would come inside in the winter with his legs covered in snowballs. He once licked a metal fence mid-winter and left a piece of his tongue behind. He spent time with my father-in-law on realtor business and saw more of Alaska than I did, I’m sure.

When we discovered that I was unable to have children – more on that some time later, I’m sure – I was dealing with some big hormones and desperately wanted to add to our family. The search began. We knew we could handle schnauzers, but didn’t want to use another pet store. We researched breeders and found one back in Maryland that had a little puppy who had been born recently.

I flew to Maryland to visit family and to pick up Carolina. She was a brown and black schnauzer and another huge learning experience. She had been removed from her momma too soon. She was very clingy, cried if she wasn’t being held and suckled in her sleep. Otherwise, she was a doll. I purchased baby dresses at local thrift stores and then altered them to be dog dresses. She tolerated this wonderfully and loved the attention. She was friendly and cuddly and loved me. Then we flew home. When she saw my husband at the airport, she melted in his arms and never looked back. From that day forward I was the other woman. She moved into our house with energy that Jake never saw coming. She enjoyed her first year in Alaska, joining Grandpa on adventures. When we moved from Alaska to Texas, and made the trip with our fifth wheel trailer, Jake and Carolina were with us. Shortly after arrival, we found out that I was pregnant. The schnauzers were very protective of pregnant me and were eventually wonderful with our first child, a boy.

Jake and Carolina were truly wonderful with our son. They were by his side as much as possible and as he grew, they continued to stay nearby. Two years later, after moving into our first house, we welcomed our first girl. There were no surprises with the dogs. They adored her as well, and continued to protect and play with our little humans. As Jake began to age, he began to show signs of decline. We were concerned that Carolina would have severe separation anxiety if she were to be left home alone without a friend. In retrospect, she would have loved being an only dog. We began visiting shelter’s to find the perfect friend for her. My husband really wanted to find a lab mix and found a dog that he was convinced fit the bill. We added Barkley to our family from a local animal shelter. He had some challenges figuring out where he belonged in the pack, but quickly became another protector for the kids.

As Jake continued to age, he lost his vision. Barkley would follow him around and bark to guide him back to the doggie door at our house. When Carolina picked on Jake, Barkley would insert himself and draw her attention away from him. When Jake eventually lost hearing, Barkley began to hip-check him to help guide him back to the house. Our veterinarian told us that they suspected he might have developed a brain tumor, which would explain the order of his decline. We made the difficult decision to say goodbye when he was 13 years old.

Saying goodbye to Jake was heartbreaking. It didn’t help that I was pregnant at the time. He had been with us since the beginning and the loss was palpable. The empty kennel in a line of three didn’t help. I managed to avoid looking at the shelter listings, but was still following a schnauzer rescue group. A post went up about a momma dog who was found with her puppies along a roadside. All of the puppies needed homes and I saw the most perfect puppy. I told my husband that if I was going to get another puppy, this was the one I would choose. We agreed to wait a week and make a decision. Then there was another post. They mentioned that if they weren’t rescued within 24 hours, they would be euthanized. My hormonal heart was broken for them. With my husband’s blessing, I scooped up my two kiddos and rushed to the shelter. There, we were put into a playpen with all of the puppies. Once again, all of them were playful except for one. One puppy crawled into my lap and snuggled up. We knew he was the one. We were told that he was going to be neutered the next day, but wouldn’t have a bath because of staffing issues. I offered to bathe him myself and they led my pregnant self and my almost 4 and 6 year olds into the wash room. We bathed him multiple times, flea combing in between. I wish I had a photo of that scene. Max came home to a very excited family. He still had fleas and worms and was recovering from surgery. He slept in the crook of my neck and quickly became my dog. Barkley adored him, Carolina tolerated him, and I NEEDED him.

When we had baby number three, our dogs were so happy. Max grew quickly, but his gentle nature remained. He was my son’s best friend by day and my guardian by night. Carolina went into momma dog mode again. Barkley continued to guard everyone and Max was the sweetest not-so-little friend. Around this time Carolina started getting a little grumpier and was starting to assert her oldest-female-dog-ness. We moved again, to a location with more yard space. Carolina didn’t have much patience for Max, but he had Barkley to play with, so all was relatively well.

During the Covid Pandemic, Barkley developed a lump at the top of one of his legs. When we took him to the vet, we were told that he might have a Mast Cell Tumor. The only way to determine if amputation would save him, was to do it. We proceeded with his amputation and he became our first Tripod pup. The recovery was rough. I had to learn how to do wound management for an amputee and how to fashion a sort of overall with vet wrap to keep his wound covered. He overcame a wicked infection and eventually got back to running laps in our house.

For whatever reason, when Barkley came home from the hospital, he no longer trusted Max. He would snarl and bark and wanted nothing to do with him. Being a very sensitive soul, Max became quite depressed. He followed his humans around and avoided Carolina and Barkley, as they were unkind to him. We decided that Max deserved to have a friend. It was still during the masks-required part of the pandemic and we all masked up and went to meet some shelter dogs. We went to a shelter that had some dogs listed that we were interested in and my husband saw Chase. We asked to visit with him and had to hold him on our laps and make a decision. He was excited and stinky (normal for shelter dogs) and impossible to gauge compatibility without him able to move around. My husband was sold. He took the girls out for lunch while I held Chase and completed paperwork.

Chase was a wonderful addition to the family. He bonded quickly with all of the humans and figured out where he stood in the pecking order – apparently right at the top. He isn’t a dog that chases people around for attention. Rather, he enjoys his space and seems to try to respect everyone else’s. When meeting new people in public, he isn’t eager to make new friends and instead goes into working mode and tolerates whatever interactions I require of him. Chase was exactly what Max needed. Apparently, he was also what Barkley needed. A few years ago, Max suddenly had a nose bleed. He had recently had dental surgery, so we got him put on antibiotics and he improved. He had begun to get more lethargic and seemed a little down, but many dogs mellow out with age. When he had another nose bleed, we took him in to get some testing done. Unfortunately, we learned that he had a form of cancer that was not treatable. We were all devastated to say goodbye to the most adoring dog.

These were the OGs. Jake, Carolina, Barkley, Max and Chase. With Max gone, our boy was without his best friend and we were all feeling the void. I would sometimes joke that his name was Max for “Maximum Anxiety” because that poor dog was always nervous. But in reality, he had “Maximum Love.” The void left by his loss, and the inevitable empty kennel… Well, they led to the next chapter in our pet journey!