My Family

The newest victims of the nation's foreclosure crisis are pets, which is extremely distressing to me. I love animals. I have 3 dogs myself - I actually have a kennel license in order to do so. I love them so much I couldn't imagine my life without them. They are the first thing I think of when I wake up, the last thing before I go to bed.

Ralph's fluffy black body lying next to my bed, sprawled out comfortably snoring on the fake mink bed I made for him. I made it white so that I wouldn't step on him in the dark. He's a big boy, and he snores all night, filling the bedroom with pleasing dog sounds and dog dreams. I can't go to sleep until I hear his deeply drowsy final nightly sigh, the heaviness of sleep overtaking him. My middle girl dog, Bronwyn, curls up in a tight ball at the foot of the bed, looking like a Cinnabon fresh out of the oven, sweet and warm. Then there is my littlest one, Gudrun, my tiny Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix - or Pomchi for short. She sleeps right next to me. She really loves to find my warm spots, Knee back hollow, Tummy Lane, Underarm Pass. She finds the most heated areas and plops herself down for the night. Sometimes she is so tired from lengthy walks, playing with her brother and sister, chewing on her toys - such an intense life for such a little dog - she can't even bring herself to find one of the warm spots. She just collapses where she is, tumbling down into dog slumber. My bedroom is a symphony of snoring - dog and human. There is no real conductor, and we all do solos. When the dogs have been playing a lot and not been bathed a lot, the whole room smells like Fritos. I love that corn chip dog paw smell. It is delicious and reassuring. It smells like love.

The thought of people abandoning their pets is a nightmare to me. I would've been one of those people in Hurricane Katrina refusing to leave my flooded house because they wouldn't rescue my dogs along with me. I think it is really sad that when people lose their homes they kind of lose their minds too. I'm not trying to judge anyone. Financial hardship is overwhelming, but when we lose our love for our animals, we lose our humanity, which to me is a million times worse than losing our homes.