Clementine and Noodle are our two dogs. They are both rescues and they are my family. The husband and I joke that they are our daughters…ok half-joke. Anyone who has ever loved and been loved by a dog understands the feeling. Growing up I always had cats – my parents were devoted cat people and even though I loved each of them in my heart I always knew I was a dog person. Living in my NYC shoe box having a dog wasn’t really an option so when I moved to L.A. I made it very clear to the husband (he was just the boyfriend back then) that a dog was in our near future.

Clementine is a Chihuahua mix, her age is un-known but we can tell she is getting older. What we do know is that she had puppies a week after she got to the rescue. All her pups were adopted but it was over a year before she found her permanent home with us. That was over 3 years ago and she has been a major part of our family ever since.

Noodle became part of our family by chance. I used to volunteer with a doggy rescue on the weekends helping out with the Sunday morning adoptions. Noodle (her name was Natalie then) was in bad shape when she got to the rescue, seriously underweight and scared. Through the course of the day I got her to let me pet her and slowly I was able to wrap her in a blanket and she let me hold her. I begged the husband, who absolutely refused to bring a second dog in to our home, to let me take her home so I could get her better and in good enough shape to find a permanent home, just one week. A year later she is still with us, a permanent part of our family. Those first few days we took turns hand feeding her and getting her used to being around us. Slowly she started warming up to us and now she is a loving, happy and playful little dog. The husband takes full credit for her getting better, claiming that he single handedly healed her. Figures.

I hope you enjoyed the second instalment of “A life in pictures” I loved sharing my little girls’ stories with all of you.  If any of you are thinking about bringing a dog in to your life please consider getting a rescue. If you’re looking for a place to start, please check out my friend Jessica’s rescue What’s Up Dog L.A.  And if anyone wants to contribute to “A life in pictures” just shoot me an e-mail!