Good idea. Here is my brood. From left to right: Olivia, Lila, and Niam (KNEE um). I like to call this picture, "Dad has bacon."
Olivia (full name: Olivia Newton Dog) was a stray that a friend found tied to a phone pole in the rain in the fall of 2008. We agreed to watch her while he and his wife were out of town for Thanksgiving, and she never left.
We did a DNA test on her and she was 30% pug, 30% pit bull, 15% Boston terrier, 15% boxer, and 10% other stuff. Basically, her mom and grandmother got around. Olivia is our alpha dog and one of her favorite sayings is from the old Under Armor commercial: "I must protect this house." She's my backpacking companion.
Lila (full name: Lila Mae, a Southern debutante a/k/a Lila Mayhem) was a rescue from the Wake County Animal Shelter in 2011. She was abandoned there and was pretty damaged by whoever dropped her off. She spent the entire ride back to Charlotte on my wife's lap in the back seat. She has come a long way. Her favorite thing in the world is playing Frisbee in the back yard. If she even suspects you're headed outside, she will knock you down racing to the door. We think she must have some working breed in her because she's pretty compulsive. She loves her people and puts herself to bed on our bed every night. She eventually gets up to sleep in her crate but that's pretty cute.
Niam (full name: Niam Marcus) is a pure bred
Basenji and was our first dog. We got him in February 2008. Basenjis hail from the African Congo, and the breed has only been domesticated as pets over the last couple hundred years, so they still have a lot of primal qualities. For example, Niam had severe separation anxiety as a puppy whenever we left because he didn't like his "pack" being separated. He's gotten much better now that he has two siblings. Basenjis are described as cat-like. Niam hates water, can be very aloof, and is extremely intelligent. But we specifically picked him from the litter because he was always sleeping...so fortunately he's too lazy to get into more trouble than he does. He's actually a sweet little guy and has a real sense of humor where he likes to act like a clown to make us laugh.
They've all got their issues but I love them to bits. They're my fur kids.
[Edit to add:] Yes, Niam is wearing a hoodie in this photo. I'm generally opposed to dog clothing but was won over by what it says on the back: "Bitches Love Me."
