Or How We Spend Our Profits--more photos via slide shows For foster/adoption info--go to the bottom of the page..
This is what we do well. We have happy critters that
live with us and seem to live a good long time. The ownership of
animals. Life long, full of responsibility, but with excellent returns.
At our house you will never sit on a couch without expecting to
leave with a new coat of hair, but you will never be without extra
body heat when it gets cold. Of course that same closeness gives
way to those bothersome Missouri ticks when it warms up. With a multi-animal household we experience many wonderful sights. A cat that sleeps and plays with a parrot, a dog that protects "his kitty" from the others that just want to play, or just wandering with a herd of goats as your entourage. Let me introduce you to a few- Our dog pack now numbers ten. All take advantage of
the doggie door so they are very involved in day to day living.
Lotto is the oldest member of the group at 16 yrs
young. He is a sheltie mix and has done many art fairs with us over
the years. He is by far one of the smartest dogs we have ever had.
He knows what we want before we do... And then the next is Kiwi--the other one that transferred
from Iowa with us. She is a beagle/schnauzer mix who saved our lives-literally.
She saved us when a man broke into our hotel room in Memphis and
since then, thinks she can do whatever she pleases, and she does! Then there is Cosmos-our terrier mix that owns the
world and we are just visitors. Don't try to do anything without
him-he needs to supervise! Next we have Jackson, our miniature poodle. Since
we live in the puppy mill capital of the Next is Dooley, our Great Dane, or house horse as
we like to call him. He and his sister showed up one summer and
his sister now lives with our neighbor and he got to stay with us
And of course we can't forget Hootie. He was found with seven puppies in the middle of the highway. We took 4 of them and found homes for the other 3--Hootie got to stay with us. He's a very small golden ret river, lab mix with the prettiest brown eyes. Has to have cocker or beagle somewhere...He's really smart and I admit I kind of favor him. At the newest addition is Hobie--our hobo. Never thought
I would have a dachshund but I have learned never to Next come our cats-which numbers in the teens. We
stopped counting. We have several that stay inside, more that go
inside and outside, and then have a few that just guard the front
yard or the
Our llama are the goat's protectors and the colts
nemesis. AJ loves to chase the babies and spit at the horses. We
lost Pancho in the summer of 2006 but he taught AJ well. He's doing
his best to live up to Pancho's big shoes and I think he will do
him proud. That is pretty much our family. We hope you enjoy the pictures...we are proud of all them. More can been seen via slide shows on photo page
And why we have so many animals... We have no adequate shelter locally, just a local thrift shop with cats and the dogs all fostered elsewhere, We also live in the "puppy mill capital of the world", southern Missouri. Puppy mills are becoming a popular source of income in rural poor areas and as long as there is a pet store market, it will be a problem. As a result we get regular phone calls or drop offs of unwanted dogs and cats. We do have our own family lifers, but usually have some that are just enjoying life with us until we find them someone almost has nice. Since we have moved down here we have proudly found homes for almost 100 animals--all spayed or neutered before they left our home. We have ourselves been frustrated by the cost and rules of rescue or humane society adoptions, so all we ask is that you give a good home, and if you want to donate for the future--it's appreciated. And we do take that "good home" statement seriously. We usually adopt by word of mouth--or depend on our gut feelings. Let us know if you are interested in adopting and we will see what we can do. The number of homeless critters in our area is staggering--and we will go that extra mile if we can make a match. Adopting a stray critter is a beginning to making an individual difference to help the world. Getting someone you know to spay or neuter their own critter, that they might have left intact--is almost as good. Doing both is just plain good for your karma...
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We
moved to the country in 1998. How we have learned our lessons since
then. When we joined forces in early 1990, we each had 2 cats and
1 dog apiece. When we got over the number 50 in 2003, we decided
to work on downsizing (although I don't ever think we'll see the
short side of 40 again). That is the price of being good at animals.
Moose
is our Isabella fawn Doberman, a woose,and afraid of loud noises.
With us living within earshot of a blasting rock quarry, surrounded
by hunters, add those thunder filled summer storms, means she spends
a great deal of time underneath my desk. But when all is quiet she
takes guarding her back yard and keeping the horses in line very
seriously.
world,
southern Missouri, we often have purebred animals dumped on us and
he and his brother showed up one day. We found a home for his brother
but he got to stay and he seems to be the one everyone plays with-both
dogs & cats. Poodles are extremely smart but I wouldn't recommend
their hair coats for country life--he and Kiwi are both pig pens!
I have never had a Great Dane before and he's been a treat. Very
gentle but he does feel like he has every right to his corner of
the bed. Little does he know that he takes up half the bed! Since
he sneaks up in the morning he is usually met with growls and groans
but we still love him-and he knows it. And yes--Great Danes can
sit on your lap--or at least think they can. 
Then
we have our two little brothers--our ankle biters! Never thought
I would fall in love with a Chihuahua but our two long haired babies
have made a mark on our hearts. They were the typical puppy mill
puppies and didn't even know what people were when we got them.
It's been a long road to socializing them but they are coming around.
They think they should be our traveling puppies and on their first
trip they did well. 
say
never. He is a silver dapple and we found him dumped in the middle
of the road on a rainy night. We were the best thing that ever happened
to him and he reminds us how grateful he is every day. He has quite
the personality and unless a better situation for him comes up--he'll
probably stay.
Those are our dogs--and we love them all.
back yard. The outdoor cat food also seems to double as the neighborhood
cafe for the local wild life as well as our peacocks. We have trapped
raccoons and opossums trying to get a free lunch. Fortunately we
are trying not to name anything that only comes out at night!
Our
final house critter is our Blue & Gold Macaw parrot Kinsey,
who is quite a hoot. She has quite the vocabularies and has her
own set of friends amongst the cats. Ollie the cat and Kinsey play
and have a very loving relationship--it's amazing to watch.
Then
we go to our horses. We own Spotted Saddle, horses and are very
proud of our herd. We try for colorful, intelligent, good riding
horses and we have most of that. Sedona is mine (Janet) and I consider
my "once in a lifetime" horse. She sometimes suffers from
PMS but otherwise she rides wonderfully and she loves
to go riding. Stacy has taken over TJ, her first born. He is
out of 2 spotted parents and he ended up solid sorrel. We don't
"do" brown! But despite his coloring, he is a pretty boy,
and his personality matches our house well so he got to stay. The
babies consist of Coaster, a
2004 model, and Drifter, our 2005 baby. Both are spotted and excellent
babies. We are looking forward to getting them as riders. Enjoy
their pictures and if you are looking for a horse to buy, let us
know. We sometimes come across a good one that we sell to help feed
the others. Good homes are a must!
Now
let me tell you about our goats and llama! They are one of my favorites.
We have pygmy goats, which as a friend was quick to point out, not
really good for anything. But they are great pets and entertainment.
We went a couple of years letting our herd grow to 27 and finally
decided that was too many. And you certainly don't want 27 really
friendly goats! Now we have the 11 that will probably dies with
us. They love to lay next to me and get scratched and always take
walks with us through the woods. They earn their keep by clearing
the brush in our woods and their personalities are very am
using
to watch. I would highly recommend goats to anyone that has a place
for them. People have told us to they were hard to keep fenced in
but I guess ours just like where they live. They come when they
are called and are perfectly content. I love them so. 
