I have no advice for you about the yard, but the dogs are beautiful; you are a good person. Now.....you need some cats!

I might trade you my one geriatric bladder compromised cat for two of your cute little kittens. lol My old cat probably needs to be put down but I don't have the heart. I have to keep her shut up away from the carpet unless she's right with me. I put her out on the deck or patio occasionally but I can't leave her outside long because she's a bit crippled and couldn't get away from a dog.

Ok - Here's my story about Jackson:
My daughter who just turned 18 is the one who brought him home. She LOVES dogs and always has from the time she was big enough to point at pictures of dogs in books. Everything she wanted for Christmas for several years had a dog/puppy theme, clothes, books, toys etc.
Anyway - A few weeks ago we were in the living room....
Daughter: "Mom I need to tell you something"
Me: "okay"
Daughter: "I've been wanting to tell you for awhile"
Me: "okay what?"
Daughter: "Promise not to ground me"
Me: knowing not to argue "okay"
Daughter: "Promise not to take my phone away"
Me: now getting a bit concerned "okay"
Daughter: "You know how I said Jackson was a stray?"
Me: now getting more than a bit concerned "yeah"
Daughter: "Well he wasn't"
Me: "What?!"
My daughter has never stolen anything that I know of but that was my first thought. She didn't (thank goodness). She told me that a friend of a friend was planning to move out of state and couldn't take her dog with her. She was looking for a home for it and my daughter wanted the dog. She'd never even seen it but it was a dog after all. So they cooked up a scheme. Her friend and the dog's owner met her across three fields on another road more than a half mile away with the dog. My daughter walked, and they drove to the spot at an agreed time. My daughter MADE mud and took it with her to rub on the dog so it would look more like a stray. They scratched out the writing on his rabies tag so it couldn't be traced and she carried him home. She had been told that it was a dachshund mix which he is, but STANDARD dachshund not the itty bitty kind so he's very heavy, between 30 and 40 pounds. She carried her new muddy dog about a quarter mile towards our house and then called me out of breath from her cell phone to tell me she had "caught" a stray dog at the back of our field and could she bring it home and feed it. So after I spent a few weeks looking through every lost-dog site on the internet, posting in the paper, making signs, taking him to the vet to have him scanned for a chip, etc, we gave in and decided to let her keep him. The kids had all voted on a name for him and decided to call him Jackson. Well his name was ALREADY Jackson. My daughter had told her two sisters where he really came from and they kept her secret for a few months until she finally told me. My hubby still doesn't know. I'm not sure he would see the humor in it. I'm having some trouble seeing the humor myself. lol

So...That's Jackson's true story (to the best of my knowledge) lol

Here's what I posted back in June and it has another photo and a video of him.

Here is a link that might be useful: Me - in the dark - posting about the

christie, that is a great story (I think!)

What amazes me is that all the kids didn't give it away.

In our family, it would have been my husband wanting the dog. Almost every dog we have had has been a stray or from someone wanting to get rid of it.

Glad you had time to read that Glenda. It makes me smile when I think about it but I don't let my daughter know. I don't want her to do it again. lol I'll wait until she gets her own home, then we can laugh about it.

One of the bad things about the bare ground around our back porch is that the dogs track mud when they come in. If it's rainy we have to corral them and clean off their feet as they come in the door. I've thought about making a gravel or woodchip area. Woodchips would be more attractive.
They're also packing down the ground under my dogwood tree where they lay in the shade. More than half of the area below the dripline of the tree is bare ground now. Hope it won't hurt my dogwood.

I put river gravel in the kitchen drive area. It is pretty browns and the stones are smooth. You might check into that. Wood chips will float if rain stands there. I bought the river gravel a few years ago from a place out toward Republic. I need to redo it.

I have a little pick up so I can get gravel from several places that sell it by the scoop. I have been getting pea gravel fairly cheaply at one place. The advantage is if it gets in the grass you can mow over it. Since it is small it will just become part of the soil if scattered. The bagged pea gravel is pretty expensive if you need a lot.

I forgot to say the dogs are beautiful. I am glad your newest dog had surgery to solve the heart problem because you couldn't get over the death of the previous dog. My idea about a garden is that the animals are part of it. You have three beautiful furry flowers. It is not fair to compare the behavior of an old dog to a pup. One day when the pup is ten or so, it will stop chewing and barking at birds. Last weekend when I was gone, somehow my tarps and black landscape cloth got in my driveway. My youngest dog is seven; there was foul play.

Ten or so! Oh my I hope I don't have to wait that long. lol
Most of my gardening is outside of our backyard fence so there's only a few plants they can hurt and those could be moved I guess.
My daughter says Jackson helps fill the hole in her heart from when Brandi died.

Christie, they are such beautiful dogs! I think there is just nothing more healing than a dog who puts her head on your knee. All is well with the world then.

Helen, I just love your dog philosophy.
Sunny