The dogs behind the artist

The day Cass waddled into my life - a grossly overweight 4 year old Rottweiler demanding that I adopt her - was the day I learned the meaning of unconditional love.  Cassie ran my life. She set my schedule (which revolved around her), kept my feet on the ground and put a permanent smile on my face.

A week after she arrived, I helped save Cassie from almost certain death. My vet and I discovered she had advanced heartworm, and we treated and defeated it. Cass and I bonded during the delicate recuperation process, at which time I learned of her spectacular couch-hogging skills.

In August 2006 Cassie was diagnosed with canine MS (degenerative myelopathy). She was supposed to be unable to walk by April, but she and I never really believed that and she remained strong and active thanks to lots of exercise, a home-cooked diet, a younger boyfriend (Bobby, a golden retriever) and a plethora of vitamin and mineral supplements - as per the advice followed on an excellent website concerning degenerative myelopathy in dogs: http://vetmedicine.about.com/cs/dogdiseasesd/a/degenmylopathy_3.htm

Update June 2022
I lost my beloved Cassie on 3rd December, 2008. She passed away peacefully with her head on my lap, as I spoke to her of walks and beach and bones and dinner and the names of all the people who loved her. Cass had a wonderful life, and was wagging her beautiful stump right up to the moment we decided to stop her pain. My heart broke into a million pieces...

Six months later, a new little rescue Rottweiler pup came into my life - Molly - who joined Bobby and Riley, the two goofy golden retrievers now also part of my family.

Molly...wow! Another extraordinary girl with a unique and very bubbly personality; to know her was to adore her,. And just like Cass, she was oh so brave.  One awful night, darling Molly broke a leg while running. It transpired that it was honeycombed with osteosarcoma. Molly's leg was amputated - a very emotional experience for us both - but she recovered and continued to approach life with joy and a huge amount of courage. When the disease took her six months later, I was again inconsolable. 

BUT...from the pain, came purpose.  In honour of my beautiful Molly, and to focus my mind on something positive, in 2019 I created a not for profit called Humans Helping Dogs on Facebook, put out a call for volunteer knitters, and launched the now iconic 'Greyt Hound Knitathon'. This is a gorgeous campaign where we reward anyone who donates $50 to Greyhound Adoptions WA (a wonderful rescue organisation) with a unique and quirky hand-knitted dog of their choice. The campaign runs each November on the Humans Helping Dogs Facebook page, and to date we have raised $16,500 free and clear for greyhound rescue entirely through the sale of our cute knitted dogs, created entirely by our creative volunteers! 

Woman's Day heard about us this year, and are going to do an article on us soon!  For more information about Humans Helping Dogs and our work, please visit my other website: https://www.humanshelpingdogs.com.

Oh...and now a new Rottweiler rescue girl, Etta, makes me smile every minute of the day!  

I am happy to say that my heart well and truly belongs to dogs, and with art-making a constant in my routine, life is very, very good.