Ilyse On Life: ESG: Meet My Pets

I've been going through old photos and decided to share a bunch - I've always been a dog person and these are dogs we've been blessed to love over the years. I wish I had more from years gone by, but grateful for the many we have now!

First up - Meet LANCE-A-LITTLE (instead of Lancelot). He was my first dog that my parents adopted when I was still living at home. Poor dog was slightly neurotic in our household, and even with obedience training, he was a handful! This photo must be from the late 60's or early 70's.

Lance

Next is KRYPTO - This was actually my then-boyfriend's dog, and I think I loved the dog more than the guy. Well, maybe not, but when we broke up, I really missed Krypto as much or more than him. I've always had a soft spot for labs. This photo was from 1979.

Krypto

Fast-forward to the late 80's and meet HOMER. She was my husband's and my first "baby" that we received when our neighbor's dog had puppies. We are big baseball fans, so the name "HOMER" was her name.

Homer - after a haircut!

Homer lived a good life, and even moved to our new home with us. She was the dog we had when both of our kids were born, and losing her was tough on all of us. It was a while before we adopted another dog, but when we did, we chose TATER from the SPCA. Tater was wild! I always thought it looked like he'd dipped his nose in black paint.

Tater - Mr. Mischief

Tater

Sadly, Tater was not a good fit for our family. He was way too high-energy for us, and we made the difficult decision to re-home him. Taking him back to the SPCA was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. The staff was so kind - they let me know when they found a new home for him and assured me that he was well cared-for. I still feel guilty over that, and it was ages ago!

One day, I came across a flyer on the bulletin board at the gym, advertising new puppies. The seller had them all in a red wagon, and I fell in love! I didn't even ask my family. I contacted the seller and went and chose Elly Mae.

New PuppElly Mae

Clean Elly!

Our next 'baby' is Leia. We adopted her from the SPCA in 2008. Her given name was Martha Stewart when we got her, and my son chose her name because he was in a Star Wars phase. Leia quickly became "my" dog and she's been my constant companion ever since. She's turning 13 this summer, and we are besties. Here are a few from recent walks and hanging out in my office:

And, last but certainly not least... Meet PICA. She is actually my son's dog, but a big part of our family too. She was adopted from a shelter when my son was out of state rock-climbing. I couldn't believe it when he came home from the trip with a dog, but she's been here ever since. She is awesome and such a cuddler!