Hellooooo!  I'm Chance, but my ACK registered name is LegendHold Perchance to Dream CGC.  My first mom called me Othello, and was going to name me LegendHold Here Nor There, cause she never knew where I was or what I was getting into.  All my litter brothers and sisters have ACK registered names that are famous sayings, and a lot of us have names from Shakespeare.  My furrever Mom said she had Dreamed of having the Chance to own a collie since she was a little pup.  And she knew my great-grandpa, and great-great-grandma...Ever since she met them, she Dreamed of getting the Chance to have a collie like them.  So, when she met me, she asked my breeder-mom if she could name me Perchance to Dream.

Part of the reason my furrever Mom loves Collies is that she grew up reading Albert Payson Terhune's books about the famous Sunnybank Collies.  One of her favorites was Treve, whose ACK registered name was Ch. Sunnybank Sigurd.  He's my great-great-GREAT-grandpa, many generations back.  A lot of the other Sunnybank collies are in my family tree, too.  Pretty cool, huh?  And we live just a few miles from Sunnybank, so we go there a lot, even though the Terhunes and their collies went to the Rainbow Bridge a long time ago.  Every summer, we go to the Gathering at Sunnybank, and see all our friends.  There are collies everywhere, at the Gathering!  My friends Baden and James come with Aunt Toni, and Aunt Brenda brings her collies, too.  One of them, Nigel, is a superstar - he was in Westminster this year!  But Mom says I'm still the bestest collie ever.  I'm officially a Good Citizen, and I'm teaching my Mom obedience.  I love to visit the old people where she works and cheer them up.  And soon, I'm going to show her my herding instict!  Then maybe I can teach her to herd sheep, since she tells me I can't herd the other dogs.  But hey, if she won't buy me my own flock of sheep, I've got to practice on them, right?  I mean, a Collie's gotta do what a Collie's gotta do...And a Collie's gotta herd! 

Rags the Giant Mutant Airedale Terror, here.  I'm a purebred Airedale, even though I'm way bigger than Airedales are "supposed" to be.  I don't remember much about my younger years, just that I was homeless, living on the streets, until someone found me and brought me to the dog shelter.  Heck of a thing, an Airedale in a dog shelter!  After all, Airedales are the King of Terriers...Royalty should NOT be in a shelter.  Fortunately, my mom found me on PetFinder and came and adopted me.  I'm her first Airedale, and boy, was she in for a surprise!  She had NO idea what she was getting herself into.  Bwahahah!!!! Before I came, she always had pushbutton dogs like Dobermans and Collie mixes and such.  They're all well and good, but they do NOT know how to think for themselves.  Tell them to sit, and they just...sit.  Not me.  Give me a good enough reason, and maybe I'll sit...if I feel like it.  But if she thinks I'm gonna just do whatever she tells me to, well, she's got another think coming!

The only thing I'll (usually) do the first time she askes, is shake hands.  That's something that Grandpa taught me, not long after I came here.  It was right at Samhein, when the veil between this world and the Rainbow Bridge is really thin.  Grandpa came back to check on Mom, and he was real impressed with me.  (Of course!  I'm an Airedale!)  Partly, I think, because he had Airedales when he was a pup, and partly because I'm named after one of the dogs he used to have.  Anyway, when Grandpa lived on this side of the Bridge, he used to teach his dogs (and my sister, Daphney, who went to the Bridge a couple years after Grandpa) how to shake hands.  So he taught me, when he was here, and told me to shake hands with Mom to remind her that he's looking out for her.  Mom was real surprised when I first showed her what I'd learned, cause I never admitted to knowing anything before that.  Now, when she asks me to "shake hands like Grandpa taught you", I do...And she gets teary-eyed and tells me how much she misses her Dad, but I know it makes her feel better at the same time. 

Hi...I'm Trooper...You're not going to hurt me, are you?  I'm very shy, and I'm not too sure about people.  Somebody hurt me real bad when I was little, and then I think they dumped me, cause I was homeless.  Some people found me and took me to a dog shelter in Pennsylvania, and that was pretty scary, too.  Then these nice people from a Doberman Rescue group came and got me.  I was in a foster home where I learned to trust my foster mom, but her human puppy was SCARY!  I'm afraid of human puppies...So my furrever Mom, who was part of the rescue, came and brought me here.  She doesn't have any human puppies, just a bunch of dogs, and that suits me just fine!  I love to play with other dogs, and even like going for walks with Mom if one of the other dogs comes with us.  But I still get scared if I meet people I don't know, and there's no other dog with me to tell me if they're good people or bad.  I'd much rather just stay home with Mom - she's the one human who doesn't scare me at all.  I love her, and she loves me...I know she'll never hurt me, and she promised me I'll never be homeless, or in a shelter, again, and she won't ever let anybody hurt me.

I know, Dobermans are supposed to be big, scary, vicious dogs.  But we're really very gentle and loving, and we need to be treated kindly and loved back.  Mean people can really break our spirits...but even so, we have so much love to give that we can learn to trust again.  And, when we do, we're the most loyal, devoted friends you'd ever want to meet!

Peppy...How can I put into words how much my little Peppy meant to me?  I got him not long after I lost 2 Dobies (one to intestinal cancer, the other to lymphoma and DCM).  At the vet's office, after sending the second Dobie to the Rainbow Bridge, I remember saying that little dogs aren't "real" dogs...How could I have known that a teeny-tiny little dog was about to come into my life and make me eat those words?

I certainly never set out looking for a cockapoo.  I wasn't much into poodles, as I always thought of them as being like my grandmother's little yap-monster.  But then, on one of the rescue lists, I read about a cockapoo who was going to be destroyed because he was blind, and had fleas.  That had to be one of the stupidest excuses I'd ever heard and, as he wasn't far from me, I figured I could at least foster him until a suitable home was found.  Well, he was a foster for all of 2 or 3 minutes...Once I had held that shivering little bundle of love, I knew he had found his forever home.

It didn't take Peppy long to learn his way around the house...and to establish himself as boss.  Even Rags, who'd probably eat any big dog who challenged him, would run away from Peppy.  Peppy couldn't see them, but he sure could chase them!  He quickly earned the nickname "Peppy Roomba" because of the way he'd bump into things, and just turn around and head off in another direction - much like those robotic vaccuum cleaners of the same name.  And, at the sound of my voice, he'd run straight to me and stand up on his hind legs for me to pick him up.  He'd sit on my lap for hours while I was online, looking straight at the computer screen that he couldn't see.  But he didn't care, as long as he was being held.

For all his problems, he was the happiest little guy you'd ever want to meet.  He loved life, he loved his big brother, Chance, and he loved his mom.  Even the pain of glaucoma didn't slow him down, and he was an angel about letting me put in all the drops and ointments that we hoped might control the pressure in his eyes.  They didn't work, so he had chemical ablation done, and finally the pressure was down to where he wasn't in pain.  Then he got a nasty abrasion on one eye, and almost lost it.  (That was when I bought him his Doggles, which he tolerated, though he didn't really like them.)  He was finally almost healed up, when he died in my arms.  That's a long story that I can't bear to go into, and it was the most heartbreaking moment of my life.  I never would have believed that such a little dog could leave such a huge hole in my heart...

In an effort to bring some good out of all of this, I became active in IMOM (http://www.imom.org), a charitable organization that raises funds for pets in need.  I first found out about them when I was looking for resources for blind dogs.  And I've taken in a couple of other little dogs:  the Mighty Munchkin, and Willie, a poodle/dachshund cross (who ended up being more medium sized, but he was supposed to be small!)  And Kramer, an old, blind cocker spaniel who came to me as a hospice case.  Like Peppy, he was proof that "Blind dogs see with their hearts".

Run free at the Rainbow Bridge, Peppy, my little love.  I know you'll be the first one to greet me when I arrive, and I'll scoop you up and never put you down.  I miss you so much, baby...Chance does, too.  I think he knew that it was you to whom we were paying tribute at the Gathering memorial 2 years ago - as we'll do again this year, and every year that they have the memorial.  The house is full of dogs, but it still seems so empty without you.  Even though you've been gone almost 2 years, it still seems like only yesterday that my world fell apart...You brought so much joy and love into my life, and I know you wouldn't want me to be sad.  But I'll never be completely happy until we're together again.  I love you...

Yeah, I like chewing on fuzzy toys - you wanna make something of it?  Don't push your luck...I'm almost 100 pounds of German Shepherd and Rottie - I could kill you if I wanted to.  Granted, I'd probably do it by knocking you down and kissing you to death, but still...

I was a stray down in south Jersey.  Still haven't figured out how that happened.  Somebody took the time to get me neutered, and teach me lots of good stuff.  I knew how to come, heel, sit, lie down, shake hands, and speak.  And I was only a year or so old when I wound up in the shelter, so I must have had a good puppyhood.  Just doesn't make sense - how could someone put so much time and effort into me, then not come and find me when I got losted and wound up in the shelter?  Fortunately, my new Mom drove a long, long way to come and adopt me.  She actually came to see about another dog that was there, but I convinced her that I was the one she wanted.  The people at the shelter called me Sampson, cause I'm so big and strong.  But Mom changed my name to Rex, after a dog she read about in a book by Albert Payson Terhune.  Rex was a mixed breed, like me.  And he was very devoted to his human, even after he died.  Instead of going to the Rainbow Bridge, he stayed here on earth with his human.  A couple of people saw him, lying at his human's feet and gazing up at him with love in his eyes.  His human was very surprised, because he couldn't see Rex, but the people who did see him, described him perfectly - so he knew they really saw him.  Mom named me after him because I like to be wherever she is, and just watch her.  Mostly cause I love her, but I think a part of me is afraid she'll disappear like my first humans did.  I don't worry about that so much, now that we've been together for almost 3 years...But still, I don't ever want to get losted again!