How I got The Group of 7...

I have forever had a love for animals, there isn't ever a time I can remember not finding someway of surrounding myself with them.  To put it into perspective, my first word was 'Dudley' the name of my golden retriever at the time, as you can imagine, it was a difficult reality for my parents to grasp, but it made for a great story.

In my 19 years of life I have owned 1 cat named Benson, 3 dogs named, Dudley, Jackson, then Iris, 2 guinea pigs, named Betty and Pebbles, 1 snake named Isabelle whom gave birth to god knows how many mini-hers, and 1 chameleon named sticks.

I have gone to zoo's for my birthdays as a kid, I took several horseback riding lessons, and spent 6 summers attending a horseback riding camp in Delaware.  It wasn't until last September when I harassed my local veterinarian office in order to attain my current placement as 'kennel care' (which is not far off from my childhood dream of being a professional 'kitten cuddler') that I fully indulged my love affair with pet ownership.

One night last December as I was finishing up at work when Dr. Hall one of our vets whom works closely with the Burlington Humane Society, jokingly asked if I wanted to have 7 dogs for Christmas.  Now at the time, my family was without any pets at all, as our Goldendoodle Jackson had passed away in July at the age of 10 and my Tabby cat Benson in October at the age of 14.

So when Dr. Hall told me that she had received news that the Human Society had come into possession of a 9month old mother and her 6 1 day old puppies, I, like any other reasonable teenage girl would, saw this as the most perfect Christmas miracle.

But unlike most teenagers, who would allow their uncontainable excitement over take any fair chance at asking their parents, I had a plan to make this Christmas miracle into a reality!

I went home and picked off one family member at a time starting with the most easily corrupted, my mother.  I told her wonderful it would be and how things like this happen for a reason and ... well you can guess the top five cliches that also got thrown into the mix.  Once I realized I wasn't getting a direct NO, I knew I had her.. next step brother.. then FATHER>>>DUN..DUN.. DUNNNNNN!

The statement: "so let me get this straight... we are discussing 'HOW' we will do this, not 'IF' we will....?" Papa Brown

That sentence was gold, I knew I had succeeded, and the evil scientist smile stayed planted on my face all night long!"