By Liz, looking forward to a beach day or two this weekend!
I’m a huge Mary Oliver fan – have been since I read her poem “The Journey” years ago. I recently picked up her book Dog Songs, a collection celebrating her various pups and the bond she shares with them. The poems are sweet, simple, and moving, and wonderfully capture the essence of the beautiful canine soul. She and her dogs clearly love the beach – it’s mentioned in many of the pieces, like “School,” where her dog Percy wants to roll in a dead fish on the sand. She justifies this with, “It’s summer. How many summers does a little dog have?…This is our school.” Which led me to reflect on my own pups and their many adventures. Having celebrated Shaggy’s “Gotcha Day” in July and preparing for her 8th birthday in September, it seemed fitting to do a tribute to her and her brothers. So here’s a chronicle of their lives, their summers, and their own schooling. Enjoy.
Readers, share stories of your favorite dogs in the comments!
The Wickeds 
What precious babies! Rescue dogs rule!
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Aren’t they cute?? 🙂
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Great blog post!!! Who doesn’t love pics of cute pups!?! I will definitely be looking back at this throughout the day for a smile! My mom had two Weiner dogs and I used to take the sweet girl (Ilsa) and push her into the sleeve of my puffy coat until just her head stuck out the sleeve hole. She would wiggle around like a worm and look so adorable! No animals were hurt or tortured! She loved it and we all did too. Bless her little heart!
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Aww she sounds adorable! Glad this made you smile.
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I loved seeing this! How wonderful that they’re all rescues (they’re the best. 4 of our 5 are & 2 is a result of someone not fixing their dog. You’re obviously a living soul & that’s awesome! I sent my mom home with one of your books yesterday & I just preordered Custom Baked Murder as well.
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Thanks so much!! And sounds like you are too 😉
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Reblogged this on Brand Fearless ~ Kim Fleck and commented:
Shaggy, Petey and Finn took over the Wicked Cozy blog today. #AdoptDontShop
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Thanks! xo
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What great photos! One of the best dog memories I have is when we came home with our second dog, Billy. Susie was a year old and we didn’t know how she would react. For the whole weekend they played together, and were wrestling. I was like “OMG” what’s going on? I’ve never had two dogs so I wasn’t sure if this was still play. Susie’s groomer came to meet Billy and they were wrestling and she told me that Susie engaged in that type of play at the shop all the time (she did daycare weekly). I told my husband that someone is going to sue us because of Susie’s rough play (like a Shih-Tzu can ever engage in that rough of play. LOL). By Monday Susie had this look on her face and I knew exactly what she was thinking – okay, I’m done playing, he can go now. 🙂 They’re best of friends and I love every minute of it.
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So sweet! It’s so interesting to watch them form their own relationships, isn’t it?
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Lily, our sweet Westie, is the first dog I’ve ever had. She turns ten this month and I never knew how much you could fall in love with a pet. She’s taught me a lot!
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They are great teachers, aren’t they Sherry? And Lily is adorable!!
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Oh, just the sweetest. We’ve always had Westies – irrepressible, energetic and lovable. Our latest is my devoted pal Archie, who’s a great support as I write – keeping my feet warm under the desk in winter, listening to my complaints about the writing or the computer or my cold feet. Can’t imagine life without these canine soul mates!
(Now, I have to go refresh myself on Mary Oliver – thanks!)
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Archie’s so cute, Marian…and Mary Oliver is always someone to come back to, isn’t she?
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They are adorable! Rescues rule!! Just like my 3, they were all rescued. We waited in a strip mall plaza from 10 AM until 11 PM for the RV to arrive with our Josie Belle!!
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Awww! Those transporters are so amazing, aren’t they? Such hard work to go into those places and choose who’s coming out – I couldn’t do it.
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We don’t have grandchildren–only granddogs. So we get to spend lots of time with them, dog sitting. They have such personalities, and we’ve come to really love them. When they walk in the door, you can almost read their minds, “We’ll come for a visit at grandma’s house.”
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Adorable!
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Thank you for my morning dose of cuteness.
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You’re very welcome! Glad you enjoyed!
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Adorable dogs. I grew up with dogs (and cats) but have had mostly cats as an adult because they fit my lifestyle better. I have several Goddogs that I care for frequently, though. My most memorable dog is Buster. He followed me home from school one day (with very little coaxing ;>) ) when I was in first grade. We put up posters and placed an ad in the paper, but no one claimed him, so my parents said we could keep him — both my parents were suckers for anything with 4 paws, but we were between dogs at the time. The vet said he was about 2 years old and was a terrier mix. He became our fierce protector, but didn’t like strangers much. He slept on my bed, comforted me when I cried, sang along when I practiced my piano lessons and did my voice exercises, and kept me company when I was sick. He loved to go for car rides and would go fetch his harness when it was time for Mom to go pick my dad up from work. He loved to play hide and seek with our cat. He died the day before I went back for my sophomore year of college. The best dog ever!
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Aww Buster sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing!
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I love these photos, especially the last one! Our rescue cocker Jessie also came to us at 10 months. Is that a thing? The story we got was that the original owner was a single mom with two kids who said having a puppy was like having a third kid and she just couldn’t do it. I always felt badly for her, because I knew if she’d hung on just a couple more months, the worst of the puppy behaviors would be behind her. But her loss was our gain–thirteen wonderful years worth.
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Barb, you shouldn’t feel bad for her. As a single mom, she didn’t need the added expense of a dog. So you really helped her out both time-wise and financially.
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It must be a thing! How funny. I’m glad Jessie found you.
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Adorable! I call my two rescue pugs Jack and Sophia “The People”. They are an absolute joy and I love them so much.
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Ha sometimes they’re better than people!
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Liz, your post today made me cry. Actually I can’t stop. I miss Kendall. ❤
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I’m so sorry, Reine. Big hugs.
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Dogs are so great, and I loved seeing your photos. I should have said that right away! xxxxx
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I love seeing your pups every day on facebook. They are always a favorite for me. Love all of these photos too. Tyler is my rescue who rescued me and my family when I lost my service dog/partner Rufus to heart failure. Although Tyler has not succeeded at training for service dog work he did get his cgc and is amazing. This boy is the best of both my million dollar boys – Rufus and my 21 year old gentleman giant Samson. You truly could not ask for a better boy. Quiet, playful, attentive, fun loving, gentle, you name it – Tyler’s got it.
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Tyler sounds amazing, Kay! Thanks for sharing.
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Love those pictures. My dogs have always been rescues. Our Sophie has been with us four years. She was six (best guess) when we got her. She came with some emotional baggage, lots of fears, but we help her work through them and most of the time she’s a happy girl.
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Awww, they’re adorable. We have two rescues, Trixie (cairn terrier/chihuaha, eight months when we adopted her) and Plush Dog (shih tzu/lhasa apso, four years).
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Oh the adorableness!! Love the dog pictures. My mom rescued a dog that looks like your Petey. His name is Cosmo and he’s the sweetest little dog ever, healthy and happy now.
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Awesome!! What a great story and love all the photos, especially the after adoption ones. One of our dogs loves mud too 🙂 Enough where sometimes we have to go home early because she has found mud on our hikes and rolled in it 🙂
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Such good photos and adorable pups! I also love that they are rescues 🙂
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What are adorable pups ! Just read an article “why a shelter dog should be your new friend” .Your post is a great story to give me an answer.
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