Since you asked so nicely

I'd like to give you, dear pretend reader, a glimpse of who I am; of what my life is like. This isn't everything; don't worry, though. I'll tell you everything piece by piece.

My name is Marina. I'm eighteen years old and I live on my own with my boyfriend, Morris, who is 22 years old.

We have two children: Oliver and Kato.

Oliver

Oliver is our first dog. We got him at a pet store (yeah, yeah, I'm an awful person) when he was just 12 weeks old. He was very sick when we first got him - every five minutes, day and night, he would sputter and hack like he was throwing up. But really, he was just coughing. After taking him to the vet and giving him herbal supplements, he got better, and now he's a happy, energetic 11-month-old chiweenie puppy.

His first snow

Kato came into our lives when I applied to foster him through Animal Rescue of the Rockies. We didn't know much about him - just that he was 2 - 4 years old, a German shepherd/husky/heeler mix, and that he was going to die if we didn't step in and save him. I knew, from the moment I saw his picture, that he wouldn't be just a foster. I was going to adopt this dog.

The picture and the face I fell in love with

It's not that we needed another dog - but fostering was free, so I convinced Morris that we should give it a try. A few days and a long drive later, Kato came home.

Kato's first night home

From the moment I met Kato, I bonded with him. He wasn't potty trained, didn't know any tricks, marked everything in my apartment, and didn't walk well on a leash. He didn't understand the concept of playtime, and the fact that food was always readily available for him seemed to confuse him... but Kato had the sweetest, most submissive personality of any dog I've ever met. And Oliver liked him, too!

So, after being laid off (gotta do SOMETHING with all that time), I trained Kato to be the gentleman I knew he could be. We paid his adoption fee on March 2nd. Now he and Oliver are best friends, and we're a big, happy family. 

And we lived happily ever after. Right?

Wrong. But I'll explain that later. 

Until next time, dear pretend reader.