Nala the yellow lab...

So I love animals. Cats, dogs, fluffy little bunnies. They are all adorable in my book. I have 3 dogs--no cats only because my husband doesn't like them--and they all 3 follow me wherever I go. Sometimes I feel like a parade leader. The smallest of the dogs, Pixie, is the alpha. It's funny, because she is old, only has a dozen teeth left, and she weighs about 7 pounds.

Next comes Buttercup, who made her debut in my new book, HAUNTING BEAUTY. Buttercup is a chunky little terrier mix who doesn't resemble a dog too much, but somehow is one. She is devoted to me above everything else and is always at my feet, in my lap or somewhere nearby just watching me to make sure I don't need her for something.

Last is Nala, the yellow lab. She's the newest member of our family and only about 16 months old. Still a baby though she outweighs the other animals by 70 pounds. I've never had a big dog before--and I understand from others that I don't really have a big dog now. Danes are big dogs. Anyway, I think it's so funny how different they are from little ones--and I'm not talking about appearance. Big dogs are so easy to train because they are ruled entirely by their stomachs.

Little dogs can be left alone in the house with a dish full of food which they will ignore until you return. Big dogs? They'll eat the varnish off your table if appeals to them. My Nala can hardly wait for breakfast. IN fact, who needs an alarm clock when there's a big yellow muzzle laying on the bed beside your head and a sound like a warped siren coming out of it? She knows she doesn't get to eat until 7:30, but that doesn't stop her from crying an earlier, just so she's sure you have time to wake up, have coffee and not forget her.

And when 4:30 rolls around, we'll play it all again. She's start with the siren moan to let us know dinner is coming. At five, she'll really start playing it up, flopping listlessly on the ground, acting like she's weak from hunger. By the time 5:30 is here, she's in a full throttle distress, moaning and groaning like the world will end if a morsel doesn't make it to her lips soon.

Gotta love her for being so passionate about it, I guess. But it sure makes it hard to write when she's laying at my feet telling me her woes.

Hope you have a great 4th!