Since 1999, the author has had a houseful of critters, mostly dogs, and mostly adopted rescues, hence his self-proclaimed title as "The Dogfather." Presently, he has 13 dogs and 2 cats in the house, not to mention 4 horses in the yard, as well as a scurry of squirrels, a leash of foxes, a murder of crows along with plenty of other free-range feathered friends, the occasional racoon, and even twin fawns, all of whom like to eat. This all came about when he married his second wife, who was the director of The Animal Protection League, a no-kill dog and cat shelter out in the countryside near Columbia, South Carolina. He adopted her two young daughters, and their dogs (oh, and a monk parrot) they had all adopted. So, they blended with him and his two dogs, which got the count up to 5 household dogs. He really has no idea how things got this crazy, but has no regrets, except that dogs do not live as long as people do, so there have been many heartbreaks over the years, as dogs left this world for the next. Dog Heaven must be a very happy place!
