Animal Companions and Friends

For those who share their lives with one or more four legged friend a house just is not a home unless you are brushing cat hair off your business suit or tumbleweeds of blown coat off your kitchen floor.

For as long as records have been kept there are references to animals not only as hunters or draught animals but as companions and friends. Ask just about anyone you meet - even those who do not have pets - and they will more than likely have a story about a beloved family or neighborhood pet from years gone by.

Whether you are a dog person or a cat person, a horse lover or a rabbit fan, sharing your life with animals is known today to be a healthy option. Children raised in a household which includes one or more pets are shown to have fewer allergies while stroking a dog or cat lowers blood pressure and anxiety levels. At the other end of the spectrum, not many activities can be as exhilarating and spirit lifting as cantering across a grassy field on your very own horse.

Anyone who has ever told their troubles to their dog will vouch for the fact that whether or not he understands every word, he does empathize with your feelings.

Cats too, seem to have an emotional radar. They know when a warm weight curled into the small of your back in the dead of night is the only thing between you and a bad dream.

Those who have never had a beloved pet sometimes find it hard to imagine the depths of feeling that pet lovers hold for their fur babies. One of the hardest things to deal with is the loss of a beloved pet when one's pain is misunderstood or not acknowledged at home,school or work. That cold phrase, 'It was only a dog!', shows the profound difference between those who have pets and those who don't. For those who have shared the last 12 years with their best friend, he or she was never only a dog.

So, this website is for those of us who share our lives with animals and for all our four-legged friends past, present and future. . Beyond that though, this site is in recognition of all those who dedicate their time, their lives and quite often their money to helping the dogs, cats, horses and all other animals who have been, for whatever reason, abandoned, neglected, lost or maltreated. When reading through the breed description pages, you'll find references to breed specific and general rescue organisations.