Pack of Hearts (2026)

20/04/2019

To those of you who have been worried, I’m alive and well! It’s been 3 months since my last post here. Just been busy…

I moved. It was forced upon me and it was incredibly stressful and difficult for a number of reasons, but it’s been such a blessing. I LOVE the new place. There’s so much more space, indoor and out. The air is cleaner, the sunsets are better, the neighbors are further, the animals are freer, the possibilities are greater. I have so many ideas for the place and for where to take my life and business. All super exciting, but I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Speaking of work, my animal gang has grown. To my 15 dogs and 1 cat, I added a potbelly pig and a guinea pig, both adopted from families who could no longer care for them. Both are amazing, they are such perfect additions to the energy here. I mean, the potbelly is a cuddler! I also added a swarm of bees! I’m on my way to achieving my dream of 10,000 animals, but I need to figure out how to give all my current babies the time and attention they need before I add any more.

I’m further out now, an hour from the city (3 with traffic!). One of my biggest concerns about moving this far out was losing the community that I had begun building around me. As it turns out, in the less than 2 months that I’ve lived here, I’ve had more guests than in the more than 2 years at my last place. Not just a greater number of people, but longer stays and deeper experiences. Friends who I had individual relationships with are now getting to know each other. Family too - my mom spent a week here, my sister a month. The web around me is strengthening. It’s beautiful. I’m so grateful for all the love in my life and all the incredible people helping me.

I’m also grateful for all you who follow me here, who support me, encourage me, check in on me. Thank you. I’m excited to be back here with you. ❤️ @ Los Angeles, California

20/01/2019

A friend of mine is hesitant to love too much. He says the more you love, the more you hurt. I tell him it’s always worth it. But this past month I’ve been getting an overdose of that hurt.
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In just the last 3 days, one of my dogs passed away, my very favorite dog got diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and a friend of mine went missing. In the few weeks prior, two clients’ dogs who I was close to passed away also, one very suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart cancer that was undetected. And my dad’s recent blood work indicates that his pancreas transplant may be in rejection.
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I wanna tell you about all these dogs and people - the circumstances around their situations, how special they are, how much they mean to me. But Instagram isn’t the place to publish a book. Nor can I afford to replace another computer with water damage.
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So I’ve been feeling the painful side of love that my friend fears. It’s devastating. The only sense I can make of it all is that I’m supposed to love harder, love deeper, and love more.
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@ Los Angeles, California

12/01/2019

I’m moving & I’m both nervous & excited.

I’ve been illegal for years. City law allows only 3 dogs. I have 15. I’ve never been sure what the city would do if they caught me, but the nightmare is that they’d take my dogs away. The constant looking over my shoulders has given me quite the neck ache.

Of course, I wouldn’t let the city take my babies away. I’d lie, cheat, & steal if I had to. Or at least go fugitive.

The problem has been that finding a place is extremely difficult. Legal zones are few & far between. My budget further restricts my options. Then to find a landlord & neighbors who are ok with so many dogs, & it’s nearly impossible. I’ve been looking for over a year. Nothing.

A few months ago, my landlord hit me with hard news: she’s selling. That really turned up the heat. I scrambled to find a place. Came very close to a couple but the deals fell through. It’s been nerve-wracking. On the final day of 2018, I found my new place!

I’m excited bcuz I’ll finally be legal, my dogs are out of danger. Bcuz it’s 2.5 acres, 6x the size of where I’ve been, which will allow for new opportunities such as hosting healing retreats or kids’ camps. Bcuz the landlord is great & I was completely upfront about my situation. Bcuz the house is much bigger, so I can host guests more comfortably. Bcuz maybe I can expand my pack to include the miniature horse that I’ve always wanted, or the potbelly pig, or…

I’m nervous bcuz the commute is 50 miles further, each way. Bcuz there’s always that chance one of your new neighbors is no bueno. Bcuz I’ll no longer have a place on my workdays to stop over with clients’ dogs before & after our hikes, which has been so helpful. Bcuz it’s gonna cost me almost twice what I currently pay. Bcuz I’ll be further from the community that I’ve been building around me lately, I won’t be able to bring them together very often so far away.

The place doesn’t hit every mark I hoped for, but the new hand I’m dealt is enough to win this round, just gotta play these cards with creativity & gratitude. I hope you play yours the same.

Meanwhile, worked hard this past week, as evidenced by the above pics. @ Los Angeles, California

12/01/2019

I’m moving & I’m both nervous & excited.

I’ve been illegal for years. City law allows only 3 dogs. I have 15. I’ve never been sure what the city would do if they caught me, but the nightmare is that they’d take my dogs away. The constant looking over my shoulders has given me quite the neck ache.

Of course, I wouldn’t let the city take my babies away. I’d lie, cheat, & steal if I had to. Or at least go fugitive.

The problem has been that finding a place is extremely difficult. Legal zones are few & far between. My budget further restricts my options. Then to find a landlord & neighbors who are ok with so many dogs, & it’s nearly impossible. I’ve been looking for over a year. Nothing.

A few months ago, my landlord hit me with hard news: she’s selling. That really turned up the heat. I scrambled to find a place. Came very close to a couple but the deals fell through. It’s been nerve-wracking. On the final day of 2018, I found my new place!

I’m excited bcuz I’ll finally be legal, my dogs are out of danger. Bcuz it’s 2.5 acres, 6x the size of where I’ve been, which will allow for new opportunities such as hosting healing retreats or kids’ camps. Bcuz the landlord is great & I was completely upfront about my situation. Bcuz the house is much bigger, so I can host guests more comfortably. Bcuz maybe I can expand my pack to include the miniature horse that I’ve always wanted, or the potbelly pig, or…

I’m nervous bcuz the commute is 50 miles further, each way. Bcuz there’s always that chance one of your new neighbors is no bueno. Bcuz I’ll no longer have a place on my workdays to stop over with clients’ dogs before & after our hikes, which has been so helpful. Bcuz it’s gonna cost me almost twice what I currently pay. Bcuz I’ll be further from the community that I’ve been building around me lately, I won’t be able to bring them together very often so far away.

The place doesn’t hit every mark I hoped for, but the new hand I’m dealt is enough to win this round, just gotta play these cards with creativity & gratitude. I hope you play yours the same.

Meanwhile, worked hard this past week, as evidenced by these pics. Which dog wins this time? @ Los Angeles, California

06/01/2019

I’ve always striven for more. I wanna do more, achieve more, get more, give more, be more. Open up more, let more of my light out, be more vulnerable. Listen more, help more. I wanna see more people find more inner peace this year.

Paradoxically, that peace requires a contentment with less, gratitude for what is. So before I decide on my 2019 goals (yes, I’m behind a little), I’ll take a moment to appreciate my 2018. I failed at all but one of my resolutions, but in times of clarity I can see that I still landed on the moon…

I wrote more. I’ve wanted to be a writer forever, but I’ve procrastinated forever. I didn’t start the book I intended to finish last year, nor the blog, & I barely journaled. But I did start writing on Instagram, these long captions. It’s a small huge first step in the write direction.😉

I got more involved in therapy work with my dogs. Although I first became interested in this years ago, I was held back by busyness, ignorance, & perceived barriers to entry. I thought I had to clear massive time in my schedule to train my dogs perfectly & then learn so much to break into the field. But in 2018, I just started taking my dogs to where there were people, & I learned by experience, & connections to so many therapy opportunities grew organically from that.

I established more community around me. I long put off a social life, far behind work & other interests. In 2018, I took baby steps to change that. I made a couple new friends, strengthened existing bonds, & generally went deeper with more people. The raw materials (the good people & trust) are there now, ripe to be connected into the tightly knit community that I now long for.

I got more healthy. After 30+ years of heavy addiction, I gave up candy. I brushed my teeth more. I became vegan (again). I slowed down (a little).

Lastly, in 2018, I gave more to my dogs. I treated them better, I brought more people friends into their lives, I gave them more of my time. By the way, I highly recommend giving more time to your dogs; the rate of return on such investment is outrageous.

I wanna know you all more. Stop a moment to appreciate your 2018 accomplishments, then PLEASE share below. ❤️

08/12/2018

My last post, about the marriage proposal that my dogs were part of, was by far the most popular of all my posts. Who knew “health care could be…” - oops, I mean who knew romance + puppies was such a winning formula?!
—
Anyway, stumped this morning about what to write for this week’s post, I figured why not milk that special evening a little more. To be involved in a marriage proposal is a once-in-a-lifetime invitation, so I got to the location hours early to give myself time to go slowly and take the evening in fully.
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I took 2 hours to walk my dogs what would normally take 15 minutes. I had 16 excited pups to control. The best way to manage such potential chaos is to be calm and composed oneself. Peace is not something you find, it’s something you connect with, it’s inside us all. There are many tools to make that connection. A few of my favorites, some shortcuts, are gratitude, perspective, slowing down, and breathing deeply.
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It’s easy to forget these tools in the stressful moments when they’re needed most. One blessing of being around so many dogs is that they constantly remind me, because my pack of dogs gives me a very visual representation of my state of mind at any given moment, since they feed off my energy. If they’re in a frenzy, if they’re misbehaving, if they’re being difficult, I know I’m off-center. Our kids look to us to assess a situation. And they mimic us.
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I’m trying to be someone worth mimicking.
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First 3 photos by ,
Last 3 photos by . @ Runyon Canyon Hollywood Hills

24/11/2018

Help! I can’t figure out which group is the cutest! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10?

@ Tag a friend

14/10/2018

I wanna talk about BLOAT today, in hopes that this info will save lives…
Above is my dear friend Ziggy, my first client when I re-started my dog biz 6 yrs ago. We’ve been thru a LOT together, including building my business, battling lung cancer w/ her human father, & growing w/ the wife & precious child left behind after his passing.
2 wks ago, while out clients’ dogs, Zig vomited, a heap of white foam. I didn’t think much of it, it’s not all that unusual for dogs to vomit, but 20 mins later I noticed she was trying to vomit more, & p**p, both mostly to no avail. It wasn’t long b4 she was noticeably uncomfortable - pacing, panting, trying to hide. I felt her stomach, it was distended & tight…
Bloat! This has been a nightmare of mine since first hearing about it years ago, & I’ve always been scared that it would happen when we’re miles deep on a trail, bcuz it can cause death in a very short amount of time.
Dogs fill w/ gas just like us, but for them it can be much more dire. In fact, bloat is apparently the second-leading cause of dog deaths, behind only cancer. The causes are not completely understood, but there are apparent links w/ rapid eating, exercising after eating, stress, & other things you may not have considered. Deep-chested dogs such as dobermans or great Danes are more prone.
Bloat isn’t always serious, sometimes dogs pass the gas naturally, but not always. Too much bloat can literally turn the stomach upside down, cutting off blood flow, causing death in as quick as an hour if not treated.
While I hung back with pack, my helper rushed Zig to an emergency vet. They stuck a tube in her to relieve the gas, performed emergency surgery to turn her stomach back upright, & then stapled her stomach to prevent future twists.
My friend Zig survived to fight another day!
A lot of crazy coincidences fell into place for her life to be saved, most notably car problems that kept us w/in the city an extra hour when we should’ve been on the trail, which could’ve been deadly.
PLEASE research bloat! Know the causes, symptoms, preventative measures, & solutions. It may be the difference between life & death one day. @ Los Angeles, California

06/10/2018

10,000 followers, ya’ll, I got that “K” next to my number! Thank you!!!
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It’s tempting to desire that “M”, especially when so many questionable accounts somehow have it, but really my goal here is to surround myself with an engaged & caring community that can continue to inspire me & help each other. I’m going for the connection; the numbers will be what they will.
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I’m not so much looking for “like-minded” individuals but “like-hearted”. This is the Pack Of Hearts, after all. Mind stuff - politics, opinions, beliefs - can be divisive. Hearts are connective. I try to be as welcoming of all types as my dogs are. It’s a common lie that dog’s give unconditional love. They are sentient beings, they have conditions. But these do not include someone’s opinions, looks, religious practices, gender identities, sexual orientation, or even their pasts. Dogs look for good hearts, good energy, love. And just like their sense smell is like hundreds of thousands of times better than ours, so their ability to detect good hearts is way beyond ours.
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They can spot one instantly through the rags & stench of the dirtiest bum. They see a good heart where we see a crazy mind, a mental health patient. They see the good in a “bad” person, a prisoner.
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I’ve seen this, over and over, as I travel with my dogs. This is why I use them to help people, to bring light to the world, bcuz sometimes they are more effective at helping someone than we or our manufactured medicines are.
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They’ve brought me 10,000 friends. All I do is snap photos of them & share what they’ve taught me. I’m so curious about you all. Who are you??? PLEASE PLEASE take this opportunity to tell me about yourself. Anything at all. What’s your favorite dog story? What have dogs meant in your life? How have they helped you? Why are you drawn to this page? What do you think of me? Who are you? What are you working on, what do you struggle with, what are your dreams?
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Even if you’ve shared with me before, please share again here, for others, bcuz I hope my page will connect some of you. If you prefer privacy, DM me instead. If any questions on your mind, ask me anything.
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Again, thank you all and bless you!!!
🙏❤️🙏❤️

29/09/2018

That’s Rick up there, top of the first photo, king of the hill. I remember when my dad taught me that game, King Of The Hill, when I was 5 yrs old, where friends compete to get to & hold position at the top of a dirt mound, while the rest try to wrestle that person down & take over as king themselves. What a funny metaphor for life itself & how humans often operate.
My dad taught me other games too. He coached me. He played with me. And, as I grew older, we became quite the competitors against each other.
For a couple years during my late teens, we had the most epic & unforgettable ping pong matches. Outdoors, nightly. We invented our own rules that made it all the more exciting & competitive.
As I got stronger, he got weaker, to the point he was playing while full of gallons of fluid as part of his at-home dialysis treatment for failing kidneys, a result of his decades-long battle with type 1 diabetes. As I began reigning as king more regularly, he changed the equipment to regain his position - he made himself a paddle 3x the size of the normal one & me a paddle 5x smaller than normal, like 2” across.
The table weathered & warped to where it was more a bowl than a plate, but we still played. Neighbors joked about hearing our screaming late into the night, screams of excitement, frustration, taunting - the sounds of joy really.
My dad’s a king. He endured that miserable dialysis & got his kidney transplant after 4 years on the waiting list. He later got a pancreas transplant, effectively curing his diabetes.
I remember when I was 10 feeling that could be his last year. I felt that most years, bcuz of his many health scares. Yesterday, he celebrated his 66th bday & he’s doing great! In fact, this last decade since his transplants have been his healthiest since before he was my age.
We couldn’t spend his bday together, but he visited a couple months ago & it was a time I’ll never forget, inc an incredible night of ping pong that shocked us both. The pics here are a few from that visit.
Love ya, Dad! Thanks for all the games, & for continuing to guide me in the game of life & remind me to laugh at it sometimes. 😘 @ Los Angeles, California

22/09/2018

I can feel a change coming. Literally feel it, bcuz I sleep outside and I’m beginning to need blankets. My dogs are cuddling in tighter around me. Winter is on the horizon, & this so excites me.
I prefer winter bcuz my dogs prefer winter. What’s best for them is best for me. Otherwise, I would still prefer summers, as I always did. My baby sister used to ask if I would rather freeze to death or burn. Definitely burn. I loved the sauna I grew up in, southern Arizona. I loved the sun. I still do. I find it ironic & unfortunate that so many people fear the sun. Everyone’s always telling me to wear sunscreen. I wore it one time, I was 10, it felt wrong. I respect science & all, but I go with my gut on this one. Artificial for-profit potions scare me much more than our free, life-giving sun. 🤔 I’ll take what our sun is offering. I trust it’ll do the right thing. It always has.
Not advising everyone to do the same, but in all matters you should at least give your instincts a voice at the table. I always do. This has worked to my great benefit so far.
Although dogs do enjoy sunbathing sometimes, they don’t enjoy the levels of heat I do. They’re more comfortable at 50-60 degrees than 80-90+. You can see it in them - the energy levels, the playfulness, the looseness, the smiles. Here in southern California, winter hiking is much safer, bcuz less risk of rattlesnakes and certain dangerous plants. So we have so many more trail options, so winter is a time of discovery for us.
It’s also a time of much longer hikes, because our water lasts longer & we don’t need so many shade rests for recuperation. I can give my back a break from the 4 gallons of water I often carry, bcuz streams are flowing again. And dogs love streams. And we get a little snow here, and they love that too – in doses, as I do. And tall grasses to romp through…
So I’m very excited about what’s around the corner. The grass is about to be greener. May it be for you too. 😘 @ Los Angeles, California

Pack of Hearts

20/04/2019

20/01/2019

12/01/2019

12/01/2019

06/01/2019

08/12/2018

24/11/2018

14/10/2018

06/10/2018

29/09/2018

22/09/2018

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