My Story

Unlike a lot of children who have imaginary friends, I had imaginary dogs—eight of them. I spent many hours in my room playing with them, teaching them, and listening to their stories. Even after my parents adopted an abandoned miniature dachshund named Noodles (who they probably got just to stop me from talking to invisible canines), I had my class of canines in my room.

Now I wonder: Were those eight dogs imaginary?

On my first trip to a wild animal park in upstate New York at the age of two, I told my mom that a camel talked to me. My mother noted in the scrapbook “You had quite a conversation with a camel” next to the photo, and under “Events to Remember” for the year, she wrote “Went to Catskill Game Farm - actually thought a camel was talking to you.”

Now I have to ask: Was it just a child’s imagination?

I have always been drawn to animals and words. I read every author’s books I could find who wrote about animals, fiction and nonfiction—from James Herriot to James Howe.

When I started putting pen to page myself, I crafted fictional tales of dogs and wildlife from their point of view, imagining how they experienced the world.

As an adult, I joined the dog rescue community as a transporter and foster mom. I documented my adventures in blogs and books, sharing the stories of the animals who rode shotgun with me and who crashed on my couch for a spell. I volunteered my time writing for nonprofits, interviewing animal welfare advocates and sharing the impact they made.

In 2013, my soul dog Tucker became my partner and navigator of our life’s journey together. He and I travelled the United States working behind the scenes in film and television, hiking mountains, exploring bluffs, and discovering the hidden secrets of cities and towns. We fought to dispel breed discrimination and hosted canines on their own journeys to find their forever homes.

When Tucker departed this earthly realm in Summer of 2025, I thought he had gone where I could not follow. But instead, he did as he always had: he led me to the most incredible souls on this planet and to the most magical places in the universe.

Once I accepted that even without a body, our souls were forever connected, I could feel his presence again. And for the first time, I heard his words. The “knowings” I had spent his life assuming was just me reading his body language became actual words in my mind now that there was no body to read. In learning how to hear him, I discovered he wasn’t the only one who had something to say. He brought with him a menagerie who had stories to tell, if only they were just asked.

In December of 2025, Tucker made sure I wasn’t alone on this side listening. He sent me a gregarious, funny, and vocal canine named Skip under the guise of being a foster dog. It only took four months for me to accept that this is who Tucker chose as my partner for me for this next chapter. Looking back, how could I have not seen it? Every day Skip reminds me that he—and all our animal friends—have a whole lot of thoughts and feelings they need to share.

My mission has always been to save animals through story. And while I continue to write adoption profiles, network dogs in the shelter, and write about animal advocates, I am excited to embark on this next phase of my journey, the one I had a prelude to as a child: listening to and sharing animals’ stories — in their own words.