Mama of two.

Heya there, I've always sucked at these introduction thingies, but I'll try my best. Um, this is actually the forth pet forum I'm now a member of, if I'd count the amount of hours I spend in Yahoo Answers's Dog Section though, it'd be fifth. So I guess that pretty much explains I'm a dog Mama.

A little about me, (gosh I hate this part, can I just skip to my babies? Lol.) My name is Amy, but PLEASE call me Ames instead, or you can call me by my screen name if it's easier to remember...I just hate my name. I live in Australia, but US-born. However I moved here years ago and so yes, I do have the dreaded Aussie accent. I'm 26. Technically 25, but I don't think a few weeks off my birthday matters.

I'm a bit of an "old soul" so don't be surprised if most times I sound a lot older than I am, I've always been like that, as I was raised that way. I have the tendency to give my age a year older even months before my next birthday, it's a thing with me I guess...I wish to be more of the age I feel, rather than the one I am.

I also can be a bit flighty at times, so if I disappear and then suddenly come back, allow me to apologize in advance. I'm not anti-social or anything, but I tend to freeze up and get shy even behind a computer screen, so there might be times I'll lurk and just feel like I have nothing to contribute...or too intimidated to.

I like to see myself as a friendly peace-keeper, but I DO have times that if I'm passionate about something I'll happily voice my opinion but I'll always try to be as respectful as I can about it. I don't like getting into arguments, but I will always protect my beliefs if I believe it's right. But it's rare, and someone has to be incredibly grinding my nerves in order for me to get to that point.

Ahem, anyway...my dogs.

I have two Golden Retrievers, a girl and boy. My eldest is Ori, who is 3 years old, turning 4 in November. It's pronounced Or-ree as in Oreo. You wouldn't believe how many times I have to correct my vet when it's pronounced incorrectly! Usually "Or-I" or "Orry". It's a pet-peeve of mine I think. No pun intended. He's my sweet boy and I believe in some weird way, my furry soul-mate but that's hard to explain. He came into my life right when I needed him the most, and he's been my rock since.

Ori is a beautiful boy, and completely the opposite of his younger sister. He loves to laze around the house no matter the weather, unless of course there's someone other than mommy around to shower him with attention. Of course, he hasn't a clue how much this upsets mommy, because he still insists on jumping around on his back legs and doesn't seem to be at all concerned about the damage it does to his already dysplastic hips. He's terrified of the "oven monster" which he frequently bolts from whenever the door is opened, but his brains are as smart as the color of the fur mommy finds on and in almost everything. Which includes mommy's food, bed, towels, and anything else retaining static grip, excluding the flying strays amongst the air and the non-carpeted floorings, which mommy finds enough furballs to possibly build a whole new litter - maybe two.



My young girl is Jasmine, who is a 15-month-old English Cream. She was born exactly 7 days before Ori's 2nd birthday, and she too was a miracle. The day I placed a hold on her, I learned the horrors of puppy scams the HARD way. She comes from the same breeder as Ori did, only different lineage. Soon after Ori came home as a puppy, I ridiculously lost their contact information only to find it the morning said "puppy scam" puppy was supposed to be paid for and arrive...I didn't know this at the time however, and we realized JUST in time what I'd paid for and stopped transaction immediately. I was distraught, of course until I remembered I found Ori's breeders phone number that morning, and called them in tears. By some miracle, they told me that had a litter due in three weeks and they promptly put my name down for her. I have also not misplaced their contact details again! The day she came home, however sadly I was informed that some b-tard of a neighbor shot and killed Ori's mother only the day before. It is those times I'm grateful my babies don't understand such cruelties in the world and cannot experience such grief.

But I digress.

Jasmine is a gorgeous "wild child". A living, breathing, barking tornado 23 hours a day, 7 days a week. She loves nothing more but running, jumping, chewing, running and jumping again, and thank goodness her hips are in pristine condition, because there is nothing she loves more than to scare the daylights out of mommy already with the things she chews on.

While most lovable "fur-kids" adore tearing stuffed toys, clothing, shoes, and the occasional stick and furniture, Jasmine prefers to take it to extreme bravery levels and somehow manages to find the danger-zones. Which usually include torn aluminum soda cans, plastic, (usually her water buckets) metal plates with still-attached (though loosely) nuts and bolts, and even managed to chew her "cone of shame" to pieces whilst recovering from her spaying operation. Whilst in doing that, she also managed to open the laundry cupboard and ingest around 250oz of washing powder. Certainly was not a fun weekend for mommy!



They have their quirks, but I love them dearly, and it's returned. Even if their antics do almost drive me to drink sometimes, I couldn't have asked for a better pair of friends to spend my sometimes very scary world with. They have saved me more times than I could ever thank them for.

Hello, Ames, or OriJas if you really hate your own name so much haha.

It is so nice to meet you!

Welcome to our forum!


You must have been there for quite a while to be able to pick up the accent. How many years have you been in Australia.

Your dogs are beautiful. When you say Ori, and how people mispronounce it, you just hit the spot lol. I would have pronounced it as "alrigh"(no "t") or "or ry", because of Stargate SG-1, a popular TV series with this group of bad "guys" called themselves Ori.

Australia is quite big for so few people. You must have a lot of space to have fun with your dogs.
What have they saved you from? Saltwater crocodile ? Venom snakes? Care to share the stories?

Lol! Thank you very much, it really is good to be here. I should have also added that I should warn...I'm a hobby writer (hoping to be published one day) so I CAN tend to ramble on a bit. Just give me a swift kick in the pants if that happens and it gets irritating. I can't switch it off sometimes. Heh.

I moved here when I was 5, so almost 21 years now going by the time of year we arrived. My mother was born here in Australia, and my father migrated from Holland when he was 9, and I'm adopted...so we're sort of a family of globe trotters.

Oh, everyone pronounces it wrong when they first hear or see the spelling of his name! It's become habit now to just explain it before they make the mistake. I think I remember watching Stargate years ago when it first began, but I don't remember the SG-1 being in the title, I assume a reboot series? Ori's name was chosen from a list of Hebrew names I was looking for, and Ori definitely seemed to fit, it's meaning is "my light". I've always been the one to believe dogs' names can define their personalities, or vice versa.

Even better, the area I live in has 4 different beaches close by! I'm in the metro suburbs though rather than out in the more rural areas, but there's a lot of space still thankfully. Unfortunately not a large selection of off-leash dog parks though.

Oh, nothing Lassie-like, I wish! Lol. Mentally and emotionally my saviors though, definitely. I suffer from panic attacks and severe panic disorder, and in the last couple of years have been a bit hellish on the personal front that if it probably wasn't for them needing me so much, I would have crawled into a dark corner and given up. Just being here and having the need to take them for walks, or to the vet, food, playtime etc...it keeps my mind occupied and other things to focus on to get me through some of the toughest days. However, Jasmine did save me from a cockroach night before last while we were dozing! Creeper almost landed on my head and she practically nose-dived behind the bed to shoo it away. Does that count? Lol.

Hey, Orijas,
So you are a hobby writer? We are gladly to have you here!
As the matter of fact, we can use some writers here right now to write some articles on pets. This new forum and site in general require more content. Any informative, creative, interesting, articles related to the pets are appreciated! You can post them as new threads, and we will eventually create an article section on the site to add good articles from the forum to it.
What can you write us about? On the top of your mind at this very moment?

Oh yeah, Ori didn't come until season 9.
Stargate SG-1 went on for 10 seasons and 200 episodes in 10 years. It took them 8 seasons to finally get ride of the evil aliens who were the ancient Egyptian gods from the very first movie. Not by the hands of the good guys, but by another more powerful nemesis - Replicators. Just the way I liked it, because it is getting old how most stories are with bad guys always end in the hand of the "good guys". Ori came soon after in season 9, another group of powerful aliens pretend to be gods.

Oh yeah, it is proven that pets help to relief stress.

Welcome Ames!!! Glad you are here. Beautiful dogs! Will be looking for your posts!

I would love to help out if it's needed. I'm a very comfortable homebody, so I have a lot of free time on my hands which keeps me at the computer a lot when I'm not sleeping or keeping the furballs in line. I'm not used to article writing so much, but I've recently gotten into a little bit of blogging music reviews. I'm mostly experienced in novel/fiction but I do tend to be able to contract points and essay-like scribbles on a daily basis. Lol. As for right now, I wouldn't a clue unless something strikes me. Though I was thinking earlier about the points to raise with the theory/philosophy of human empathy vs. animal instinct.

I certainly don't remember Stargate being that complicated, though. Lol. I wasn't a huge fan but it was a little something to watch now and then. I only remember what one of the characters looked like and the gate. That's it.

Thank you, bw! And thank you for inviting/referring me here, I'm beginning to love it already.

You're welcome! I am glad you joined and more so glad you like it. It is totally different from YA's.Refreshingly so!

Welcome to the forum- your dogs are lovely!