Vinnie and Layla share the home of myself, Carol Lane, and my husband Bart in southern Illinois. We live adjacent to the Shawnee National Forest and love to trail ride on our horses, Eli and Scout. Vinnie and Layla have the run of the house and have taken over our son Zach's bedroom, complete with king size bed, as their own. They love to store their toys and bones under the coffee table in the living room and spend a lot of play time there. This also becomes the favorite play area of their puppies, never mind the pretty floral rug.

They have learned to be very flexible, staying during the day alone in the house for a week at a time and then having me to hang out with all day for months at a time. They go to bed when we do and get up when we do and are tolerant of oversleeping or before dawn schedules. We frequently have guests and people just stopping by and, with the exception of Vinnie's newly discovered territorial attitude that makes it impossible for him not to bark at the intrusions, they are friendly and happy to see company.

Vinnie and Layla also share our home with a mature (16lb) cat named Dash that has been exceptionally tolerant of their puppyhood playfulness, although he and Vinnie still have their wrestling matches and games of tag. Their dog friend that guards outside the house is an 80lb Dalmatian/Boxer/German Shepherd mix named Mercy that also shares their hearth in the winter. Just recently, we lost Chloe, Mercy"s partner on the deck and leading our way on the trails. She was also a frequent visitor to the hearth on cold winter nights.