About the Original Mc Zoo Dogs

We are Mike, Terri and Michael -  care takers of an old home, a beautiful yard and multiple animals.

Our original Mc Zoo dogs, all rescues, came to us over the five years 2002 - 2006.  Several foster dogs were with us during that time but, honestly, more stayed with us than were adopted out.  We didn't come up with the name...several people just started referring to our menagerie as the Mc Zoo (our last name is one of those Mc names if you don't know us personally) and it stuck.  In addition to the original five dogs, we had/have many foster dogs, cats (inside and out), chickens and even had a bird and a guinnea pig at one point.  Since the original Mc Zoo dogs, we have foster 'failed' and added Daisy, Oreo and JuneBug.

By the way, Bolton is the name given to our home....it's our street and a frame of mind.  A good friend started referring to the house,  yard, menagerie (animal and human) and everything surrounding us as 'Bolton'... it fit and it stuck.

Sami - The Reason There is a Mc Zoo

Sami came to us in 2001 via a small town jail where Mike had gone to get one of our favorite high school baseball players out for unpaid traffic tickets.  It's a long story and at some point, it'll be on a blog post.  Right now, just trust me.  Sami came to us two years after Jack, our labrador, had gone over the Rainbow Bridge to a heavenly fishing spot.  Sami filled a hole and set us on big adventures: traveling with a pet!  We discovered dog parks (helped get Fort Woof up and running!), dog-friendly restaurants and hotels plus dog training and agility....which she was totally indifferent to.

Taz 

Taz's 'mom' had gone to a nursing home and the family boarded her at our vet's office.  When the family finally regrouped, they came to pick Tazzy up  with plans to surrender her at the animal shelter.   Luckily for the bossy little dog, the office staff had taken a shine to her and knew that we'd recently placed our first foster dog and were interested in another.  Lo and behold....they had a dog for us! We were somewhat 'beneath' Taz for some time...it took her quite awhile to decide we were OK and that she wasn't going anywhere.  If she was human, she'd be sarcastic.

ZuZu 

So what happens when you start fostering dogs?  Word spreads like wildfire in the neighborhood and people start to bring you dogs!  ZuZu was hanging around the high school for several days when a family managed to get her to go home with them.  They had no luck finding her owners and they were in the process of a move and no way to keep her themselves...so they brought her to us.  The first night that we had ZuZu, she helped herself to a box of plastic containers in the garage.  She brought us a lid, backed up and expected us to throw it for her.  We did and continued doing this multiple times a day for the next 11 years - except we did use a disc (Frisbee) not a butter tub lid.  She trained us well.

Fred

This handsome ladies man running loose in the neighborhood would occasionally make a stop by our house for a little attention before heading to the school to mooch from the teachers that would sit outside and feed him.  He was in rough shape - several scars on his legs and top of head plus a pretty good limp.  Eventually 'that Fred dog' started hanging around more until he would even sleep in the yard sometimes.  He would howl if any neighbor put him in their backyard....to the point we'd free him and he'd go back to wherever he came from.  One day, though, he didn't show up....then another day....then a third.  We opted to check the shelters for a dog that didn't belong to any of us but that had become part of the family on this neighborhood block.  There he sat in an animal control kennel....deflated....none of that sassy swagger....he'd been picked up several blocks from our house.  We tagged him for adoption once his 'stray hold' was up.  We knew his 'real' owners wouldn't show up for him.  They didn't but we did.  Michael and neighbor Rob bailed that boy outta doggie jail.  After us shuffling him around to different neighbors, he eventually landed at Bolton where he never howled to get out of the yard.  He just wanted to be inside and have a big bed to sleep on...oh, and go to the beach!

Pogo

We'd been on a  long, wet weekend trip to Indiana so that the dogs could be in a student film that Michael was directing.  Early the first morning back brought the school security liaison and a neighbor to our door....with a dog.  They were concerned because our 'frisbee' dog (referring to ZuZu) was out - except that Zu was standing inside the door.  Then the tactical error was made.  Terri knelt down to meet the dog, he stood up and put his front paws on her shoulders and hugged her.  She melted.  He became 'Guest dog #5' to Mike but became Pogo to Terri.  After a serious complication with his heartworm treatment that included Terri lying on the kitchen floor with him and telling he could stay at our house forever if he just wouldn't die, Pogo became a permanent member of the Mc Zoo and mama's baby.