Dear Maia, Isaac, Dog Lovers and Virtual Wanderers,

The blog has a new name to fit the new direction. The new direction is Three Amigas Mini Dog Haven. Having three dogs really isn’t new. But with Cimarron’s passing a week ago today, I feel compelled to pull things into alignment with evolution of the blog over 8 years.

I first started the blog to document my trips and share them with my grandkids. Over time, the blog also became more focused as a travel blog. Tracing our roadtrips step by step with photos and maps. And, it has always been about the dogs because I adopted dogs specifically to be my travel companions in the early years.

What has changed is that when my 3rd rescue, Sazi Ana, passed in 2023, something shifted inside of me. She was special needs and basically unadoptable when I rescued her. Over the course of our 5 years together, we developed one of the deepest bonds I have ever known. They say soul dogs come to us at times of change or stress. The change for me was a shift in family dynamics that altered the trajectory of my senior years forever. And, it was in grieving my first soul dog that I decided to make adopting special needs seniors her legacy and part of my own wellbeing plan.

I adopted Koko (Kokopelli) just 2 months after Sazi Ana passed. She was special needs, and with love and medical care, she backed out of her hospice state and is still enjoying life 3.5 years later. But, something was still missing. I missed having a tiny dog (under 8 pounds) that liked carriers and wanted to be velcro to me. It probably calms my mild CPTSD to have a tiny creature who is dependent on my care. When Sazi died, I thought I would never find that again.

Then came Cimarron. I had my doubts at first. She didn’t want me doing much touching and told me so agressively a few times. But, we worked through that. Her sighthound side was so eccentric. She liked a light touch, belly rubs, and morning kisses. She was hardly disabled the way Sazi was – she had long legs and could fly just about anywhere she wanted. But she was highly anxious and needed a human who gave her the right TLC. I will be darned if I didn’t find a second soul dog.

So, her passing has renewed my promise to honor Sazi’s legacy by continuing to adopt special needs dogs – it is now also Cimarron’s legacy. I started calling my operation “Three Amigas” because somewhere along the line someone called my three dogs that – and it stuck. Three Amigas means any and all dogs that I have rescued. It is a legacy to those who I have lost.

With that, the blog has a new purpose. In addition to the connection to my grands and to our travel adventures, the blog will now cover some of the issues owners face when they rescue special needs, small breed dogs. And, because I am a doctor of nursing practice (DNP) and use my clinical knowledge to advocate for my dogs, it made sense to shift from “grandma” to “Doc Cathy” for the blog. Perhaps that adds a little credibility to my observations of my dog’s health and wellbeing issues.

I hope you will follow along!

For more info – visit our Meet Doc Cathy and Three Amigas page.

Until the next high desert road, Doc Cathy