Marsha & Pocket and Foley

Who is in the photo at right?

My name is Marsha, and these are my two girls. We have Pocket Dog, who is a four year old female Yorkshire Terrier, and the famous Foley Monster, an eleven year old Yorkie. My husband Ted is half cut off to my right. In the foreground is our friends Laura Lunn's dog Pokey.

What's the occasion for Coffee with a Canine?

We were going to get the mail in the office of the community where we live. We have to pass by the community club house and someone always has a pot of Joe on. Just regular coffee, some extra cream, extra sugar.

What's brewing?

Just regular coffee, some extra cream, extra sugar. Since we moved here in April Foley and Pocket have become famous here. Everyone wants to pet them or play with them.

Any treats for you or the Yorkies on this occasion?

Our friend Hobo Hudson and his Dad Walt from Florida recently sent us some salmon treats. They don’t smell the greatest but the girls do love them.

How were you and the dogs united?

Both girls found us through sadness. They just reached across the galaxy and plucked us up. Foley Monster [photo left] came from a farm in the north central part of Massachusetts. We got her when we found out our first dog, Blake Bear, had a tumor on her brain. We knew we could never be dogless, so we purchased Foley from a woman, who it turned out was a deaf mute. When we picked up Foley said hello she was shocked humans made noise and peed on my husband Ted. She did pick us.

In 2007 we had a dog we rescued, Jordan. She was a special needs dog. She had to have her food chopped up because she had no teeth, she was blind and deaf, she freaked out of she was on the floor, she couldn’t be left alone for long or she would rip her paws open trying to get out the door. I got diagnosed with cancer that summer and we made the hard decision that with my cancer we couldn’t care for Jordan the way she needed and we returned her to the rescue. We still wonder if we did the right thing. After my surgeries and my treatments Ted wanted to reward me with a new puppy. A woman the next town over had a husband who had passed from cancer at his house. While she was taking care of her husband two of her Yorkies who she didn’t have fixed produced a litter. She was selling them to raise some money after her husband died but mostly wanted the pups out of her house. We visited her and picked one of four identical puppies. When we went to get her the next day Pocket came over to us. We’re not sure if she is the dog we picked out, but she’s the dog who picked us out.

How did the dogs get their names? Any aliases?

My husband liked watching wrestling at the time we got Foley and, after determining on the ride home that she was a tough little dog, named her Foley after the wrestler Mick Foley, known for taking a terrible beating but always getting back up. When she was a puppy she was all ears, and before she got groomed an unruly mess, so she became the Foley Monster. When we got Pocket she was so tiny she could fit in your Pocket, and there were characters on television trying to adopt a baby they referred to as Pocket. The name seemed to fit.

Aliases: Oh my gosh. OK: Foley Monster: Foley, Monster, Mini Monster, Mini, Baby Baby, The General, Queenie.Foley Monster Attorney at Paws. Pocket: Pocket Dog, Pocket Rocket, Rocket Dog, Pokey, P Diddy, Baby Baby Baby Baby. Pocket Dog Private Dog, Pissy, Pissy Pants, and I’m sure there are other I can’t recall.

Do the the Yorkies have a favorite place to go for walk?

We moved here in April. Before that the favorite place to walk was at the State Mental Hospital across the street from where we lived. The first day we got Foley she walked there along with Blake as proud as could be. She was very popular with the patients there. Now we walk in our village. The other people who walk here just think Foley and Pocket are the cutest little things. They strut around like the own the place.

Squirrel, postman, cat...?

No postman. The dogs never see them. They are big squirrel hunters, and do not like cats at all. We we were in the condo a cat used to sit on our deck and look in our unit which would drive Foley crazy. Now there is only one cat here. When the cat is seen the girls do give chase.

Squeaky-toy, ball, stick...?

Foley does not like toys, except occasionally she will attack a plush toy with great ferocity. Pocket loves to play ball. Ted sits on the floor and throws the ball from the living room into the kitchen and Pocket chases it. Sometimes she noses the ball under something, or on a grate, where she then barks until Ted has to get it for her. She can play balls for hours.

Who are your dogs' best pet-pals?

The girls don’t have too many dog friends. There are dogs here they sniff a bit. We are blessed with too many good on line friends to mention. We have only met one, Pokey, but we hope to meet more soon.

What is each dog's best quality?

Foley knows me better than any creature on Earth. She has been with me through so many operations. My loyal nurse, keeping me company, protecting me. Sometimes her touch was the only comfort I had. She is also my clown. No matter how sad I am she can make me smile. She is my heart dog. I treasure her. Pocket [photo right] is the most loyal dog in the world. She is so sweet. She just wants to be loved, to be held, scratched. She actually seems grateful to be with us, like she counts her blessings. She is a wonderful snuggle bug.

If your the Yorkies could change one thing about you, what would it be?

They would never have us leave the house. Also Foley would make us understand that sometimes a dog just needs to chew her foot until she can’t walk on it and we should leave her alone when she does it.

What's each dog's proudest moment?

Foley’s proudest accomplishment is being an inspiration. She is such a wonderful dog she inspired us to join Doggyspace. Foley has such a sense of right and wrong that, when the former owner of DS began treating our friends unfairly or banning them from the site she inspired my husband and I to fight for our friends, which got us thrown off of DS, which was the best thing for us. We started our blog, and it led to the creation of the Ning Site The Tanner Brigade where we have about 100 great dog friends. We are administers of the site and can run it the way dog owners who love their dogs would want a site to be done. We recently rejoined DS after it was bought by new owners and connected with some many great dog owners again. Pocket too inspires us to write a lot of blogs but her proudest moment is after four years, she seems to finally getting house trained. She now only needs to wear a diaper when she plays ball and leaks excitably.

If your dogs could speak in the movie about your life, who should do their voices?

Foley would be Meryl Streep, able to make you laugh when you need to laugh, cry when you need to cry, and is still beautiful after all these years. Pocket would be Zooey Deschanel. Funny, cute, sweet and unique.

Visit Foley Monster and Pocket's blog.

--Marshal Zeringue