Post edited 7:41 pm – August 20, 2011 by Greg Lee

The below is taken from the blog – "What DogsWithBlogs Means To Me" written in October 2008.

The only thing that I hope to change on the below is the bit about how DWB takes up so much of our time. With all the "automation" that Greg is putting in the new site – we hope that it will pretty much take care of itself.

"What DogsWithBlogs means to me".

Around 2 years ago, Greg had this crazy idea of creating "DogsWithBlogs" – when he mentioned it to me, I was like "yes dear, if it will keep you quiet for a few days, and not bothering me – go for it". Never in my wildest dreams did we ever think we would have the community that we have today – and that we would be celebrating our 1000th member.

I still remember Greg proudly announcing that he was going to memorize EVERY pup on the blog role – which he did for about the first 20 pups – imagine trying to do that now !!!! Apart from the fact that he probably killed those brain cells off years ago :)

My first inkling that we had something really special here was when Opy was diagnosed with cancer back in June 2006 – she had a huge lump that was the size of a softball removed, and it was cancerous. Many tears were shed in our house, and our world felt like it was slowly shattering, and then we started to receive messages of support and love on Opy's blog. It didn't make the experience any easier for us – but it made us so greatful to have people reaching out to us from all corners of the globe.

As our community grew, Greg and I never ceased to be amazed at what an amazing bunch of people we had here on the site. We had people from all countries, races, religion, sexual orientation, political views etc etc – people who may not have normally "gotten along" in real life – yet everyone got along in dog blog land. Why ???? Because we ALL had something in common – a love of dogs.

Next monumental event for DogsWithBlogs was when dear FuFu passed away – we had lost pups previously – and trust me, had Greg and I realised that that would happen (yep – we didn't even think about that side of things !) – DogsWithBlogs would never have come to fruition. Our hearts break with every loss that we experience – and we comfort ourselves in knowing that we are surrounded with like minded people who can support and love those who are grieving.

Anyway, back to FuFu – our honorary DWB's member. FuFu made little hamster pawprints on each and every DWB's member – and the day he passed was a VERY sad day at DogsWithBlogs. We were all in disbelief – tears were shed – and it was so very strange to try and explain that we were crying for…..

a hamster,

who had a blog,

from Singapore,

that we had never met before !!!!

Makes me laugh now !! It sounds so absurd – and I know many members had trouble trying to explain it in exactly these terms to workmates and employers. But, it just highlighted the incredible bond that we all have here at DWB's, as everyone knew what everyone else was going through.

Jump ahead in the action, and here we are this year – our family has experienced the most heartwrenching time over the past 8 months. I won't bore you all with all the details AGAIN, but Charlie's pacemaker journey and subsequent "ups and downs" have really taken a toll on all of us. We are still riding the rollercoaster with him – and it is both physically & emotionally draining – but the genuine outpouring of love and support from the DWB's community at times when we have really needed it, has always been heartwarming, and often has left me lost for words and very emotional.

DogsWithBlogs means the world to me – it frustrates me at times – as Greg spends so much time on it, and sometimes it takes him away from us – but I wouldn't swap it for anything. I have made so many wonderful friends here – friends I will cherish forever, some I have met – others I look forward to meeting in the future.

Thank you all for being part of this adventure – and thank you to my husband Greg (also known as SHD), for one of his crazy ideas actually working – pity he didn't think of something that would make us lots of money :) LOL !

DogsWithBlogs – you either get it or you don't – it just works !

'nuff said !

Brooke (SHM of Opy the Original Gruffpuppy, & Charlie the Big Dog)

Also, now mum of Ping and Benson :)