Normally, this page belongs to one of the wonderful pets and families of Spaulding Farm. But this month, I’m doing something a little different.

Welcome to Publisher’s Pets.

If you’ve gotten to know me through this magazine over the past year, you’ve probably heard plenty about my son, Deklan. What you may not know is that our family also includes two four-legged members who bring equal parts love, loyalty, laughter and absolute chaos into our home: Lucy and Daisy.

And both of their stories started with rescue.

Lucy is our 10-year-old Black Lab mix, and she has been part of our family for almost her entire life. She was born at a rescue, and we adopted her when she was about six months old.

I can still remember the first time they brought her out to meet us. She came running up incredibly excited to see us, as if she already knew she had found her people. Ten years later, not much has changed. She may have some gray around her face now, but when Lucy sees someone she knows, her entire back end starts moving. Forget wagging her tail—Lucy basically wags her whole butt.

She is also convinced she is head of security. Any unexplained noise must be investigated immediately and usually requires barking. Lots of barking. Mondays are particularly exciting because that's when the lawn crew comes.

As they make their way around the house, Lucy and Daisy follow their progress from window to window, barking like our property is under siege.

Apparently, landscaping is a serious security threat.

Lucy also loves food—and by food, I mean pretty much anything she can get her paws on. There have been multiple occasions when I've come home to discover that somehow she managed to get an entire loaf of bread off the counter.

Not a slice. The loaf.

But underneath the barking, bread stealing and self-appointed security duties is the part of Lucy that means the most to me. She has been there through a lot.

Lucy was always “my dog,” but during some difficult changes in our family, especially through my divorce, she became something more. Nobody trained her to be an emotional support dog. She simply seemed to know.

When Deklan or I was having a hard time, Lucy knew. She would come over, cuddle with us and stay close. To this day, when it's time to sleep, you'll usually find her at either my feet or Deklan's. And Lucy is especially protective of Deklan.

Deklan has had Lucy for most of the life he can remember, so there is a special bond between those two. If Lucy thinks someone is messing with him, she makes her opinion known very quickly. She has watched him grow up.

That's why it's a little bittersweet when I see old pictures of Lucy as a puppy and then look at her now with the gray showing on her face. Ten years goes by a whole lot faster than you think it will.

Then came Daisy.

And any peace and quiet Lucy had earned in retirement was officially over.

Daisy is 2 years old and what I lovingly refer to as our mini Golden Retriever.

Her arrival into our family was a little unconventional. A friend of mine who owned a farm called one day and told me there were four dogs left there and asked if I wanted one.

I'd always wanted a Golden Retriever, so we were excited. When we saw Daisy, she was the cutest one there. She also had that unmistakable goofy Golden Retriever look on her face that makes it nearly impossible to say no.

We assumed she was only a few months old because she was so small.

Then we took her to the vet.

The vet looked at her teeth and essentially said, “Nope. She's about a year old.”

I was confused. She was only around 40 pounds!

So naturally, we did a DNA test.

Turns out Daisy is about half Golden Retriever and half…well…a little bit of everything. Her DNA included roughly 10 other breeds, most of them smaller dogs.

Mystery solved.

I had finally gotten my Golden Retriever. Just apparently the travel-size edition.

Her size may be smaller than your typical Golden, but unfortunately nobody told Daisy her personality needed to be smaller.

Daisy is our wild child. She chews things. She steals things. Socks left on the floor are considered fair game. And I have now purchased five replacement remote controls from Amazon because apparently television remotes are a delicacy.

When she isn't committing crimes against household electronics, however, Daisy is incredibly loving. She loves cuddling, giving kisses and being right in the middle of whatever we're doing.

When Daisy first arrived, Lucy wasn't exactly thrilled about her new roommate. She was a little standoffish. Daisy didn't care. She just kept trying to play with her until eventually Lucy gave in.

Now the 10-year-old senior dog and the 2-year-old wild child wrestle like siblings. As I was answering questions for this very article, the two of them were right beside me—jumping, running, wrestling and even standing up on their back legs going at each other like two kids.

And then there are the water bottles.

For whatever reason, both dogs absolutely love empty plastic water bottles. They'll chew them until they're practically unrecognizable, wrestle over them and play tug-of-war with them.

Who needs expensive dog toys?

The funniest thing is how much both dogs love Deklan.

All I have to say is, “Go find Deklan,” and they're off.

They'll search the house until they find him.

This has also become useful on school mornings.

If Deklan refuses to get out of bed, I have backup.

I send Lucy and Daisy into his room, where they'll climb up and sit on him until he finally gets up.

Who needs an alarm clock when you have approximately 100 pounds of determined dog?

But my favorite moments aren't really the funny ones.

They're the simple ones.

We'll have a fire going in the backyard. Deklan will bring out his guitar, play and sing. Lucy and Daisy will settle down beside us.

For a few minutes, nobody is barking at landscapers. Nobody is eating a remote. Nobody is stealing socks or pulling a loaf of bread off the counter.

It's just us.

Those are the moments when I realize how much these two dogs have become part of our story.

Lucy has been beside us through some of the hardest moments and some of the best ones. She has watched Deklan grow from a little boy into a teenager. She's comforted us when we were hurting, protected us when she thought we needed protecting and stayed faithfully beside us through countless changes.

Daisy came along much later and brought an entirely new energy into the house—along with a significant increase in my Amazon remote-control budget.

They're completely different.

Lucy is the protector.

Daisy is the wild child.

Lucy has wisdom and gray around her face.

Daisy has approximately four thoughts happening simultaneously, and I'm fairly certain three of them involve chewing something she shouldn't.

But together, they fit.

Sometimes they're loud. Sometimes they're annoying. Sometimes I wonder why we can't have one peaceful Monday without declaring war on the lawn crew.

But then there are those nights around the fire, with Deklan playing his guitar and both dogs sitting beside us, and I wouldn't change it.

Because somewhere along the way, the barking, wrestling, stolen socks, eaten bread, destroyed remotes, cuddles, kisses and gray hairs all became part of what makes our house feel like home.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.