The CECs of Pet Auto Safety

CEC (Chief Executive Cuteness)

Sephi, short for Persephone (Per-sef-ony), was born around the beginning of April 2001. She became my dog in June of 2001 when she was about 8 weeks old. I got her from someone who’s dog had puppies. The mother was Lab and Shepherd mix (unknown what breed the father was). But as Sephi grew older, it was obvious that she was part Chow. Her body build was short and stocky like a Chow and she had the cutest black spots on her tongue. You can see the Shepherd part of her in her big ears. The little bit of white on her feet seemed to hint that Sephi may have also been part Border Collie. Sephi seemed to have the energy of a Border Collie. She loved to play. The Chow part of her personality showed in her aloofness. She didn't care much for affection. The Lab part of her made her friendly with other people, although she could still be aloof. And the Shepherd part of her showed through her herding tactics at the dog park.

Sephi was my only dog at the time I started Nature by Dawn, Inc. and Pet Auto Safety. She had always worn a dog car harness, so was a great inspiration.

Maya was born around the end of August 2007. She became my dog just after Thanksgiving 2007. Maya was adopted from a humane society by a woman on November 17, 2007. Exactly one week later, the woman decided that she could not handle the responsibility of a puppy so decided to find a new home for her. I was the lucky new owner. Maya is most likely a purebred yellow Lab. Her Lab personality definitely shows through with her zest for life and her love for every person and every dog. Unlike Sephi, Maya loves to cuddle. Although she can be a bit exuberant in public, she is generally a quiet and well-behaved dog at home. Maya is very photogenic and has been the model of many of our pet auto safety products. She has even been the model for our logo.

Sadly, Sephi passed away at the age of 10 on November 2, 2011. Althought I still had Maya, I really missed having two dogs. So after the holidays, my husband and I started to look for another dog. We visited animal shelters and went to through PetFinder.com. But no one seemed right. When I mentioned on Facebook that we were considering a Border Collie, a friend of mine told me about two stray dogs living in a park for nearly a month. One was a Border Collie mix. So we went to see if we could catch the dogs. The dogs were sweet but very leash shy and we had no luck on that first day. I was determined to try again so I went to the park again the next day and the next. I eventually caught both dogs. The Chow mix went up for adoption while I kept the Border Collie mix. I think he is actually Australian Shepherd and Border Collie mix. I named him Pierson after the park he had been living in. For the full story on Pierson, visit our American Dog Blog article, "The Reward of Rescuing a Dog - How We Got Our Dog Pierson".