About The Furry Critter Network

Back in 2000, I bought a Polish Arabian horse named Doc. That's when the real learning started—and it hasn't stopped since.

At the time, the internet was still finding its footing, mostly serving corporate interests. I was getting into animal rescue and quickly discovered there was no single place to find reliable information across different species. Breed characteristics, health conditions, care requirements—it was all scattered, incomplete, or buried in forums where accuracy was anyone's guess. I ran a classifieds system for breeders and learned they knew their stuff, but there was no way to verify what was true and what wasn't.

So I started building what I couldn't find.

That was over two decades ago. What began as a personal mission has grown into a comprehensive reference library covering breeds, species, health conditions, and care information across 13 animal categories—thousands of pages built to help families understand and care for the animals in their lives.

I've spent 35 years in web development, including time in enterprise technology and operations management. I built this site from scratch—no templates, no third-party platforms—because performance and integrity matter. But more than the technical work, what drives this project is a lifetime with animals.

I rescued dogs and horses for years until the horses became too much for my aging back about a decade ago. Now it's dogs—specifically, aggressive dogs that others have given up on. When I can, those are the ones I take. The hardest cases need someone too.

Two years ago, I lost my oldest brother to ALS. I had gotten him a Jack Russell named Spot to fill the void after his previous dog passed from old age. Spot bonded to him deeply during those final years—my brother was confined to a wheelchair, and that dog never left his side. When he passed, I brought Spot home to live with me on the farm.

Spot got very attached to Shay, a Shar Pei/Blue Nose Pit mix I had rescued from euthanasia years earlier. She'd been labeled aggressive and unadoptable. I had her for 13 years. She and Spot became inseparable—until she passed a year later from old age.

Poor Spot was devastated. He'd lost his human and his best canine friend inside of a year.

So we got Bailey—a Belgian Tervuren pup. That solved two problems: Spot had a best friend again, and he finally had a dog who could match his energy. The dog play hasn't stopped since.

Bailey is now the newest face of Furry Critter Network. You'll see her on our homepage.