There is something magical about writers and their pets. Barbara grew up in a home full of animals. There was the usual assortment of dogs, cats, hamsters, goldfish and birds. As well, however, because her mother was a biology teacher, there were often more exotic pets: an aligator in the bathtub, a box turtle under the living room sofa, mice and white rats in cages all over the place, and a wounded pigeon living under the basement stairs.

Throughout her adult life, Barbara and her family had cats, usually two or three, and later dogs as well. At the present time she shares the house - and the sofas - with two Nova Scotia duck tolling retreivers. a bouncy, exuberant five year-old girl named Eva and a gorgeous, goofy boy named Kenzie. Sadly, the elderly, wheezy thirteen year-old male in the first photo died three eyars ago, gone but never forgotten. Eva snuggles with Kenzie in the second photo. While the fictional Duck Toller in her Amanda Doucette series is named Kaylee after this cute pup below, her personality is all Eva.