ASHLEY Latchman burst out laughing as Duffy and Doodle jumped on the family sofa and lapped at her honey coated face.
The two lovable canines are at the heart of this love story played out between a family and their pets.
It's a bond that has only strengthened with time and made the one quite indispensable to the other.
Duffy the more aggressive of the eight-month old duo snarled menacingly as Doodle tried to cuddle up to Ms Latchman, a bank officer.
"He doesn't want to share the space, he wants to be the only special one," Ashley chuckled.
"But they are both extra special; we don't know what our lives would be like without them because they are family."
Early this year the Latchmans took up a new posting in Labasa.
The move was hard on the family as Ashley's younger brother Emanuel decided to remain at Natabua High School in Lautoka.
It was to be the first time he would be away from home and the separation was sorely felt on the closely knit Latchmans.
Things could have been worse if not for his dogs Duffy and Doodle who were just three-week old pups back then.
They spent the journey in the family's cargo container, off to a new life in the North, quite unaware of the important role they would play in the Latchmans' lives.
"They are really Emanuel's pets but since he can't look after them, he left them with us," she said. "And our fondest memory of them is the way they helped us through the hard time of separation from Emanuel."
With the passing months, the Latchmans showered their attention on the pups.
They got the best food, shampoo, drinks and a place to sleep.
As they grew, they reciprocated that love with antics that endeared them to the Latchmans and stirred their happiness.
"They are just a joy to be around," she said.
Early every morning, the canines bound into Ashley's bedroom and lick her face. "They actually wake me up, my alarm clock.
"Sometimes they are in the car tooting the horn, winding the glass up or down, and they join our morning devotion.
"They absolutely love to play with my dad and sometimes sleep with us in the sitting room.
"They bring the TV remote when we ask and they love watching television.
"They'd be sitting on the sofa watching TV and wagging their tails if they find something exciting."
Lately, Emanuel Senior who is away overseas on business, called home from Sydney.
"We put him on speaker and when they heard his voice they wagged their tails and whined.
"They knew it was him and that was their way of missing him."
Duffy, Doodle and the Latchmans' story depicts the happiness, joy and sometimes sadness that both animals and their owners can draw from each other.
