In the Beginning

I'm Sierra Dog and I live in north Florida. I was born, I think, at the animal shelter in August 2004. Another puppy was born around the same time but I don't think we were in the same litter. Otherwise, we were in the same boat because neither of us knew our father and we didn't get to know our mothers for long. We were only with our mothers and our brothers and sisters for a few weeks and then they were gone. We never knew what happened to them.

A woman came that October and said she wanted to take us home. First we all went to a room at the shelter with toys and treats so she could see that we two pups would get a long because we'd never seen each other before. We got along fine even though we were barely eight weeks old. Smokey is a dark, shaggy boy and I am a beautiful blond, well-groomed girl. I was a little bit bigger than him when we came to our new home but he's 10 lbs. bigger than me now. Actually he's almost 20 lbs. bigger than me now because I've been sick and I've lost a lot of weight. More about that later.

(Click on a photo to make it larger.)

This is me and Smokey getting acquainted at the animal shelter. You can see that I was a lot bigger than him. Don't you think I am cuter?

Smokey looks bigger in this picture but I outweighed him by 3 ounces.

 We were lucky to be adopted. So many puppies and kittens and older dogs and cats are not. We went to a nice house. At least we think it's nice. Since we've never lived anywhere else, except for once. We have to say it's the nicest place we've ever lived. We have a big fenced yard - almost an acre - and lots of squirrels to chase.We each have our own bed and we never have to stay outside when it's cold or hot or storming.

When we first came an old beagle lived here. Her name was Spike. I don't think she liked us much because she never wanted to play with us She never hurt us either so maybe she was just too old (and fat) to play with us. Mom said she could have taught us a lot but you know how kids are about listening to their elders. Spike went away after a few months. Mom planted what she calls a sweet bush in the back yard and every now and then she goes out and calls it Spike. I think that's pretty weird.

Buddy and Pasquale Cat still live here. MacTavish Cat, who was Pasquale's real brother, used to live here but one morning when we work up he was stiff as a board. Mom said he had a heart attack in the night. Tavi Cat was always thin but Pasquale Cat is kinda fat.

This is me and MacTavish Cat.

This is Pasquale. Don't you think he looks a little chunky?

We got into a little trouble now and then. When we were about four months old, Smokey and I each ate a $20 bill. That made mom really mad. We must have pooped them out somewhere but mom never found them. Smokey chewed on two shoes (different pairs) but I never did. I was always the good girl. Mom said having two dogs was sometimes like having two sets of  twins. 

When we first came to live here Smokey sneaked off. Some of mom's friends were coming over to meet us and mom put us in the back yard. She found me but couldn't find Smokey anywhere. She was so afraid he'd slipped through the fence and gotten into the pasture with the high grass and couldn't find his way out. We'd only been here an hour and you know he wouldn't know his way around - and being male he wasn't going to ask one of the cotton rats who live in grass for directions. 

The daughter of mom's friend found him because she heard him whimpering. He had gotten through the fence but into the neighbor's yard and wedged himself on his back between the fence and a tree and he couldn't get out. Mom couldn't hear him because she has lousy hearing. Anyway, he was rescued but to this day he will not willingly roll on his back. I think he was scarred for life by that little adventure. I'm pretty tired now so I'm going to take a nap and I'll tell you more later.

Sierra about 2 months old.