The Countdown Starts

The Sierra Chronicles.

I went out today looking at town houses for poochie and I and may have found one. It has 3 bedrooms and a small fenced yard, nice little kitchen, and one of the best bits...it backs onto a green belt. Forest everywhere, trails of all kinds. Just right for an adventurous pooch and her guardian. Now my parents tell me they've heard of a couple places near them going up for private sale. I'll find out sometime next week, I hope one of them is in my price range. So I'll wait a bit on making my decision.

In the meantime, May 10th is the official day I adopt Sierra. This is proving to be the longest month in my personal history. Waiting isn't always hard, but for this puppy it is. So to help me feel better, I bought her her walking harness this past week, it's called a Sensi-ble harness. It goes around her chest and front legs, and snaps on at her underbelly. It's the same as the shelter uses for her. Today I bought her a 42" circular sleeping pillow at Costco for only $20.99. I'm amazed that they could have something that size at such a low price, considering that if you went to a pet store for one like it, you'd be paying almost $60.00 if not more.

Today on the trail we were sitting on a bench having a rest when these 2 women (Mom & daughter?) walked by with a 1 1/2 yr old dog. Can't remember what mix, but border collie and something seems to stick. Anyways, the dog decided to come see Sierra for a visit, they started playing while I spoke with the Mom & daughter. It was really cute watching the two play; Sierra outweighs and out-sizes the other dog, but played only as rough as the other one. While all this was going on a guy with what looked like a shepherd, collie, wolf cross walks by. His dog isn't on a leash. It runs up and starts to go after the younger dog, Sierra jumps off the bench, stood in front of the younger one and was ready to attack. I've never seen her like that. She is so protective. The Mom & daughter commented on how amazed they were that Sierra just jumped up to protect their dog. Of course all the OOHH's and AAH's started. The other dog walked away with it's guardian, the guy never even appologised. Didn't put it on a leash either.

Wonder if they will be on the trail tomorrow.

In the meantime, Wish Us Luck!

On the Trail Again

I had another doggie date today. We went out for just over 2.5 hours, on the same trail as always, only we managed to get higher up in the canyon than the other days.

This is the usual view I get of her, I've been trying to get a half decent photo of her, but she doesn't seem to care much about stardom.


Ahh!! That's better. At least a bit...I feel like a paparrazi.

Thank goodness she doesn't seem to mind, as long as we continue our walks.

My parents phoned today and made a valid point..They think Sierra & I are getting too attached and I'll get hurt if she gets adopted by someone else. They are right, I am attached to her...no regrets about that. I hate to leave her at the shelter & by her actions, she'd rather be with me. So I guess I just have to find a way to adopt her. That means paying off bills, and getting together a down payment for at least a townhouse. I HAVE to do this. As far as I'm concerned, she's part of my pack, MY PUP.

Sierra Trails and Angels

Another day, another walk in the forest. My beloved shelter pup and I were off once again to conquer the wilderness.












The path starts off at creek level





The trail runs for about half an hour on level ground, then begins to climb into a canyon



Higher and higher it climbs,




eventually reaching 150 feet above the creek



Yes, that's the creek very tiny at the bottom. Sierra & I were were a few feet from the edge so I could take the picture. She was sniffing around, not really paying attention to where she was going. I got worried she would get too close to the edge and fall, it's a sheer drop of around 100 feet to the bottom. So I put my camera away and tried to pull her bak to the trail. I KNOW there were no clouds or mist when I took that picture, I think I would've noticed . Looks like someone else was worried about us too.

I absolutely believe in angels and guardians. Thank heavens we are never truly alone.

Thank you!

Puppy Love - Sierra

I went out again today with my main pooch. Thought I'd show you where she lives when she's not out walking. I think I wrote before that she's from the local animal shelter. It's actually a nice facility (as shelters go), and the people there are awesome. They have a dog run in the back where the dogs can socialize and run around. But it's still nice to take her out.




We only hand 1 1/2 hours today and she really didn't want to go back, guess we've bonded alot in the past few weeks.

I love the trails near where I live, I know in a lot of big cities, these just don't exist

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This is where we went today. Alot of times I let her choose the way, of course she usually chooses the path with the most squirrels. Gotta chase, you know?
I wonder what goes through her head, I mean, what kind of a meal could a squirrel possibly make? Or is it just the chasing part??

I remember when I was younger I thought big dogs were only used as guard dogs, and always vicious. I'm glad I learned through experience that big dogs like Sierra got a bad rap somewhere along the way. I mean, Sierra just loves to hug, and to be touched. I spoke with someone on the trail the other day who commented on how beautiful Sierra is. One of the first things she said is, ''she's beautiful, but look at how powerful her chest is, I bet she could do a lot of damage''. My reply was ''yes, I suppose she could do alot of damage IF SHE REALLY WANTED TO, but she's very gentle''. I guess big dogs just naturally scare people. Ok, she is around 100 lbs, and a dog that size coming at you in anger or happiness can be daunting, but still. Give the dog a chance.

I would love to adopt her. I know I've said it before, but I'm using the power of positive thinking to help me make it happen.

Dog Day Sunday

Introducing, Sierra!



What a great day. I started volunteering for my local animal shelter a few weeks ago, as a dog walker. I've walked the same beautiful dog about 15 times now. I can't understand why she is still up for adoption, maybe it's because she's so big.

At any rate, I took her for a walk today for 1 1/2 hours in the forest. We have tons of forest paths here that are all off-leash areas. In the summer I guess we might have to watch for bears and cougars, but right now there are only coyotes around.

If you don't believe me, this is the area we walk in:




There is a creek, which is more like a river that the trails run on both sides of.
You'd never know it, but there are houses within a 10 minute walk all the way along the trails.

Sierra loves the water, she doesn't seem to care how deep or fast it runs. She almost pulled me in last week. It was pretty funny seeing me standing on a rock, trying not to follow her into the drink. Of course she can't figure out what my problem is.

I discovered something new about her today...she loves to chase squirrels. She pulled me a good 3 feet before I was able to grab her collar and get her under control. Again, she couldn't figure out what the problem was. Of course, now I'm nursing a really sore shoulder.

We have such a great time together, I wish I could adopt her, but the building I'm in doesn't allow pets. Guess I just have to save my money & get rich, or moderately well-off. That way I can move out of this apt. and into a house, and adopt her.

Her presence in my life has meant so much for me. Just being with her is so calming, and she definately has the ability to make me laugh. I hope I've done her some good too.

If I could ask anyone to do just one thing...it'd be, GO WALK A DOG. Yours, or from a shelter, but go walk one.