Anxiety? What Anxiety?

Well, it's officially been 21 days since Sierra and I became family, and I've loved every minute of it.

Every day I spend with her (weekends only at the moment), I find out something new and mostly wonderful about her. For instance, she's easily trainable; we've trained her to sit and give a paw before getting her breakfast, supper, snacks, even when I want to put the leash on the harness. She's not afraid of thunder, but is afraid of loud sharp sounds; like a book being place down too heavy, or the snapping of asparagus. She won't try to fight anything smaller than herself, but will defend herself against a large or larger dog. She loves to socialize with other dogs, and will do almost anything to get to swim in the river.

Sierra is also very protective of me. I was laying on the floor and my Mom was giving me a back rub, as she was finishing, she patted my back with both hand. Sierra, ever on duty, came up and pushed my Mom's hands away, getting under her arms so she couldn't hit me, then Sierra tried to push me up into a sitting position with her head and body. It was so cute and beautiful. Of course I thanked her for 'saving' me.

Sierra and I have such a strong bond, it began the 2nd time I walked her when I was volunteering. Being away from her is difficult, and I know she feels a bit anxious about it too. I phone my parents twice a day just to see how she is. We are both improving on this I'm proud to say. She is understanding how many days I wll be away. Still, it's tough. I spoke to one of the kennel attandants at the shelter she was at, and mentioned the seperation anxiety. She told me the best way to deal with it is to ignore Sierra when I first get to my parents' place. To not make a big deal out of seeing her, that it would make it easier on both of us in the long run.

How? How does one not pay attention to such a beautiful, loving, gentle soul???? I got tears in my eyes as she told me what to do. The kennel attendant said to 'be strong, I have faith in you". I'm glad she has faith in me, I don't.

I suppose both of us will have anxiety for awhile longer...at least until I get the courage to ignore her.

Oh, I got the mortgage, we now have a home that we will move into around August.

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!

They're all Cowards!

Today as I was out walking the pup, I met up with another volunteer walker. We stopped to chat about the dogs, and volunteering, somehow we ended up talking about the history of dog she was walking. He is a beautiful shepherd xcross, who is lively and affectionate. And unfortunately seems to have been the victim of abuse. When he walks, one of his hind legs doesn't move quite right (could it be that he was kicked there???), also, if you raise your hand quickly, he cowers. On one of his hind legs, he has nipped all the hair away.

Now I want to ask...WHAT KIND OF COWARD BEATS UP AN ANIMAL??? WHAT KIND OF BASTARD STARVES AN ANIMAL??

How can anyone who claims to be human, ever stoop to hurting an animal that asks nothing more from you than food, a place to live and your love. An animal who will fight to the death to save your life, an animal who is willing to work...on a farm, visiting the elderly in hospitals, leading the blind, whatever, a friend who will NEVER judge you.

Here's another one. In the newspapers today, there is a story of horses on a farm near Rockey Mountain House, Alberta being found starved to death. More than a dozen I believe it said. A NOTE TO THE OWNER...HEY ASSHOLE, IF YOU COULDN'T AFFORD TO KEEP THE HORSES, SELL THEM!!!!

I wonder what kind of punishment the farmer with the horses will receive. A slap on the wrist? a fine and being banned from ever owning an animal again? That sentence would be TOO LIGHT! Willfull manslaughter! Murder! Anything but a slap on the wrist. Even better..starve him, take him close to death, feed him only enough to save his life and do it again and again. Break him. He deserves it for what de did.

Now, I know, some people would say turn the other cheek. How many times do we need to turn it, since turning it hasn't stopped the problem. How many more times do we let the bullies get away with it, when DO WE STAND UP AND FIGHT?

I personally would like to introduce both the farmer in Rocky Mountain House, and the person who hurt the dog to Miss Right Fist, Miss Left Fist and this 2x4.

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.