Sierra is our July 8, 2012 Pup of the Week

Every day for the last week I have gone to our Cathedral and said the same prayer.  “I ask that my sweet friend Sierra be given one more day.”  Then I say I will be back the next day to ask the same question. So far, each day, thanks to the Big Giant Dog Gods, the prayers have been answered.  And their answers have been nothing short of miracles  Because Sierra is a very sick girl.  She has something wrong with her liver and they have eliminated everything but the worse thing:  The big C.  And there isn’t much we can do but wait and pray.

Her Mom has been a miracle too.  She has kept Sierra with us through dozens of doctors’ visits and lots of money spent.  But you can’t measure a day with Sierra by money because there is never too much to spend for her sweet company  (Hope that doesn’t make her sound like a ho.)  .  And you can’t measure it by effort like trying the hundreds of different foods her desperate Mom tried to get her to eat until she found the answer (Pizza!)

We  measure our time with Sierra through love, and we treasure each day with this wonderfully sweet girl even as her clock ticks down.   

It seems like we have known Sierra even before this Internet thing was created.   Like she was snuggling with us since we were babies.

Today is the fourth anniversary of her sister Chey going to the bridge, and the fourth anniversary that Sierra took over the role of family pack leader, a job she did so well it made Chey very proud.

Three years ago Sierra explained who she was like this:

“I Am a Diva!!
I Want mom to quit work!
I Have a camper all my own!
I Wish mom would win the lotto so she can quit work and stay home with me
I Hate SQUIRRELS!
I Fear firecrackers and loud voices!!
I Hear the snap on my leash clinking when mom picks it up and I am right there!
I Search for varmints in my yard!
I Wonder if mom misses me as much as I miss her when she’s at work?
I Regret not learning to play with toys...
I Love my MOM and my Angel sis Chey!
I Ache in the mornings, aspirin please!
I Always meet my mom at the door when she comes home…oh how I missed her!
I Usually sleep on mom’s bed!
I Am Not a water dog!
I Dance when it’s time to go for a W-A-L-K or a R-I-D-E!
I Sing, never….I’m not very vocal.
I Never let mom get too far out of my sight.
I Rarely make a big deal out of thunderstorms.
I Cry when I can see my mom but can’t get to her!
I Am Not as old as my age!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Me too Bear!)
I Lose my Kong sometimes, it really worries me!
I’m Confused when mom says she’s just going to the store, but is gone for hours!
I Need my mom to quit work! (do I see a pattern here?) BOL!
I Should keep in touch with my TB friends more!
I Dream of catching that nasty varmint!! “

That July Sierra got a true treat.   Her first camping trip with just her and Mom.  And then, in the first week of August, the Blob arrived.

Small, black, and full of energy the Blob, named Nase by her Mom, started driving Sierra nuts.   Many a night I stayed up with Sierra discussing our mutual problems:  Hers was the Blob and mine was Pocket.  Sierra made the mistake of trying to keep up with the Blob while I just let Pocket run like a mad dog while ignoring her.  Sierra  hurt her leg trying to keep up.  I think that’s when she learned to leave it alone.

Soon the Blob grew into her doghood and was not as crazy and Sierra grew as close to Nase as she was to Chey.  And there were plenty of fun times including great family camping trips.  Nase could still be Blob though.  In November 2010 the Blob played with Sierra too hard and hurt her back legs.  The Blog was severely punished and Sierra got some much deserved loving from Mom so it was all good.

There Mom, another Dog Hero Mom, soon let a foster dog come stay with them, a little boy named Tiger.  He arrived right around Sierra’s birthday which did not please her  But she soon realized what a gift Tiger was.

At the end of April Sierra got to take part in one of the greatest Internet related parties of all time.  She went to Baron Fest hosted by Bear’s Mom.  There were so many dogs there:  Cheyenne, Sandy, Hannah, Summer and Kady, and so many others joined for an actual get together.  It was like a rock festival for dogs.  And everyone agreed they loved sweet Sierra.

But like so many of us pups being a Senior pup has caught up to our friend and that’s why she needs our prayers.  But we didn’t want to wait until the prayers stop working before we honored Sierra.  She is a wonderful dog.  She is a great friend, a wonderful sister, a companion for life, a true heart dog.  She has been the center of several groups and she is loved and respected by all.

I hope that my prayers that you have one more day are answered over and over again.  We all love you Sierra more than you know  And we love your Mom too, who is a match for any Mom.  We wish you a thousand more days together.

So no tears today.  Today we celebrate a living dog who can read this and know how much she means to us..  And her Mom can read it then lie with Sierra and bury her head in her soft fur and breathe in all Sierra’s love

And if they squint, they can look around, and see all of us, Moms and dogs smiling.

Foley Monster prepares to defend the dog who ate her father's Master Tickets

After many years of toiling on small dog cases I have the chance to represent a pup in a major case. My client is Sierra. She is a gentle and sweet Swiss Mountain dog. Her Daddy, Russ Berkman, won tickets to something called The Masters. From what I understand this is a golf tournament. For those of you who don’t know golf is a hideous waste of time that takes our Daddies away from us. It’s when they go to a big, beautiful, meadow, with trees, ponds and bridges, and instead of taking us they take big metal sticks and spend all day whacking their balls. Imagine the fun we could have with them: running after the sticks or balls, rolling on the grass, lying in the sun, going poopy in those little holes, swimming in the ponds. Frankly I think this golf is some sort of temporary Zombie possession. “Must hit ball. Must hit ball.” If they aren’t playing golf they are watching it on TV . You’ve seen it. You catch a glimpse of the white ball against the blue sky and for a second you want to chase it and then you realize it’s on TV (if you have a cat in the house, you laugh at the poor kitty as it swats at the ball.)

Even worse than that is when Daddies go to watch other men hit the ball with their shafts on the nice green grass, where, needless to say, we are not allowed. I could put up with the whole thing if we were allowed to stand on the cool grass with them, but no, we might pee on their precious field, and what anarchy that would cause. This is why, all in all, pups prefer Moms. They teach us when we are young to pee on the lawn then don’t mess with us by telling us not to.

Now on to my client: Sierra. Her Daddy won tickets to go waste his time standing around watching men hit the ball in a field that is half a country away. Again, Daddies!! Traveling across the country to do something that they could see down the street. Now somehow, while Sierra was home alone, with the tickets, they got eaten, and I have been hired to prove she is not at fault.

I have a number of possible defenses:

1. Entrapment: The Daddy left the tickets behind, maybe enticing Sierra with some barbeque sauce lightly brushed on them, to get her to eat them. Once they were eaten it filled her Daddy’s need for glory. He got on the news, got interviewed, and became a minor celebrity. All it took was to trick Sierra into eating his tickets.

2. Alternate entrapment theory: Her Mommy, not wanting her Daddy to go to the golf tournament, put peanut butter on the tickets and had Sierra eat them. She expected Sierra to eat all the tickets not leaving a trace but did not use enough peanut butter. Like most Moms she takes Sierra out and she could get rid of the remaining evidence when she took her out to do her business. Unfortunately her plan failed for lack of peanut butter.

3. Sierra was acting in her Daddy’s best interests: These golf tournaments can be dangerous places. He could get hit by a flying Tiger Woods’ slice, a flying Tiger Woods’ club, or a flying Tiger Woods’ hooker. Sierra was doing what dogs do best, protecting her Dad. She should be praised instead of being chastised.

4. She was taking a stand for dogs everywhere. Men should not be allowed on nice green fields with ponds and trees without dogs. This is a clear case of discrimination. The Masters have had problems with discrimination. We are the final frontier. Let dogs into Augusta! We stand united.

Either that or I’ll claim insanity from a bad case of rabies.

Sierra is our August 21, 2011 pup of the week

While us pups are the most wonderful beings the good Lord ever blessed upon this Earth we do have our bad qualities (although we are never supposed to mention them.)  The wost one is that we are selfish.  Like a little slope nosed who has first learned to speak what we want is "Mommy!"  Last week we celebrated Pokey and Maggie for giving up time with their Mom while she does transports.  I know I hate when my Mommy is away.  I fall asleep, I wake up, I don't know if she is coming home or not, it's terrible. 

But you know what is worse than not knowing when Mommy is coming home?  When she comes homes with another dog.  That means sharing and we weren't built for sharing.  The thing about new dogs is they walk in the door and they automatically think everything belongs to them.  This is a big difference between us and humans.  When a human enters your house he doesn't pick up your toys, put them in his mouth, walk around the house, and squeak, squeak, squeak.  But dogs!  They just walk right in and everything belongs to them no matter how long it has belonged to you.  New dogs upset everything.  Your entire schedule is ruined.

This week our pup of the week, our wonderful friend Sierra, let a new dogs in her house, or, at least, did not get too upset when one was thrust upon her.  And this one that was thrust for the most special reasons.  This dog, who we will refer to as Tiger, because that's his name, was on death row for the crime of having no one to love.  But Sierra's Mom, who is a warrior for all us pups, saw Tiger and she could not resist but give him a chance at life, and either a temporary, or permanent home.  While Sierra was not thrilled, having yet to get over the appearance of her brother the Blob two years earlier, she could not let this poor pup die to protect her toys. 

Then something just awful and scary happened.  The shelter where Tiger was being kept could not find him.  They were afraid there was a problem in the paperwork and Tiger had been sent to the Bridge.  But they found Tiger safe and sound.  You can't blame the people at the Shelter.  There were just so many poor dogs there.

The only other test was to make sure that Tiger could co-exist with Sierra, which is as simple as an ice cream sandwich, and Nase, which is like trying to get along with an inflatable Pocket.  At first Tiger reacted badly but the people at the shelter said he had cage rage from being locked in the cage so long.  This is not to be confused with age in the cage which was a really bad wrestling match between Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan about ten years ago. 

It didn't look like Tiger was going to mix with Sierra and Nase at all  but when he was let out of the cage he was a different dog.  There weren't any high five and  welcoming hugs but everyone proved that they could co-exist under the same roof as long as is needed.

So tonight q furry little face sits in a house, smiling, instead of lying lifeless, because Aunt Vicki saw him and took a chance on him.  As did Sierra, and Nase too.  It is wonderful that people take in homeless dogs like this.  It is too bad they can't do it with human people, but dogs rarely slip out during the night with your liquor and anti-depression medication.

We have named Sierra our Pup of the Week for August 21, because for the second time in two years she has had to learn to share her home and her Mom with a new dog and that is never easy.  And Aunt Vicki you are certainly our Mom of the week, and you will be nominated for Mom of the Year, Decade and Century.  Nase, you are like Pocket, as long as you get your love, your food, and your walks Mommy could bring Qaddafi into the house and you wouldn't mind.  And Tiger, I sure hope you are a good boy and you fit in perfectly, and if you find a new forever home then bless you on your way, and if you stay where you are welcome to The Brigade.

And some day, if you stay with us, you will be our Pup of the Week.  But for August 21 the Pup of the Week is your new sister Sierra.