Sunday Stills: Pets

Sedona is our rescue princess.  She is ten years old, a blend of Kuvasz and German Sheperd.  She has the face,  the tallness, and the love of cold weather of the Kuvasc but the build and tail of a Sheperd.  Ten years ago, before Brett retired from full time police work, the city animal control brought a stray dog to the station and tied her up out back.  The dog was yellow, timid but friendly.  We were without a dog as our beloved weimaraner had just died, and I wanted another dog badly.  Brett wasn't sure he was done grieving for Syrah, but the day the yellow puppy arrived at the station also happened to be my birthday.  He called me and on my lunch hour I drove over from my office to see the dog.  She was timid but as soon as I called to her, she came right to me and sat on my feet.  She wrapped a paw around my leg and leaned into me.  She started squeaking like a tea kettle ready to boil whenever she sensed I might be ready to leave.  I couldn't resist.  Thinking she was a lab and would stay the same size, we adopted her.  She grew and grew. 

She was fun to take on walks, even in the dead of winter, because she would slosh through freezing streams and snow without missing a beat.  We did have to keep her on a leash at all times.  If the gate was open, she was gone.  Sedona always came back home, hours later, wet, dirty, tired and happy.  We put chain link on the three rail fencing surrounding our property so she could run around without running away. 

She is very protective in a non-threatening way.  When the kids are home, she still sleeps on the patio between their bedrooms, keeping guard.  In the mornings, she patrols the perimeter of the property, checks on the goats and chases off cats, squirrels and rabbits.  When she isn't on duty, she rests with her princess paws crossed. 

Three years ago, she pulled a muscle in her hind leg and started struggling to get up and down.  We put her on anti-inflammatory medication which helped but she seemed sad to us.  I thought she needed a companion, a dog to hang out with since she is happiest outside.  She is not an "in the house" dog by any stretch of the imagination.  She is too big and too furry.  After ten minutes, she is panting and wants back outside -- and we keep our house relatively cool.  In the winter, we do bring her in to sleep in our room but otherwise she is an outdoor dog. 

In September of 2010 we got Kersey, a yellow lab.  The two have become inseparable.  The sleep together, groom each other and play together.  Sedona is healthier, happier and moving better than she did in the year before Kersey's arrival. 

Kersey is all about love and food.  She is lab through and through.  In the summer she swims in the pool with her tail steering her like a rudder.  She will eat anything, anywhere, anytime.  We play fetch with apples... and then she eats them. 

Sedona has been having trouble during the past week making it through the night.  At 2:00am she wakes us up, whining and panting, wanting out.  Last night, we decided to leave the dogs outside but with the weather being wet and cold I wanted them to have a bed.  Sedona happily slept on her blanket outside the doghouse, under the patio cover.  Kersey took over the dog house.  They both seemed happy.

We have had rain every day for the past week.  Today continues the trend.  We are alternating between blowing fog and misty rain, the heavy rain having moved east across the desert and away from here.