The Story of Us

I don't know for sure how many of my littermates are still alive.

I know my brother, Jax, lives with my grandma and grandpa. I'm glad he went to a good home. Several people wanted him. He was "spoken for" early on. I think it's because he was the cutest one. All brown and white rings- he looked more like a St. Bernard puppy than the mix we really are. The friend who discovered us claimed him right off because he was "the prettiest" according to her. Then it turned out that she didn't have a fence and wouldn't for a while so she didn't take him. It was sad. Another family with little boys claimed him after that- the boys came over to play a few times and carried him around all day. That was a good thing for Jax because it meant that he had been "socialized" (according to my people-mom). He was the only one of us who could be picked up, put back down and would still be right at your feet, waiting to be picked up again. That attention hog! My mom isn't sure what else happened with those kids around- she thinks something must have, as ugly as I am toward little kids, especially young boys! I wish I could help her understand...

Another brother, Moses, is probably still alive. He was all black except for his feet and the tip of his tail. Those were spotted, like me. He was the only puppy left after the others went to homes. He didn't get very well socialized. The ranch people tried to make friends with him and had gotten him pretty comfortable with approaching them if they held food, but they hadn't been able to successfully pet him and then they moved away and left him on the ranch. Their in-laws owned it so he wasn't really abandoned... They left our momma there, too, but intend to go back and get her (if they haven't already). I don't understand. They hauled one of their horses all the way to North Dakota but though bringing her would be too much trouble.

There were two other puppies that looked like me. One went to a home, and that was the last we heard of him. The other ran away and hid in a pumphouse on the property while my mom was there picking me out. They found him a few days later. He'd stepped on some bare wiring and electrocuted himself to death.

That leaves the last two. My little runt sister went to a good home, but she dashed out of the car and into traffic as soon as they pulled into the driveway and got herself run over.

My next-to-the-runt sister, Cassidy, was the one my people-mom originally took home. She lived for 3 weeks and then choked on her dog food while she was at my grandma's house. She was eating in the kitchen and we don't really know what happened. She coughed and yelped a bit, then dashed around trying to breathe and clear her throat, then she passed out. Mom tried to open her airway but couldn't. She did get a puff of air into her little nose and and was able to keep it circulating for a while but...blood started coming out her nose and (according to my people-mom's vet tech friend) had a grand mal seizure and she was gone. It was a Sunday. The vet's office was closed. The breath of air my people-mom got in did buy enough time for her to recite the phone number to my grandma, who called, listened to the answerring machine, wrote down the on-call vet's pager number, hung up, called the pager number, left a message, waited for them to call back...she could have met us at the office in 15 minutes, but my people-mom knew that was too long. And it was an automatic $25o charge just for a vet to show up outside of normal business hours...