our dog

This is our dog, Belle. She is a Sheltie (Shetland Sheepdog), and for the most part, she's a super dog. Note I said 'for the most part.'

A few facts about Shelties:

• Even though they look like little Collies, they are no relation to the Collie
• They are herding dogs
• They tend to be barkers
• They are herding dogs

Belle is a very friendly pup. Well, she's not a puppy - she's actually 9 years old. She LOVES people and runs to greet everyone - neighbors, the mail lady, whoever. She loves everyone - she's not picky. She's not really into squirrels/birds/other critters, which is kind of nice because she pretty much sticks around the yard...except, of course, if she sees a person that she just has to go and see. Although, yesterday I let her out and, like most days, forgot about her for a few minutes. When I remembered to go let her back in, she was nowhere in sight. Usually she's laying on the front step, enjoying the fresh air. Not yesterday. I was holding Max so I didn't really go outside with him, but called her several times - no sign of her. I put Max in his bouncy and stepped outside to investigate. I started heading towards the driveway, continuously calling her, and all of the sudden, I see her sprint out from behind the neighbor's house - ACROSS THE STREET. Um, hello?? Belle, don't you get that it's not cool to cross the street? You're a smart dog, you should know to stay on OUR yard. And really, she's very good about sticking around (on bad days, we've secretly hoped she'd disappeared after we'd forgotten about her outside, but nope - she's always on the front step), so I was surprised not to see her. She must have been drawn away by something very interesting.

Have I mentioned these dogs like to herd??? Yeah, well that's the main drawback around here. Her herding nature leads to her barking. She hates when any of us leave a room and strongly dislikes having doors closed on her (i.e., when we leave the house, go the bathroom, you get the idea). Some days, she barks non-stop! It gets to be a little trying when she's barking, Lydia's talking, and Max is crying. Not exactly PEACEFUL!! She's everywhere - always up in everyone's business. Wherever the kids are, she's there. Wherever Steve and I go, she follows. Here's a shot of her making sure Max isn't getting into any trouble on his baby laptop.

I've been missing our other dog lately. He had to be put to sleep last year, only 10 days after we found out he had cancer. Soooooooo sad. We were heartbroken. His name was Boris and Steve got him when we were dating. He had what seemed like a cold, but after it just wasn't getting better, the vet suggested we check things out further. He had to be put to sleep to get x-rays done, and before the vet even did an x-ray, he took a look in his mouth. There he saw a large tumor that had been growing about his soft palette and had grown so large that it was now pushing down into his mouth. He figured that it had grown up into his nasal/sinus cavities as well and that was what caused his breathing to sound congested. Ten days after learning of this, we said goodbye to Boris. Needless to say, we think about him often and miss him terribly. Even Lydia knows Boris is in heaven. We love you, B!!