For Dog Lovers!

Welcome Dog Lovers!

A little backstory:

      I grew up in a household that loved animals. I've had dogs, cats, and rabbits as pets. I'm not much of a cat or rabbit person anymore but I LOVE dogs. The first dog that was ever fully mine was Charlie, a full blood Rottweiler. My brother had picked out a puppy that was suppose to be the family dog but I was really upset that we didn't get the runt because if nobody took her the owners were probably going to put her down. Hence Charlie came home with me and my poor parents were out an extra $50. Charlie was with me for six years until her stomach flipped one day and she died before I could get her to the vet.

      I had been missing Charlie for 6 months when on a whim I stopped at a local animal shelter. There was an adorable pitbull named Lilly who had been picked up along the road starving, beaten, and full of scabs from itching flea bites. She loved when I petted her but she held a red little Kong in her mouth the entire time while she grunted. After a couple more months, my mom told me she had heard on the radio that the shelter was trying to get Lilly adopted because at the end of the month, she would be put down if no one wanted her. Being a dog love, I couldn't let that happen so I went back and adopted her that day. I had Lilly through a move from New York to North Carolina but in the new house, she became territorial about my bedroom. One day my aunt and uncle visited with their golden retriever and that dog came too close to my room. Lilly attacked and latched on to the other dog's mouth so hard she put a hole in the bottom of the dog's lips. She was placed outside after that incident but she attacked again when I took her to a dog park. We were the only ones there at first but once another dog showed up I went to gather Lilly. She was bringing her ball back to me when the other dog ran up to her to sniff her. She didn't like it and attacked him. The other owner and I pulled them apart and we left. I was now worried because my brother and his wife were also living with us and they had a baby girl at the time. I was worried that Lilly might attack the baby so I decided to give her away. I gave her to one of my dad's friends who had no other kids or pets in the house and Lilly loved it there. 

      After that I swore off pets for a while. I had lost trust in shelter pets but I didn't want to buy anything from a puppy mill either. I also didn't feel right about bringing an unknown entity into a house that wasn't mine as my mom had her own small dog that had reign of the house. It wasn't until 2014 that I would change my mind.      I had been missing Charlie for 6 months when on a whim I stopped at a local animal shelter. There was an adorable pitbull named Lilly who had been picked up along the road starving, beaten, and full of scabs from itching flea bites. She loved when I petted her but she held a red little Kong in her mouth the entire time while she grunted. After a couple more months, my mom told me she had heard on the radio that the shelter was trying to get Lilly adopted because at the end of the month, she would be put down if no one wanted her. Being a dog love, I couldn't let that happen so I went back and adopted her that day. I had Lilly through a move from New York to North Carolina but in the new house, she became territorial about my bedroom. One day my aunt and uncle visited with their golden retriever and that dog came too close to my room. Lilly attacked and latched on to the other dog's mouth so hard she put a hole in the bottom of the dog's lips. She was placed outside after that incident but she attacked again when I took her to a dog park. We were the only ones there at first but once another dog showed up I went to gather Lilly. She was bringing her ball back to me when the other dog ran up to her to sniff her. She didn't like it and attacked him. The other owner and I pulled them apart and we left. I was now worried because my brother and his wife were also living with us and they had a baby girl at the time. I was worried that Lilly might attack the baby so I decided to give her away. I gave her to one of my dad's friends who had no other kids or pets in the house and Lilly loved it there. 

      After that I swore off pets for a while. I had lost trust in shelter pets but I didn't want to buy anything from a puppy mill either. I also didn't feel right about bringing an unknown entity into a house that wasn't mine as my mom had her own small dog that had reign of the house. It wasn't until 2014 that I would change my mind.

Name: Sienna (Female)
Breed: Black Lab / Unknown Mix
Birthday: August 11th 2014
Favorite toy: Stuffed Lambchop
Favorite activity: Anything Agility.
How did he get his name: The shelter gave her the name.
Her story: I was working one night when my best friend came by to show me the puppy she had gotten that day. It was an all black black lab mix that she had picked up at the local shelter. The puppy was adorable and was already attached to my friend. Watching the two of them made me long for Charlie which led me to want another dog. After asking my parents (whom I was living with at the time) I recieved their permission to get one if there were anymore left. That night I searched the shelter's Facebook page and found they had three left, two girls (one with a white strip on her face and one all black) and one male (all black). The next day was Halloween and I rushed down to the shelter to find the all black female had just been adopted before I came. I was a little put off because that was the one I wanted. The male was my next choice but one of the women who worked there said that she had seen his dad and that dog was huge so there was a good chance this one would be too. I knew my mom hated big dogs so there would be no way she would allow him to stay in the house. That left me with the little girl with the white stripe. She was actually the biological sister to my friend's dog so this granted her bonus points with me. We were taken into a room where we could get to know one another and I loved how playful she was. I took her home that day. My friend and I love that our two girls are sisters and they have play dates often. I think they know that they are sisters because the first time we brought them together, they were instantly happy and playful with one another. I had never had much luck getting Sienna to listen so this past spring, I enrolled her and I in a dog training class given by the local community college. Sienna learned heel, sit, down, stay. come, finish, crawl, over, through, and under. We trained where the police dogs were trained so there were plenty of agility obstacles. Sienna excelled at all of the obstacles but her favorite was the ramp (my favorite was getting her to climb up the 6' ladder.) I know she can't wait until we get a place of our own so that she has her own palace.





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