A Dog's Life

sisterly love

Today my firstborns turned 7 years old.  These two are quite a pair of dogs.  Most people would think they are crazy.  Most people would be right.  Anyone who has ever owned a heeler knows what I mean.  They have more energy in their pinky toe than you can even imagine in a dog, but they are lovable and loyal and are very entertaining most of the time.  I am so thankful we have six acres for them to run around on.  Without that, we would all definitely go crazy, dogs and humans. 

These two girls have had many adventures in their seven short years with us, and I have had the pleasure of watching them grow from birth.  I was there when they were born seven years ago.  Bailee was the 5th puppy born, and Lunati was the 6th.  I always joke that Bailee must have bullied Lunati in the womb as the "older" sister.  Funny now, the tables have turned and Lunati is definitely the dominant one.

Ryan and I were only friends when these girls were born.  Ryan picked Lunati from the litter shortly after they were born.  At the ripe age of six weeks, she went to live with her new daddy.  I wasn't planning on getting a puppy.  I needed a puppy like I needed a hole in the head.  Apparently, a hole in the head is exactly what I was needing.  Bailee lured me in with her sweet eyes.  She was born all white, except for a reddish-brown patch over one eye and one ear, and she had the blackest eyes and nose.  She would sit in the puppy box and just stare up at me - I couldn't resist.  And so we lived for a couple of years, Lunati with her daddy and Bailee with her mommy.  Growing up, the two puppies saw each other often, but you couldn't exactly call them friends.  More like enemies forced together by their owners.  There were many struggles between these two, which usually ended with the humans yelling at the puppies and having to separate them (maybe someone was making Ryan and I practice our parenting).

Who knew they would eventually become the best of the friends?

There are many stories I could tell about these two, but I'm sure that would bore you.  Most of you visit this blog to see pictures of Laci anyway, so a story about dogs = BORING.  Well, too bad, it's not your blog to decide.  Both of these dogs have fallen out of a truck in her lifetime - not a good testament to our parenting skills.  Lunati fell out the window of the truck going around a corner - she used to sit with her "arm" hanging out the window, not anymore.  Bailee bounced out of the back of my truck after hitting a bump in the road - no she wasn't tied in, I know, I'm an irresponsible parent.  Don't worry, they obviously both survived.  They are obsessed with chasing things - obviously, they are cow dogs after all.  Bred for chasing.  Too bad there aren't any cows to chase around here.  Since there aren't any cows for them, any object thrown will do:  tennis balls, sticks, logs, whatever.  Yes, I mean logs, no "stick" is too large for these girls.  I have seen them both try to drown themselves trying to retreive driftwood from the lake. 

The funniest thing about Bailee is the story of her ears.  She seriously has some of the biggest ears I have seen on a dog.  At least she used to.  Her ears used to look like this:

It took six months for them to stand up as a puppy and at six months old, they were WAY too big for her head.  It was hilarious.  Eventually she grew into them and I have loved them ever since.  That is until last summer when she decided to break one.  Did you know that a dog can break her ear?  I had no idea until she came in from playing looking like this:

Pretty stupid looking, huh?  Don't worry, I'm not offended.  There was actually a pocket of fluid/blood in her ear that was weighing the end of it down.  So what do you do when your dog looks like this? 

You make it look like this:

Really stupid looking now.  She had to have surgery to repair the ear and came home with this bandage.  She wouldn't even look at me she was so embarrassed.  She promptly removed this bandage a day and a half later, leaving her ear bent and crooked.  Six months later, just for fun, she decided to do it again:

Not so embarrased this time, and sort of Shrek looking, don't you think?  She only left this bandage on overnight.  No need for bandages for these crazy dogs, they just heal themselves.  Of course, the result was another bent and crooked ear.

We call this her "fast" ear because it folds back at the top like the wind is blowing it making her look like she's running really fast.  It adds character, I guess.  I miss her stand up ears.

I couldn't leave Lunati out of the post, although I can't think of any stories to tell of her.  She looks old in this picture, which I guess she is.  I call her my little pig.  She is built as solid as a little pig and is as stiff as a pig when you try to pick her up, plus she's a little fat.

They are pretty special dogs.  They are learning to deal with a baby in the house, although I'm sure they have no idea what is coming once Laci is mobile.  Once Laci starts dropping food on the floor for them, I'm sure they'll be fine.  I hope they have many years left in them.  You'd think they were still puppies by the way they race out the door each morning, but you know they're feeling their age when they come in stiff and sore after a day of playing outside.  Just part of life, I guess.

Well anyway, Happy Birthday Girls.  We love our first daughters.

And for those of you who only visit this blog to see Laci,

here she is.