Damn one dog, Belly

As time went on, Belly met more people, she loved anyone and everyone, except people who yelled or exhibited any kind of forcefulness or violence. Which was very good...and while playing..really funny. She LOVED when she had a cooked meal, yes she was very spoiled. But as a person who had a dog "room mate" I, too, was spoiled. So was ANYONE who lived with us. She loved to be petted, and would force it if you didn't comply, She knew how to get rid of my upset stomach by laying across it. She knew how to babysit, loved to swim, hot tub, car ride, boat ride, hike, just about anything I did she learned how to do. When I had my first long term boyfriend while I had her, she knew him as Daddy, and me as Mommy, everyone else she knew by name. She LOVED Daddy. He was around for about 2 years, and when he left she mourned almost as much as I did. It was very sad. There were a lot of camping trips, boat trips (where she tried to dive off and chase cows), a lot of good times. After about 4-5 years..."Daddy" came back, they were both very excited to see each other, he always told me he loved Belly way more than me, lol. (But I do believe he did, and I think she knew it!) When he left the first time, he wanted visitation...I declined given the circumstances of our split up...
As time passed I moved to Las Vegas from LA, we went to visit him almost every weekend, she didn't mind the car ride, since she loved being in the car, she hugged me lots of times going across the desert and back, Belly type hugs, nuzzling my neck, we made many mid desert pit stops for her. Then she seemed sick, she whined alot, her eyes didn't look right. I took her to the vet, he advised she was diabetic...that was upsetting for me, she needed insulin injections. I couldn't imagine it would be painless for her. But we learned to make a game of it. She saw the shots and went directly to the fridge, it was a deal I think she was making. "I'll be a trooper and let you give me a shot, but I want a treat!" So a deal it was, she's sit down and wait for her shot, very still, then once she got it, she'd start leaping her way to the fridge for her treat! Slice of turkey or chicken meat! And it went on for about 8 months, and she seemed normal until the last two months, she got slower, had more and more frequent bathroom trips, but she couldn't relieve herself. She started whining again at night when she was trying to sleep, she moved around alot, got up readjusted, whined more. She began running into walls, getting lost in corners...she was blind. We had to guide her movements everywhere. I delayed and delayed, thinking...she'll get better, but she was miserable. Daddy said, we need to let her go. On the way to the car, she collapsed, I carried her the rest of the way. He had to drive...I couldn't see... I sat in back, she sat on my lap. When we got to the vet I couldn't sign the paper, Daddy had to do it...I carried her in, sobbing the whole way, I looked in her eyes and they put her to sleep, I think a good part of me died with her....I cremated her and kept her remains....it was the hardest day of my life...and still is.....

My dog Part 2

When we went camping up to kings river, or even when I went to pick up my son from school, I'd asked Belly if she wanted to go for a drive, immediately she lost her mind, she'd start leaping like a gazelle, we called it "Gazelling", she loved going in the car. She'd hang out the window, and it never failed eventually she'd come up on my right side and lean against my shoulder, then she'd tuck her face into the crook of my neck and press, she was hugging me! She always did, as though to thank me for taking her for a drive. She never realized she got bigger though, and always wanted to sit on Patrick's lap. I think Patrick was around 7 when we got her, early on she fit on his lap nicely, but as time passed she still sat on his lap, only it got kind of hard to see Patrick, but Patrick caught up. She liked to sleep with me, always wanted to sleep on the bed, she loved sleeping with Patrick, and when he'd climb in my bed she'd prompted lay above his pillow tucked around him like she was protecting him.
Eventually we moved out of that house and into another, shortly after Belly had puppies, that's when we found her first flaw, she was not a good mother. She had no interest in anything besides being with me and the boys. Well she like her kitty too. I'd take her and ask her to lie down so the puppies could eat, and she'd lie down, they'd begin eating, and I'd get up to go do something, I'd turn around and she was right behind me. She was always right behind me I'd later learn, after turning quickly when I forgot something and promptly tripping over Belly. We began to call her a stalker, but we meant it with great fondness, she just loved me.

My dog

Back in the mid-90's I got this little Australian Shepherd puppy, her parents were tri-red, both of them, but she was tri-black mostly with slotches of blue merle coloring, her face was 1/2 and 1/2. She had a great big budda belly, which had spots all over it. She liked to sleep on her back so when we first got her mostly we saw a big spotted belly, that's how her name ended up being Belly. Belly had lots of energy, she loved to ride in the car, and she loved water. I learned after having a bad day, when she was trying to get a "forced pet" out of me, by trying to nudge her head under my hand, when I had my head in my hands, and said not right now Belly, go outside...and she turned around and walked outside, that she also knew English, lol. Who knew! She picked up on people's names easily, when i told her, go see Patrick, she'd turn around and go to Patrick (my son), or go see Justin, she'd go to Justin (my other son). It turns out with all her happy go lucky, leaping personality, she was fiercely protective too. When my boys played and wrestled around she nipped at Justins ankles, when Justin and I wrestled around she nipped at Justin's ankles, when Patrick and I wrestled around she nipped at mine. She didn't like us being rough.

One night when my friend and I were in the hot tub, we called it making people soup, since there were mountain lions in the hills behind my house, and I assumed that's what it looked like to them, that Belly also loved Baileys Irish Cream, we'd make mudslides, jump in the hot tub, and we noticed (after a few incidents) that Belly rountinely (and I think purposely), knocked over each of our drinks, and would lick up whatever spilled, then she'd lay on the first step of the hot tub, half in the water, and relax with us. We put an end to that one night when we went inside and Belly tried to jump on the bed, and mis calculated smacking into the side of the bed and falling on the floor, then kinda staggered into the corner and whined for about 15 minutes (I assume she had head spins). No more alcohol for Belly after that.

My sons liked cats, I got them each a cat, one masked tabby that was yellow that Justin named Fear, and a black and white one we picked up at a rescue named Batman (cause they told us Batman was a boy), Fear took a liking to Belly and proceeded to torture her. She's wait till Belly was sleeping stalk her, then pounce on her head, and run, Belly of course would wake up and chase, this went on for a couple of years until we lost Fear. Batman was the hunter, she brought home, birds, rabbit legs, 6 inch long "crocodiles" ok lizards but they looked like crocodiles, she even got in my room one night and leapt approximately 2 feet to my hanging bird cage and pulled one of our finches out of the cage through the bars and we never saw it again. Belly patiently watched out cats antics and never hurt them.

I decided one day, that the boys the dog and I needed a boat. So I bought a 19" Reinell, and we spent lots of weekends at Kings river, and going for day trips on the weekend to Lake Piru. That's when we learned the herding dog came with herding instinct built in, and they were going to herd you and anything else they could herd whether they were trained to or not. We'd dive off the boat and swim around, Belly would dive in with me, and when I got out, she'd get out. Then we got too close to shore and she spotted the cow on the shore, and she promptly dove off the boat and tried to herd the cows, we had to grab her and put her on the boat and quickly get away from the shore. We never convinced her that she didn't need to herd them. We just stayed away from them, if we got kind of close her attention perked up and we immediatey back away. I guess she needed to herd something because there were several times a number of us were on the boat and found ourselves all squished into a corner before we realized Belly had rounded us up. She was a character.