These were our first 4 dogs, starting with a female Schipperke pup I named Sirius after the dog star. It may not have been a well thought up name but she did have a serious stare and attitude.

After MY dog traveled with my now husband across country, we arrived to our new location and my dog got out of the truck and looked at me — "Do I know you?" That little traitor!

Later that year for Christmas we got Brimstone, another Schipperke, from a breeder for ME. Finally, I had a dog!

We decided it'd be a fun idea to get a large dog. I always loved Siberian Huskies since my brother gave me a tall, sitting grey and white blue-eyed Husky stuffed toy as a birthday gift. We looked at a few different shelters but yielded nothing. We ventured out a little further and found a shelter where we adopted Texas!

Texas was pretty large for her size and the shelter had her listed as a Siberian Husky. Looking back I remember she had coarse guard hairs. She preferred Dad over me because he gave her more attention than I did. When I thought back after learning about Akula's needy temperament then it all made sense — she, too, was a Siberian Husky mixed with Alaskan Malamute! I regret thinking she was just a bitchy dog. Lesson learned.

A year later we made a shelter donation of sheets and towels. Another lesson we learned was that we should have delivered the donations on a Sunday when the shelter was closed and just drive as I threw the donations over the fence!

That's how we ended up with Boomhauer! Everybody had a buddy.... We named him after the King of the Hill character Boomhauer because he would babble at us and we couldn't understand anything he'd tell us — much like Sasin.

Over time the dogs came and went and the buddy system is how we got back to 4 dogs.

"Have a pack of dogs!" they said "It'll be fun!" they said....

It had its moments — like back when I was able to tie the coupled leashes around my waist and walked 2 non-pulling young adult Huskies and 2 well-behaved coupled Schipperkes on my other side. Hands free!

My neighbor was not happy when I smiled and waved hi as he was being dragged by his black lab. I still smile at the mere thought of that.

We would walk good a 2 and a half to 5 miles a day. We were all well-behaved and rather wore out each day and slept really good each night. :)

Now look back up at Boomhauer's picture — notice the red wire leash he had attached to his collar. At the time we had a huge quarter acre backyard with a 3 foot high cyclone fence. The fence was not known for its ability to contain animals. To a Husky, this was not an obstacle so within a very short period of time, the Huskies went exploring 1 by 1. Then when they were coupled together... they escaped together and headed right for a busy intersection at evening traffic time!

Boomhauer was struck by a Mercedes car who kept on driving away, we were told by the attending vet. I'm pretty convinced Texas tossed him in front of her cos she was not hit.

We liked the attending vet so much we switched all our dogs from Banfield to him.

Boomhauer made such a full recovery that it even straightened out his lazy eye! Before the run over:

After:

We changed his name to Thump and he was cool with that.

Okay, so let's get their names out of the way. Sirius got her name when all I could think of was the Dog Star. It was the way she stared at me that got me thinking in that direction.

As a puppy in her new home:

I thought naming our next Schipperke "Orion" after a star constellation would continue the star theme but no. After getting him set up in a kennel area with a plastic tarp under a sheet, with a bed and a litter box for dogs. Yes, it existed and it worked for both puppies!

So back to the story — upon returning home from work, I was greeted by this:

He quickly revealed himself for the little terror that he was and his name quickly and aptly changed to Brimstone!

Texas was not always real nice so she got a twofer: Texas was named after the Texas motto: "Don't Mess With Texas" and "mouth as big as Texas". Cos it was! I think you can count on the Alaskan Malamute for that.

Then along came Halloween and it was time to reveal just how much free time I had....

Texas got dressed up as Dracula and I learned a valuable lesson....

When you put red food coloring on a white, doubled coated dog... while they do shed obscene amounts of fur, the fur on their muzzle turns pink and sticks around for several months!

I made some mad cow costumes for the Schips. Sirius didn't think too highly of this. I tried it on her part way through and took her for a quick walk when she expressed her displeasure by stopping to pee IN it. Duly noted — I cut out some material so she'd have more room. Then I made sure to give her extra large udders! Me 1 — Sirius 0.

I gave Brimstone an extra long tail.

And then there was my wolf in sheep's clothing!

Thump waited for me to come home to check on him when he had started acting a bit odd the day before on a walk. He passed away of a heart attack in front of me.

Texas started having muscle atrophy in her hindquarters to where she looked more like a wooly buffalo, Due to the "quality of life" being serious compromised, the vet recommended she be put down.

Sirius ended up with lymphoma. We found this out a little too late and it being aggressive, we opted for chemotherapy based on the good possibility it would work. It was NOT cheap but we did it. Sirius handled the first dose quite well!

Unfortunately, she passed away in the night a month later. Fortunately, she was in Dad's bed and arms. And fortunately again — it was the night before pricy chemo dose number 2.

Brimstone held out to the end and lost his ability to know where his feet were. He trotted a lot with left feet walking in unison — then his right feet. It went downhill from there and we were back to facing that damn "quality of life" thing.

We made sure Brimstone went to the park one last time!

All were cremated and are shelved where we can remember them easily.... Also, I'm still finding the Schipperke black hair from time to time. Dog Mom knows which breed the hair belongs to. Pathetic or not, it is what it is.