A little dog with a very big heart

By Jon Bennett

I have been living with my dog Shelby for quite awhile. She is a mixed mutt - lab, terrier, and Pit Bull - I'm pretty sure. She is a little dog completely black with one tiny white spot in the middle of her chest.

She may be little but she is all muscle, very very strong. When I take her for walks she pulls so hard sniffing everything. If she sees another animal, especially a cat or squirrel, forget about it, she wants to rip my arm off. I am trying to break her of that, but it's her instincts.

She also loves to go for rides and stick her head out of the window, but you can't open it too far because if she sees a cat she will try to jump out, even if we are going down the road. She is very smart and I have taught her a lot of tricks. She can dance on her hind legs, sit, shake hands, lay down, speak, fetch and catch a Frisbee in the air. She also loves to play tug-of-war.

We lived by ourselves for a long time, so we spent a lot of time together. When I was at work she would stay on her run in the back yard. She has to stay there because she likes to run the neighborhood and I don't want her to get hit by a car. All my neighbors know her so when she gets loose they will put her back on her run for me. I built her the best dog house on the lake. It is insulated and vinyl sided. She also has a heated water dish so her water will not freeze in the winter.

Even though we live on a lake she is not too fond of the water. When we take a walk to the beach she will only go in up to her belly. When it was time for bed, she would sleep with me on the couch every night. That is, until we got some new additions to our family.

To be continued, watch for it.