I  thought today might be a great day to introduce my canine sister. Her name is Cheyenne and she is a black Labrador retriever dog. To be perfectly honest, I kind of loved being an only child. For 3 years, I was the only dog in the house with my mom and dad, and after the first year, their human kids weren’t even around any more, since the 3 of us moved out west. For a year, we lived in Montana, just the 3 of us, and it was a wonderful life. Tons of walks and I didn’t have to share my family, my tennis balls or the backyard squirrels with anyone else.

It was hard on me when we moved, but knowing I was the only “kid” really helped a lot. Then, after less than a year in Missoula, MT, we upped and moved again! This time, we only moved a few hours away to north central Idaho, a small town on the Clearwater River. It was OK there, but there weren’t any great places to walk. Plus, whenever we did go out for a walk, the police followed us around like we were criminals. You see… most of the other dogs in town spent most of their time outside in cages, not walking on a leash with their people like me.

We’ve had some cold winters out west here, and that year in Kamiah, Idaho, was no different. On Martin Luther King Day, it was especially cold. All day we noticed this black lab running around and I thought my mom was gonna cry when she noticed the stray dog has icicles hanging from her chin. The dog looked happy enough, but she didn’t seem to belong to anyone.

Mom tried to coax her up on our back deck, but the lab seemed scared. After awhile, though, my dad, who’s kinda like the Dog Whisperer, got her to come inside and have something to eat. Before we knew it, she was cuddling up to all of us and acting like one of the family! I found out how much fun it was to finally have a “big dog” playmate who could keep up with me!

Mom & Dad tried to find the dog’s owners, but no one ever came forward, so we chose the name Cheyenne for her and she became my sister!

The picture below is of her after she took a swim in the canal out back of our house. Cheyenne loves to swim… I think that’s a little nuts. I mean, water is for drinking and for flowers… NOT for getting into! Anyway, here she is, that big black Labrador retriever I call sis…

Cheyenne, the Black Labrador Retriever