Sydney and Jack on New Year's Eve 2009. Syd's beads are hiding under her roles.
Sydney
Sydney in summer 2010 getting up close for a photo.
Tony and I adopted Sydney (Tweedle Dee) in December 2004 when she was a year and a half old. We knew she was going to be a piece of work. She is a lab/pit/shepherd/whatever mix. One giant mutt. Well, when we adopted her we thought she was a nice medium sized dog. She only weighed in at 53 pounds. Shortly after we adopted her I took her to get spayed. They discovered she had lymes disease; which in dogs causes them not to eat. After she was treated the weight continued to pile on; all the way up to 93 pounds. Yikes!
Sydney in winter 2008. She saw I was taking pictures and sat pretty and screamed for me to take a picture of her. It was so cute.
Sydney is a runner so we will always need to have a fenced in yard. When she escapes she runs without looking back and goes until she passes out. Her little sprints have taken us miles. The worst was when she got loose at our townhome in Apex, NC shortly after we moved to NC. I opened up the back door to let her out to the bathroom. I dropped the leash. She knows the moment you drop the leash. Sydney took off in a sprint. I ran after her and dove for the leash just like a baseball player heading towards home plate. I landed flat on my stomach and my skirt went right over my ass exposing my thong and all the other goods to my neighbors. The leash slipped right out of my hand. Thank God I did not have implants at that time or I would have blown them open. Tony took off after her as I limped back into the townhouse. After about 45 minutes later Tony returns home with a worn out Sydney as I was sitting on the patio with a vodka and lemonade in hand. The vodka that I searched a half hour in the grocery store only to find out they do not sell liquor in grocery stores in the south. As Tony was chasing her one thing that ran through his mind, “Shit, now I am going to have to buy Laura a new skirt.”
Sydney is now seven years old and only has gotten out once in the last three years. Even with how fat she is now she still can sprint just not as far. She enjoys lying in the sun rather than playing. Sydney is pushy, stubborn, but full of love.
Jack
Jack and me in Winter 2007. He is still a puppy in this photo.
Tony and I adopted Jack (Tweedle Dumb) in September 2008. With the down turn of the economy our heart when out to shelter dogs and cats. We decided we had enough money and the extra room for a third dog and welcomed Jack into our lives. He was 7 months old when we adopted him and already 65 pounds. He had been at the shelter for a few months and since he is a German Shepherd mix he was overlooked by many people because of the “aggressive” breed label. I was in love with Jack the moment I saw him. He was so funny looking with his huge ears and paws that he still was growing into. Since Jack had been at the shelter for a while he walked so great on a leash. The volunteers really worked with him.
A few months after I adopted Jack I was walking him at Lake Lynn when a pit bull got loose from its owner and charged at us. We were on a walking bridge so there was nowhere to go. I turned my body to protect Jack from the attack and as the pit bull was starting to bite down on my leg the owner pulled it off. The dog still scraped my leg and aggravated scar tissue from a hematoma I had after a car accident in 1998. Jack was not harmed and was more shocked than anything. The following weekend Tony and I took the dogs to Umstead Park for a walk in the woods. Before that pit attacked us he would ignore every dog that walked by and now on this walk he wanted to attack every dog he saw. Great! Jack just fit into that aggressive breed label. We have been working with him since that happened and he is getting better. We pull him aside on walks when another dog passes and he is starting to whine versus growling. Still a long way from when he used to ignore other dogs. He is fine at doggy daycare since I am not in the picture to protect. Today when he meets a new dog we do it at our house and he wants to get one nip in to show whose boss. Jack is funny, protective, and the perfect dog to ward off bad people. When I walk him people move out of the way. He is around 80 pounds, lean, and tall. The funniest thing about him, he loves to watch TV.
Jack watching Animal Planet. Even on mute he picks out the animals.
Now why are these two Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb? Together they get into trouble! From eating my peach tree and lilac bushes, digging holes, chasing after birds, and playing tug of war with blankets. Wow do I have my hands full. Luckily in this past year the puppy phase as started to wear down. My carpet is thanking me too since Jack tore out a 6 foot by 3 foot section. Sydney did lose some weight after we got Jack but now age is catching up with her. I will have many stories about these two and soon will write about Oscar and Milo.
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