My New Sister Lily
Spring 2000

Here’s the whole story so far.

One day I was relaxing around the house being THE KING, waiting for mom to get home from work.

Dad was telling me what a wonderful dog I am. My big sisters, Katie and Becky, were home from college and they were petting me and throwing the ball for me and feeding me treats.  SIGH… a typical OLD day.

Mom came home a little later than usual and… WITH NO ADVANCE WARNING, she brought my new sister Lily.

Lily is a 3yr old bichon that my mom had just picked up from a dog shelter. That nice lady Robin who is always rescuing bichons (SMALL PAWS RESCUE) called my mom and asked her if she would drive to a dog shelter an hour from our house and pick up Lily cause she was a bichon who needed to be in a home, not a shelter. My mom was supposed to be her foster mom until Robin could find someone who wanted to adopt Lily. The funny thing is… after that night I never heard the word "foster" again. That word just vanished into thin air.

Miss Lily looked like she hadn’t been groomed for awhile, and she was kind of skinny.

PLUS she liked my toys, my bones, and all my humans! My mom found a soft furry bed for her left over from my puppy days. Can you imagine, when I tried to reclaim my bed, she just knocked me off with her little head! And she is half as big as me! Well! What next? 

Mom decided to give her a bath!

Everyone thought it was ADORABLE that she dried herself off on the towel!          

Then she got her own crate IN THE FAMILY ROOM, with a blanket and a pillow and some of my toys!

And then when we all went to bed that night, she was right up there in the kingsize bed (I always thought "king" referred to me!), trying to move in on my space.

It would have been better if she could play ball or if she would blitz with me, but no…. all she wanted to do was tag after mom and try to eat out of my bowl. The day after she arrived, Bryan our groomer drove up in his van, and instead of me, he took HER into the van and groomed HER. Then, of course, all the humans had to gush over how beautiful she looked.

When was this going to end? What happened to that word "foster?"

What else could I do but act SAD and let the humans know how depressed I was? I stopped smiling, and just sat around sighing. I did a really good job. My mom got worried. I’m pretty sure dad was start to think "foster" again.

Then my mom told me Lily’s story. She said Lily was an ORPHAN. I didn’t know what that word meant, but I knew what it meant when she said, "she doesn’t have a home." Lily was dropped off a month ago at a shelter when her owner decided she was finished breeding her. (That was better than being sold to someone who would keep breeding her!) The Humane Society that ran the shelter had her "spayed," whatever that is, and shaved off all her burrs and mats. Then a lady adopted her and brought her back three days later when she (Lily, not the lady) had an accident in the house. Well, one of those really nice people in the shelter (Sally McClaskey, my mom’s heroine) got on her computer and found Robin at Small Paws Rescue, and told her there was a nice bichon in her shelter, and did Robin want her? Of course!!! Robin wants ALL bichons who need a home because she can find them one! Anyway, that’s when Robin called my mom, and, well.... you know the rest of the story.

When I found out that she was Little Orphan Lily, my new sister started looking a little better to me. Actually, she is kind of cute.

I am trying as hard as I can to be a good brother to my formerly orphan sister. I know that there are enough beds, toys, chewies, blankets, and treats in my house for two. To be honest, there’s enough for more than two, but I’m just going to be quiet about that for a while until I I get used to life as an EX-KING!

I think I'll just take a nap. Now I have
to share the couch!

Graphics courtesy of Small Paws Rescue