I will pick Natalie since there is more to tell about her.

Natalie is a mix of unknown origin. Her mother was a stray that had 11 puppies under our house. Mom looked like a Border collie, only taller, and all the pups ended up black with little or no white. We didn't intend to keep any of them, and they found homes very quicky at first- mom, in fact, was the first to go. But then people stopped calling all together and we had this one girl puppy left. It turned out to be a blessing, though, as our 7month old Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy, Conner, broke his runner and was hit by a car. A couple weeks later, Lila, his mom, had a stroke and we had to have her pts. It was very heart-breaking and having a puppy to cuddle and occupy our minds was quite a twist of fate.

If pressed, I say Natalie is a lab/dane mix. She's 82 lbs and 29inches now at 16 months old. She is still all puppy- just huge. She is very smart and knows tons of commands, though most of them are quite backwards. Wait means sit and thank you means lay down- use what works, huh? She is also a huge brat at times- falls on her back and throws a tantrum if you pay too much attention to someone else or if Sirius our gsd/lab/pit mix takes her toy. She jumps hurdles about an hour a day or else no one could stand her in the house. In December, she and our Rat Terrier Hogan were poisoned and we almost lost them both- thank you Dr Springer forever for all you did to help them.

Natalie loves jumping, plushies, rope, tennis balls on rope, the ducks at the park, the goat down the road, all kitty cats, and thinks all people want to show her they love her. She hates anything that smells like medicine and will bark at mouth wash, nail polish, etc. She loves to sleep plastered right to you, no matter the weather, and otherwise sleeps on the sofa on her back twisted into unbelievable positions and snores quite loudly. She also has a very queasy stomach since the poisoning, so you have to be careful she doesn't get any people or cat food or she will gas you out of the house. She is very gentle with all the little critters- lets rats crawl on her and the bunny hop on her- she lies very still and just watches them.

She is most obsessive about her toys- will drop a toy in your lap over and over for hours as long as you keep throwing it in the air for her to catch. She goes through a lot of hoolahoops- she loves to run around the yard with one in her mouth and breaks one about every week. She also can be quite pathetic and will lay her chin on your knee and seesaw her eyebrows up and down if she wants to go play or wants what you are eating. But she loves all other animals, kids, and all people- but usually scares them off since she is big, black, and not the least bit subtle.

Natalie with a broken hoolahoop-


Natalie throwing a fit on the bed-


Natalie and McCoy the Rat-


Natalie standing still for once-


Natalie doing her jumps- with one of her ropes-


Natalie at about 8wks old-


A moment of insanity-