My very first pet was my Sheba girl. I've talked about her before, my family got her as an adult stray when I was a toddler. Our best guess is that she was a German Shepherd/maybe Doberman mix. She had a prey instinct that was amazing, so we never had any other pets when we had her, the nieghborhood gardens were free from woodchucks for ten years after she died, and all the nighborhood cats knew where the closest tree was from any given point on the ground.

Sheba was my best friend, the smartest dog I have ever met. She was the Alpha dog of the neighborhood, and made the rounds a couple times a day, picking up followers as she travelled. She lifted her leg to mark trees, was as sweet and gentle with us as could be imagined, but her very presence protected us if we children were out in the yard alone. No stranger ever got very far up the driveway. If they started up the drive, she walk over and stand in the middle and look at them. If the person kept approaching, she'd sit and stare - no one ever got further than that, as she was a big black dog, they'd lose nerve and back away.

She taught me lots of things, including how to and how NOT to pet a dog, how to give a good bellyrub, and to look both ways before I crossed the street.

Next time I am out at Dad's house, I've gotta try to find a picture of her, but she was basically a slightly stockier German Shepherd, black with tan leggings and those tan spots for eyebrows.

The dad across the street, Roger, described himself as not being a "dog person." But his daughters and I played together all the time, so they grew up with Sheba as well. When Sheba died, my Dad was at work, having just begun a 12-hour shift I think. And so Roger came over, and helped my mom wrap Sheba in her favorite green Army blanket, and he had tears running down his face as he carried her to his truck. (Sheba was buried on my Grandpa's farm.) Then, not long after, he brought home a shelter pup - now I know he was probably a Gordon Setter mix, named Woody, for his girls. He never said "your dog changed my mind," but we knew it did.

Sheba was a great dog.