This is the beginning of three or four posts about the different pets our family has had over the years.

Our first set of dogs ironically came from Elmar’s family’s dog. We were thinking about getting some puppies just after their dog had a litter. We checked them out, and like the little kids we were, fell in love. We picked out two cute little girls for our own. This is about them.

One morning, when I was seven or eight, I was the first one to go outside. I stepped outside the door, and was immediately clobbered by two puppies who were excited to see me. My dad had to come to my rescue! Our family now jokes about them being “our sandstorm”.

Sandy— When we first met her, Elmar’s family had already given her a name. (Well, I mean, who wouldn’t?) They had named her Marshmallow, after all, she was a cute fluffy little white puppy! Don’t ask me if we were going to keep that name or not, because honestly, I have no idea. But when we came to bring her home, a month or two after we had picked them out, she had begun to turn a sandy gold color. Hence the name Sandy.

Sandy was a frisky fun dog. We have a large kennel on the side of the house, where we kept the dogs during the night. In the morning, we would outside to let them out and feed them. They were so happy to see us every morning! Sandy was so frisky that she would jump up and leap off the wall in her excitement!

Sandy eventually had six puppies. We gave them away to friends, and a few years later (after Sandy had died already) one of her puppies had two litters- eleven puppies total!! We loved our bouncy Sandy a lot, and we were all sad when she died of tick fever.

Stormy— When both Sandy and Stormy were alive, they were both the best dogs ever. However, after Sandy died, I grew to appreciate Stormy a lot. Stormy was a beautiful black dog with a brown chest and white paws. We first thought about naming her Oreo, but decided on Stormy instead. When Sandy had puppies, we named our favorite Oreo, who actually looked like one.

One day, we woke up to find Stormy’s back leg had a huge, gaping wound. It was literally a hole in her leg. We took her to the vet, who said that she had an infection in her leg which was trying to get out. It pushed up and eventually made a huge hole on her leg. the vet drained it and did some other stuff, including giving poor Stormy the cone of shame. The hole was so deep, the vet could stick his whole finger into it! Finally the wound healed, and Stormy was better. She never did quite get back the strength that leg used to have though. She was never as frisky after that. A few months later however, the wound opened up again. We did the same things, and it healed. I think that only happened twice, but I’m not sure.

Stormy was the sweetest thing! She loved us so much, and was so happy whenever we came outside to give her a rub! Like all dogs, her eyes looked sad, but at the same time, they had this caring gentleness in them. I loved her so much. What is really sad is Stormy died of tick fever (like Sandy) while we were away. Our neighbors buried her next to Sandy.

I loved these two dogs a lot, and I also love sharing about them with you! Comment if you have any questions about Sandy and Stormy!