Chapter 4: Reno

I lived on the ranch for a few weeks. The big girls in my pen decided they didn't like me. It began with being fed alone. I thought it was a treat, but really it was because I couldn't protect my bowl and the big girls would steal my food. So one day I was fed in a small pen by myself and that pen became my home, far from the other dogs. It was lonely, but at least I got two really big meals every day.

Many people came to the St. Bernard rescue in search of a new dog, they passed my pen as they walked to the back where the other Saints lived.  It seemed to be a parade of people that never stopped. I ignored the parade, nobody was there to see me. 

At last a family stopped at my gate! It was two big people with two little people, not babies but kids. The kids burst into my pen and immediately started to play with me, the play made me think of the days with my brothers and sisters in the snow. So fun! The woman in the family gave me pets, the man seemed to ignore me.

I got adopted! In the car I sat between the two kids, alternating whose lap I laid my head on. I was kind of too big to be switch back and forth, but I tried my hardest and the kids laughed. The family lived in a house in Reno. There were many doors on the backside of the house that led to a giant backyard. I could go inside and out as many times as I wanted (which was a lot). At night I got the sleep in the kids' room. I did not have a dog bed, but slept on the bottom bunk, snuggling hard into my brother. These kids were my new liter mates and I loved them.

The man was never home. He worked in the casino. I heard the word casino many times a day. The woman was always busy at the computer with the kids at school. She never ignored me and would pet and talk to me as I laid at her feet waiting for the kids to come back. When they got home, we would go outside and run! I would gently nip and bark at them as I chased them in the yard. Sometimes they brought friends home from school which was even more fun.

One day the man did not leave the house, this started a string of many days the man did not leave. He did not like me inside the house either. As soon as the kids left for school he would put me I the yard no matter the weather (Reno is hot). The kids would come home and beg to let me inside after our outside games. He said no, only at bedtime. I would scratch the door as I watched the family inside, I wanted to be with the kids so badly.  This made the man mad, one day he opened the door and kicked me, "No scratching!"

A few nights after the kicking episode I noticed there were boxes in every room and the walls seemed blank as I navigated my way to the bottom bunk. My brother was crying. I licked his tears until they stopped. The house seemed colder that night.

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Our morning routine changed the next day. Instead of eating my breakfast in the kitchen beside the kids, I was put in back of the man's truck without being fed.  The kids tried to get in the truck with me, but the man yelled and told them to go inside. He started driving, I barked at the kids who waved from inside the house. I wondered if we were going to the casino.

Soon I started to smell something familiar, it was the ranch. The sound of the barking Saints drowned out the engine noise as we pulled up beside the barn. I heard the man quickly explain to the ranch lady, "the casino is laying off all the dealers with this recession. I gotta move my family into an apartment- no dogs allowed." 

The ranch lady tried to offer words of comfort, he did not want to hear the words. As soon as I jumped out of the truck, he was gone.

I no longer had a family.

Chapter 3: St. Bernard Rescue

I was not at the cold place for long. Maybe a day I think. I slept and tried to forget about the baby. Late in the afternoon, I heard a happy voice ask about me the Saint Bernard. Next, two people walked down a short corridor and took me out of the cage while the other dogs barked. I did not bark back, but obediently followed the two people into the lobby. As I stood beside a tall counter I heard a little of their conversation.

"We rescue Saints," the happy voiced lady said.

"Good, she is a beautiful dog, she doesn't belong here. This is the second time we've seen her." The official sounding man said.

"Twice? At this age?"

"Yes, the first time a man said he found her in the mountains, we thought she was about 10 months at the time. Then, a young family from San Francisco adopted her right away, but brought her back because they thought she was going to hurt their baby." He rolled his eyes.  "We think she about 13 or 14 months...that's the vet's best guess."

"Oh poor thing, she's probably confused. Too much uncertainty in a short life. We'll find her a home. I've got 40-acres with 15 Saints. We care for them until they find their forever homes," said the happy voice.

With that pronouncement I was whisked away in a well worn leach and collar. The van the lady drove was comfy. It smelled of dogs like me. After sniffing around the van, I settled where I could watch the lady. She was my new family.

She kept calling my new home the ranch. Once I saw it I understood. It was a huge property in the dessert. There was a house, a barn and lots of kennels loaded with St. Bernards. There were a few in each. She walked me to a pen with about three other female Saints. They barked as I entered the pen, I was still the littlest. I felt big everywhere else, but when I was with other Saints I felt small. I tried to use my big voice to show them I belonged. I don't know if I was heard.

The ranch was better than the cold place, but not as nice as San Francisco. Though I did have my own bed,

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I often had to fight for it. It was not fluffy, but it was mine. The best thing about the ranch was the food. It was the first home where my appetite was satiated.  I was taken out of the pen and got to eat alone. Every mealtime felt special. The lady knew how to feed a Saint. 

I was no longer at the cold place.

Read: Chapter 4

Chapter 2: Family with Baby

They drove all the way from San Francisco to see me. I had been the featured pet on a national St. Bernard Rescue website. In a cozy adoption room I got good vigorous pets behind my ears from the man in the family. The woman in the family wore a strapped bundle in the front. I was curious. The bundle made noise, I tried to sniff. The first try I was shooed away, but the second time I was allowed to investigate. It was a baby! The baby smelled sweet, I knew I was supposed to be a part of her family.

The family brought me a beautiful red collar and a thick leash. After papers were signed at a tall counter we left. I now had a family. I got to ride in a car that was not cold. In the back seat I sat tall and proud next to the baby. The man and woman in the front seat could not see her face because of the position of the large plastic safety seat. She faced me and through the mountain passes, across the Sacramento Valley and over the Bay Bridge, I watched her all the way home. 

My new home was better than anything I could have conceived. I had a big fluffy dog bed in every room. Each day began and ended with a walk. When the baby was not in a bundle, she was in a stroller and I got to walk beside the stroller down busy streets in the City. Everyday I felt a stronger bond with my new family, they were mine.

The baby soon started spending time on the floor near me. She crawled. It was fun to watch. Sometimes she would crawl over to me and I would lick her face, she giggled. 

Walking was next, as she walked, I knew I had to protect her. I followed her like a shadow. My new job made me nervous. One day I accidentally knocked the baby over, she cried and the woman of the family yelled. I ran back to my favorite bed. I tried again the next day, following the baby to make sure she was not in danger. Again I knocked her over, again I was scolded.

The next morning I listened to the man and woman talk. They were drinking coffee at the kitchen table and I was laying underneath. The baby was still asleep. 

"You need to take her back," were the ugly words I heard.  

"You love this dog!" The man said.

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"The dog is going to hurt the baby, she has knocked her over at least twice, what if she knocks her own the stairs?" 

I heard nothing else. I shut down. Soon I was in the car. Me and the woman, no baby to watch over. Quietly, we rode over the bridge, across the valley and over the mountains and back to the cold place where nobody heard my bark.

I no longer had a home.

Read: Chapter 3

Chapter 1: St. Bern for Sale

I came into this world in the woods. Which woods? I'm certain it was the Sierra Nevada. The land my family lived on was a near a cross country ski route. My liter was born just before Thanksgiving, there was snow. We were too little to see it at first, but as we began wander, the family let us play in the snow. It was glorious! My mom would roll on her back and we would jump on her, jump on each other, eat snow, make yellow snow and bark. I felt like I had the biggest bark of all my brothers and sisters. The days spent in the snowy yard were the best.

When we were old enough to leave our mom, the family placed a wooden sign at the edge of the property, 'St. Bern Pups for sale'. The skiers using the cross country trail would stop and see us, pet us, hold us. I loved being held. 

Slowly my brothers and sisters started disappearing, adopted one by one. In my opinion, I had the best bark, but was the smallest, thus not desirable. Then it was just mom and me. The snow melted and the skiers disappeared, there were fewer and fewer pets and I was too big to hold.

The family put me in the car one day, I had never felt so alone. We went to a place colder than the snow. It was a cement building far from the woods with many barking dogs. The man in the family took me inside. A friendly lady greeted him, "How can I help you today?"

"I live up on the mountain...I just found this saint running in the woods." He lied. 

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"Oh, such a beautiful girl, I'm sure her family will be looking for her," she almost sang. "Her picture will go up on our webpage tonight."

"Great!" He turned and left. 

I was confused, I thought he was my family and now I was alone in a cold place where my bark seemed to fail me. I barked as loud as I knew how, but could not be heard. I used all my might, but was drowned out by a chorus of other barks.

I was no longer for sale.

Read:Chapter 2