Sienna Was in Fact a Small Miracle to Us
We had a boxer named Roxanne for over ten years who suffered with osteo arthritis from the age of three on. After her passing at age ten we decided to try to live without any pets. After eight months of looking forward to pet commercials and visiting others with dogs who were friends with ours we could bear the sorrow no longer.
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We began visiting our favorite pet store and fell in love with a small Yorkie-poo that was for sale. After talking it over for a week we decided to return and purchase her if it was still available. About a half hour prior to departing, the doorbell rang. A young man appeared and asked if we would be interested in adopting his dog (a six month old female boxer). The man lived a few streets over and had seen me walking by with our dog Roxanne. He was unaware that she had passed away and only knew we liked boxers. It seemed like a dream and I remember asking him if he would bring her to our yard for us to see. When he returned and I looked at Sienna for the first time, the resemblance between her and our dearly beloved Roxanne was uncanny! It was as if God looked down upon our poor wretched lonely lost souls and decided to provide us with some well needed healing only another dog similar to the one we missed so dearly would offer!
She was sweet and scrawny and appeared to be on the shy side. The man said the reason he was giving her up was that he worked long hours and could not handle all of the responsibilities that caring for dogs entail.
From that point on the painstaking efforts to make her feel comfortable in her new home began. She was too frightened to go anywhere beyond the boundaries of her yard so getting her to feel comfortable taking walks along the Cedar Mountain Hiking Trail became an important first step to me. She had many issues I associate with minor abuse such as ducking down if my hand moved anywhere near her while she was eating. She would also become very upset if we were to raise our voices.
I attribute these traits to her perhaps being punished severly at one time for taking food off a counter as well as for going to the bathroom on the floor. She was obedient like a soldier and would circle around using only a tiny portion of the yard to do her business, always in the same place.
I slowly freed her from all of her burdensome habits and phobias and eventually she became a free spirited animal the way God intended. She would eat in the same room with us as our guest or rightful member of our family from now on.
She suffered tremendous anxiety whenever there was a thunderstorm, - or even just rain and I imagined she may have been left outside during inclement weather. This would surely never happen to her again (as she enjoyed sleeping in a warm bed throughout the remainder of her life!)
Adopting God's children is truly a noble act that enriches our lives as well as the pet's.
links to Sienna of Cedar Mountain photos: ----
Sienna of Cedar Mountain on Flickr
Sienna of Cedar Mountain on Picasa
Links to videos:
Sienna on Cedar Mountain video
Sienna the boxer on ferry ride.
Walking in Massachusetts
At the Lake
Block IslandA book entitled "Visions of Cedar Mountain by John Vallera" was also published and is on display at the Lucy Robbins Welles Library in Newington, Connecticut.
