Where I Tell the Story of My Early Life

It feels very strange talking to a lot of people I don't know and have never smelled. I'm generally a pretty friendly guy for my breed, but still, I am a German Shepherd and a little protective around strangers. Oh well, I guess I would rather you call me by my name than to yell "Hey you! or "Come over here, dog" so let me introduce myself. My name is Newlie. I know, I know, it's a stupid, wimpy name. Why not Blitz or Panzer given my German ancestry? Tornado, Hurricane and even Mischief sound like strong and manly names. Unfortunately, dogs, adopted or not, are not given any choice in these matters. If we were, all boy dogs would be named "Killer" or "Stud" and all girl dogs would be named"Lady" or "Princess." My only consolation is that I could have been saddled with Nolan for the rest of my life. That was the name I was given by the rescue people before I was adopted.

I guess you have figured out by now that I am not the one choosing the template (What the heck is a template?) or doing the typing. My Mom is doing all that, I just tell her what to write down. She says all the time that I need more "mental stimulation" and I usually just say "Whatever." But I figure it's no skin off my nose to sit here and talk and tell stories and it is way better than doing those puzzle games she keeps bringing home.

This has been my home for about like 100 years. (Mom said more like ten months.) I don't really remember much about where I was before I came here. I was born. The people who helped me get adopted thought I lived for a while in a place where I made puppies for girl dogs, but nobody knows for sure. Then somehow, I was on my own for a while and had to try to find my own food and water. Some days, I couldn't find anything and then I was thirsty and my stomach hurt. And I didn't have any place to go to get away from the heat or the bugs or the rain so I didn't like it. One day, some people picked me up and took me to a very bad place where every time a new dog came in, another dog disappeared. I was very afraid that I would disappear, too, but a miracle happened at the last minute. Some nice ladies took me away from the bad place and were kind to me. I told them I was tired of being on my own and they helped me find a family that I could rescue.

I'll tell you more about myself and my family next time, but I better stop now as it's almost time for me to go on patrol. I have seen a family of rogue squirrels hanging around lately and I need to keep both my eyes on them. I heard somebody on TV the other night say that being watchful is the price we must pay to be safe from our enemies. Mom explained that to me and I figure it must go double when it comes to squirrels. After all, if it's on TV, it must be true!