I've taken literaly thousands of photos and video over the years.  Some I've posted of Lakoda, Blue and Dingo and will continue to post as I also post photos and video of PI.  But to tell her story will require some words that I will also post to this page.

The Story of Lakoda, Blue and Dingo is incomplete  because I didn't go into my relationship with either dog to tell a story.  The Story of PI will be briefly incomplete because she was born on April 9th and I brought her home on May 29th.  I was not there for the first 8 weeks so I can't relate the story during that brief period.

Lakoda came home in my red jeep in December 2002 from the  mountains of East Tennessee.  On a dark cold night.  Blue from the same general area.  I met his breeders at a jiffy mart near Crossville Tennessee when he was 8 months old.  When, I'm not sure, but I guess that he is about 14 years old.  And Dingo when he was 8 months old.  Dingo died when he was about 12 to 13 years old.  Blue is still laying on the concrete porch that connects to the laundry room.  Blue is the final member of the 3 Amigos.

Dingo died on February 28th 2017 and Lakoda died on May 24th 2018.  Their stories have been told.  Blue is almost 15 and is doing well except for his ears and skin condition.  He may require medication for the remainder of his life.  As I tell the Story of PI, I may use back story to the 3 Musketeers...

There will be many photos posted I hope on a daily basis, but certainly no less than weekly.

It's now been 3 weeks since I brought PI home.  I thought I would post updates on a daily basis.  But, I didn't count on having to supervise her daily activities.  She is enthusiastic, clever and totally dedicated to her attack on life and I have the scars on my arms to prove it.

I have an old fabric crate that I used to crate Dingo when he was a pup.  She took to to the crate quickly and easily.  I at first allowed her to sleep on the bed but soon realized that she would do more playing and biting than sleeping, so I pulled the 13 year old fabric crate out, dusted it off and slide her into... she whined, cried and barked, but soon adjusted to being confined.  The fabric crate lasted about a week before she chewed a hole in one corner where she could get her head out but not her torso and excited barking would ensue.  I found a heavy duty clamp and clamped the hole when I put her in and ordered a wire crate from Amazon... the new crate arrived in a few days and PI has been an off and on resident since.

She crates well.  I crate her at night with a usual break at about 3am... on returning to the crate she accepts the situation well with no barking but sometimes a little whining for a few minutes and then she quitens for the night... she require my constant supervision when not in the crate, so until she learns the routine, I will have to crate her.  

I took her last week for a visit to my brother's house.  He has a 5 year old Australian Shepherd and a 3 year Australian Cattle Dog...they were too large to be puppy mates and because of the size difference, she took several whollops.... they were not mean to her, just much bigger than PI...

She weighed in on her first visit to the VET at 7.9 pounds and a week later on her second visit she was a 10.2 pounds.  She can now run up the 9 steps to the front porch and with caution she can also make the return trip to the front yard.  She was in the first and second week able to slide through the slats in my picket fence... she is now too large to do so... and I can leave her for unattended time to walk down to the mail box or shut the light off under the carport for the day.  

She met the feral cats.  I feed four on a regular basis.  Three of them want nothing to do with her, but one is more friendly and he tolerates her puppy exuberance for very short spurts, but is not mean to her and will walk away when he has had enough.  She will explore and run through the small front yard guarded by the picket fence.

We are in the process of learning to fetch a tennis ball and a small frisbee.  We visited the small park close to the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club 

where she can run free and chase a ball and any other item that I can eventually interest her in.  The park is used by many dog owners to allow their dogs a little freedom safe from the onslaught of automobiles so friendly large dogs soon were wanting to play... but it's no fun when you are such a tiny little dog...

I've made application to join the Obedience Club of Chattanooga.  The home for the club is FlintStone Georgia...

... the first order of business is Obedience... train her... to be a part of society... we have started... I'm showing her how to sit and stay... she is smart and eager to please which makes it easy to do.

And that was all I ever got in the way of answers about the panther and the sign of war. I would one day learn that panthers were among the first beasts killed off by the English and German settlers in our region, along with red wolves and the eastern woodland bison. And that black is just one of the color possibilities of panthers anywhere on the planet. But in that day and in our world on Shanghai Road along the drains of Sleepy Creek panthers inhabited their place alongside witches, wolf trees, milk drinking snakes and other such creatures as prowled the subconscious and gave explanation to the greater unknown.

 -Joe Bageant