4015 days

Eleven years to the day she came into my life, her heart stopped beating and mine broke. 


The hardest part about loving something so much is the hurt you feel when it's gone.

piloerection

Riley has always been a little different. I am pretty certain she’s the only female dog in the neighborhood that lifts her leg to pee. And then there’s that whole coprophagia thing which surfaces every winter. Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised when she started exhibiting another new behavior, incessant raising of her hackles while on a walk.

Piloerection, or the hair standing on end at the shoulders or from the shoulders down the back is a sign of arousal or excitement associated most often with fear. It is a function of the nervous system and is an involuntary reaction to a stimulus such as fear or cold.

An afternoon walk lasts about twenty minutes. I took my camera today and snapped a picture of everything that made her hackles stand on end. When I initially noticed this behavior, I would stop, sit her down and pet her. That was completely ineffective and since it doesn’t seem to bother her I just let it go now. It’s just another addition to the list of things that make Riley special.

White fence at the house where a dog lived about four years ago
Petie's House

The street

Trashcans from a distance

About to see her nemesis the mailman


Hole in a fence where she saw a dog one time

Rabbit

House with a tiny dog in the window

Kids on bicycles

Just saw a squirrel

This house gets her every time and I am not sure why

Wooden fence