As Tsin’tia grew into her second year, she decided all smaller dogs were puppies and therefore her responsibility to protect. She had come in season and had a false pregnancy during which she adopted a squeaky Pluto dog toy, which had been Astro’s, as a “puppy” and she tried to nurse and clean it. Miss T would bring me the toy dog as if to say, “Mama, it isn’t right! Please fix my puppy.” She was just convinced she had puppies and kept looking for them in the house and outside. She would look under the cars and everywhere else for her puppies. After about 3 weeks, her hormones were back to normal and she stopped looking for her phantom puppies.

My mother, Kay White, came to live with us at some point in that second year and brought her dog, Coco, a light-brown colored Poodle mix, with her. Tsin’tia was very tolerant of other dogs and took Coco under her wing. Once when we were out walking in the neighborhood, Tsin’tia walking off-leash and as usual about 50 or so yards ahead of us, a large black Lab ran out of her yard and grabbed Coco by the scruff of her neck and tried to shake her. It might have worked if Coco had been smaller, but she was pudgy and too big for that Lab to shake her. Mom & I started yelling at the dog, of course. Tsin’tia turned around and made a bee-line back towards us running full out, not making a sound. The Lab took one look at what was bearing down on her, released Coco and headed full-tilt back to her yard. Luckily for her, she made it back in her yard before Tsin’tia caught her. Tsin’tia never charged barking if she was serious. Somehow it was even more intimidating to see her tearing ferociously and silently towards something or someone.

Coco had a bad bite wound on her neck from that dog and we went back to ask the owners to pay her vet bill. We found out the dog actually had a reputation for attacking other dogs in the neighborhood. The owners denied it was their dog that did it, and even tried to say it was one of the Weimaraners next door. I told them if they thought I didn’t know the difference between a Lab and a Weimaraner they were sadly mistaken. They never did admit liability, though, and never paid a dime on the vet bill for Coco.

Tsin’tia always treated any smaller dog as if it was a puppy, and she protected them with everything she had, which was a considerable amount. Later after Mom had moved to an apartment, and Tsin’tia really had puppies, we kept one and she was just as fiercely protective of him. We were walking around our regular route once, coming back down Saratoga from the streets behind our house, when a neighbor’s Siberian, Nikki, ran out of her yard and jumped the juvenile Quanah. Tsin’tia was, as usual, about 100 feet in front of us. She came flying back and ran full tilt into Nikki, knocking Nikki over on her back. Tsin’tia just stood there, over Nikki, looking at her. We walked on, calling her, and she just turned and left Nikki there. Nikki never offered to bother Quanah or get in Tsin’tia’s way again.