The Vermont dogs

Upon first arrival to Chris & Mary's, the dogs excitedly greeted us at the door. Sniffing us out and figuring out why we were invading their home. But within a couple hours, they forgot we were there.

Mckayla is a middle-large sized black dog, maybe an old lab. She loved to be touched and scratched. If you started to pet her or show her love, the second your hand left her furry coat, her wet nose would nudge your hand pleading you to love her more.

Good golly that dog had the longest, loudest paw nails I have ever seen. It only took away from her cuteness when we were sleeping. See, we slept on a blow up mattress in the living room which has hard wood floors. And sweet, darling Mckayla would wander around the house, her nails hitting the floors and announcing to everyone she was walking.

Shiloh is the other dog. He is a mixed breed of boxer and something else. He's the sweetest, most mild mannered dog which is a great mix for two curious little girls.

At one point Samantha was playing with a necktie and even though it fit around her head, she didn't think about readjusting the size before dressing up Shiloh. As she was pushing and pulling the tie on Shiloh's head, his squishy face pushed and pulled with her efforts and he didn't show one sign of discomfort or discontent. He just put up with it and let her play with him.

Margaret told me that sometimes Shiloh's lip gets stuck behind his teeth, like he's trying to be tough...but really he's a big, lovable teddy bear.

She was so right. Shiloh was just so lovable, he's lucky he didn't get stuffed into our massive duffel bag and smuggled back to Virginia.