Gucci was gone!

One of the people who came to visit us (this time a big furry man) visited and picked her up from the floor. He took Gucci into a big vehicle and left our house. I whined at Mother Mary. Shouldn't this be terrible? Gucci was kidnapped!

"Hush, Diesel. Come along." She shut the front door and ushered me, and all of us, back to the room with the crate.

"Gucci found a home," she told us. "And soon, you will have homes too."

I didn't know what these words meant at all. I'd heard the word "home" before, but usually it described our house. This was my house, where I would hopefully eventually get a turn on the grooming table. Mommy Sophie was always on the grooming table. It just wasn't fair. She would return with her hair all silky and smooth. When I nudged her to feel how soft it was, she pawed me of out of the way.

I loved Mommy Sophie, but to her, we were obligations. Not children to be loved. I wanted a loving mommy.

"No no, Diesel," Mother Mary would say. "She is a show dog. You aren't. You're fancy enough already, aren't you?" And she bent down for a pet.

But I was about to find out. One afternoon after our oatmeal and some supervised time "outside" (a space in a really huge crate where the air was blowing and we learned to go potty), the happy family came back. This time, they had a long string and a box. They sat down on the ground and we played together. It was always satisfying to nip at one's arm.

"Come, Cooper!" they told me. Cooper? Who was Cooper? I was Diesel. Oh, all these words meaning different things were so confusing!

The male attached me to the piece of string they brought, then picked me up and we walked out the door. Like Gucci, I was being taken into a vehicle. Where were my siblings? Where was Mommy Sophie? Where was my life? The male handed me to the lady, where we sat in a chair and looked out a big window at my house. Maybe Gucci was here. Maybe we were going to see her. Sure, we had a rivalry going. But it would be nice to have some sort of familiarity.

Kailey got in the vehicle behind me and there was a crash. Ouch! It hurt your ears to hear something fall so loud that it reverberated and shook the ground. I began trembling.

The lady gave Kailey a talking-to. "You just broke rule number one. No loud noises. Ever."

"Sorry Mom!" Kailey said, her voice shaking like the door she shut too hard. Mom? Wasn't "Mom" Mother Mary? Or was it Sophie? I was so confused!

The older people waved to Mother Mary, and soon we drove away. I didn't know if I'd ever see my siblings again, or my life.