I was at my grandmother's farm in Virginia when I decided to go on a stroll up the hill. I reached the top, close to the forest, and two dogs came running toward me. My first instinct was to stop moving, but they came right up to me submissively, tails tucked between their legs and slightly wagging. I let them sniff me, and then I petted them. They appeared as if they were mother and baby. I looked around for an owner and saw none, but since we were in the country, I thought possibly they were farm dogs straying too far. I gave them a few pats and turned to go back down the hill. They followed me the whole way down. My brother was at the bottom and he was very excited and surprised to see two dogs with me. Immediately we called the younger one Sapphire and the older one Momma Dog. Momma Dog stayed in the grass on the hill while Sapphire came down and started to play with me and my brother. We already had a dog at home, and my parents didn't like the idea of three, but by the end of the week we were almost certain we were going to keep them.

We took them to the vet for shots, and it was very cheap but it took care of all of them. We asked them if any dogs had been reported lost but they said they hadn't. We went all over the area searching for people who had lost dogs or knew about some, but no one did. Most people told us to just take them, and take them we did. After a nice warm bath of course, and flea and tic medicine. At first they didn't like our other dog, Tyger, but they got used to each other after establishing a pack and being carefully watched for a few days. My parents got to name the momma dog, and they named her Laika after the first dog in space (which was a very sad story).

About a year later we decided three dogs was too many and we gave Laika to a nice, rich family. Unfortunately, she wasn't destined to be a city dog and they gave her to a farm, where we heard she is doing very nicely. We hope she lives happily and lazy to the end of her days.