Thing One and Thing Two

It's extremely helpful to know a bit about the history of any dog you interact with. That's part of what makes it so hard for rescue groups to place animals. After all, what if Fido over there was beat as a pup and is now a vicious attack waiting to happen? Of course, past results are not a guarantee of future performance.

Sadie was a stray, taken in by the dog pound in the middle of nowhere, IL. She had clearly been someone's pet once, as she would sit and shake on cue, and was perfectly housetrained. But she was skinny (62 lbs), scared, and clearly didn't know what to do with other canines. In fact, we ended up putting her in a prong collar simply to keep her from racing across roads to pin other dogs to the sidewalk with a snarl. Yes, that happened once. Perfect dog for a guy who never even had a pet before, and a girl who knew animals in general, but never had a dog. Right?

She has turned out to be the best first dog I could ask for. Yes, she took a lot of work. But I've probably learned more from her than the other way around. Let's just say that the agility instructor (now a good friend as well) recently told me that we were this close to being kicked out of class due to her behavior. Now she remains calm around other dogs when asked and is my budding champion. But more on that in later posts.

 A muddy dog is a good dog, right?

Maxwell is a totally different story. He is a breeder (I use the term quite loosely) dog, though his "ugly" coloring meant the WV farmer couldn't sell him. Thus the Aussie rescue was called to take him and two siblings away. Probably saving their lives. I was lucky enough to be contacted by the woman who picked them up. It seems the pups had never been handled by humans until the day she drove up.

Since the poor guy didn't get to experience much during his critical period, I find it wonderful how well he integrated into our home. While he consistently amazes me with his outgoing personality ("I just met you and I love you!"), he is also quite skittish. He will now hang out while we watch TV, but action movies send him scurrying to the safety of the bedroom. Petting is great, but restricted movement (hugging, cuddling, etc) are still suspect. So he's really quite soft. That said, show him a sheep and he'll show you what an honest-to-goodness working Aussie looks like, even if he is untrained. It's like meth, coke, and opium for dogs, all rolled in to one. He'll work the stock in beautiful circles until he can barely keep running. Just don't try to ask for a stop!

 Look mom, I found a goat!

So these are my wonderful doggies. We have come a long way already, but I know there's still much to learn. And it really is an adventure, trying to keep up with the little beasts!