So many years ago, I saw this episode of "Miracle Pets" and this elderly lady had an ACD, that she was extremely close to. Unfortunately she had to go to a nursing home, so one of her children took in the dog. Welp, not long after, the dog escaped, traveled many miles and managed to track down the elderly lady at the nursing home. They made him the nursing home mascot and he was able to stay with her. Story was like something right out of the pages of "Lassie, Come Home". I thought, "wow, what an awesome breed, I need one in my life". After some research though I came to my senses and decided that was way too much dog for me. Then Skidboot came along and I had a flare up again, but talked myself down from getting one.
About a year ago, I lost my beloved Smooth Collie, Gull. Most around here know how much I love Collies. So I've had my herding breed, but one more suitable to me I was thinking. I had planned to wait for the right Collie to come into rescue, but about a month after Gull passed away, I found myself at a nearby shelter to look at a cute puppy and came home with Kizzie, who is just the most awesomest dog ever. So 6 mos later, I decided to go back to the same shelter and check out a Tri-colored Collie mix dog.
The Collie mix pup didn't turn out to be the right fit for me, but in an enclosure near him, was what appeared to be a blue heeler (I'm sure he's a mix, but he looks close to a purebred heeler to me). I'll always be a big fan of blue colored dogs, because of Gull. So my eye kept being drawn over to that lil' blue heeler. I'm telling myself, nope you know that's too much dog for you, but he was really calm in his enclosure. I walked on though and tried out several different dogs, Golden Mix, Dobie Mix, etc, but my eye kept coming back to that lil' heeler. So I finally asked to see him. We got out into the yard and he was so much like Kizzie. Smart and playful and interactive and really friendly. Same exact size as Kizzie and same type of play style. I think that's what finally sold me was that he'd be perfect for Kizzie too. Brought him home that day and named him, Huckleberry.
Huckle's been a lil' more work than Kizzie. On the one hand he's a bit timid, so I had a lot of work to get him use to the house, to walking on a leash around the neighborhood and parks, to riding in the car, going to the vet and the list goes on. And on the other hand, he is the most physical, mouthy, stubborn dog I've had and I've had Terriers. Luckily he is very food motivated and I'm a very patient person and I've got Kizzie to help me. If she wasn't helping with some of the exercising and physical play, I think I'd be in deep dirt. He can get all that out of his system with her, so he doesn't need to use my arm as a chew toy and then our activities together can be more along the lines of walking/jogging/hiking and playing calmer games like Frisbee. So slowly but surely he's come around and is really blossoming now. Huckle's gotten so affectionate and our bond is now as deep as the one I have with Kizzie. Would he track me down at a nursing home if need be? He is my shadow, so who knows, he just might. :)
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