Noah

First I thought I would be picking up an Australian Shepherd, the dog warden said "seemed a little quiet." A few days later they decided he was "most likely" deaf. Deaf is challenging but not insurmountable. When I finally made it over there and walked back to his kennel, he was sprawled out with his back to the walkway. He didn't notice me walking up, so I shook the door, which got his attention. As soon as he sat up and turned around, it was clear he's old. When I checked his teeth, I could maybe say 8 but my more accurate guess is around 10. Old is even more challenging than deaf much less old and deaf but there is no way I can leave this dog in the pound to die.

I wish I could convince everyone to take a chance on an old rescue dog. He is so gentle and sweet-natured. He just wants to be by my side whenever possible, and is happy to have a bed to sleep on. His hearing loss doesn't seem to effect him all that much. He does respond to hand clapping so we do OK with eye contact, hand clapping and me leading him to where he needs to go. I'm not sure yet where he will go. We will work that out soon. In the meantime we're the lucky ones to have him sharing our life for however long he is here.

Aussies!

We all have "our" breeds and for me, while I love a lot of different dogs, the breed I believe is absolutely perfect are Australian Shepherds. I mean, c'mon! They're beautiful, smart, energetic, and have enough of an attitude to be challenging. They're a great size, not too small, not too big, and don't require a lot of grooming to look nice. I started off with Winter when she came in as an "extra" on transport one December day. She was a fluffy gray puppy with gray eyes and it was love at first sight for me!

She was so much fun I said someday I'd get another. That someday came the next 4th of July. 4th of July seems to be the worst weekend of the year for rescue dogs. Some probably run from fear of all the commotion and are never claimed. Others are probably dumped off by people who don't want to pay the cost of boarding when they head out of town. Either way, the pound is invariably packed after the holiday. About 4 years ago, among all of the others, there was a small, young tri-colored aussie sitting nicely in his kennel, wagging his docked tail as sweet as could be. How could I resist?? Since then, Banjo has been my most loyal companion, the dog who would literally do anything at all for me. At 40 lbs, he's the one who I am sure would do whatever it took to protect me or this house.

Since then, there's an occasional aussie at the pound I go to, but it doesn't seem to be a breed that shows up a lot of the time. So, what are the odds that not one but two of the prettiest aussies I have seen show up at the same time AND go unclaimed by anyone?! Look who I picked up today!! I cannot get over how gorgeous these dogs are! They're young too, and sweet natured. Goes to show, really, that ANY dog can end up on death row. Yeah these 2 will get another chance, but don't believe for one minute that is always the case.

I'm calling the blue merle "Blue" for now, because it amuses me. As it happens, a friend of mine lost one of her blue merles not too long ago, so he will go to a great home with her.

And this is Ruby. Right now, we're not sure if she'll be available for adoption......or not. :)