We used to have 2 dogs – one was a purebred, Kuvasz. We did our homework and decided on the breed, checked with breeders and found a one not too far from where we lived. We got her when she was 7 weeks old. We named her Calla. When she was about 1 1/2 yrs old our neighbor brought us an adorable puppy he found howling in the middle of a street one stormy night. He thought we’d want it. Here’s the thing, I told him, we already have a dog – one that is in her adolescenent stage and giving me problems, plus I’m pregnant. That doesn’t make for a good combination to adopt a puppy – even one so cute as this. So our neighbor took the pup back to his house. But the puppy kept squeezing under the fence and coming to our house. Our dog didn’t quite know what to make of this “little squeezer”. A couple months later I miscarried and cried while the puppy was sitting on my lap licking up my tears. That’s when we went from having one dog to two. One was a planned, researched, purchased purebred puppy. The other was acquired out of emotions, was found, and a mixed breed. Many people believe he was mostly Australian Shepherd. Could be, not sure myself. They were like day and night. White, female, purebred. Strong, delicate, sensitive, independent. The other was dark in color, hairy everywhere (I never saw so much fur on a paw before!), male, clumsy as can be, dependent (followed me everywhere). We named him Cosmo. They were both very smart, in different ways.
Many years later they are both gone. My heart still aches for them.
I enjoy feeding wild birds off our deck. I get a lot of enjoyment in gardening as well. Our dogs used to lie on the deck and watch the wild birds bounce all around them eating any stray seeds that fell from the feeder. Then Calla would snap at a bird and watch them all fly away and watch them all fly back immediately. The birds knew the dogs weren’t a threat! The dogs kept me company when I worked in the garden, Cosmo was never more than 4 feet away from me. Now, however, since I have no dogs, the neighbor’s cats have invaded my yard. They enjoy my yard as much as I do only for different reasons. They love the disturbed soil for their own litter box. My back yard is an excellent place for hunting too. Cats have killed a Quail and disturbed its nest. I have found groups of feathers in my yard. I yell at the cats, throw stuff at them (I’m a lousy shot and only want to scare them out of my yard anyway), I’ve tried ammonia and other suggestions from friends. Nothing helps and so I have quit feeding the birds and I took out the bird bath.
We have decided to get another dog. That is my new purpose for this blog. I will write on the process we use in choosing which kind of dog to get – size, breed/mixed breed and why. As well as where we will get the dog – breeder, animal shelter, newspaper, etc. At this point I have no idea. I will also post pictures. I have pictures of the dogs we had and I will post pictures of dogs I write about. I think it was good that we had 2 dogs that became part of the family in different ways and that they were so very different from each other. It will help us in our search for another dog. Here is Calla, the Kuvasz at 3 weeks old. We visited her at the breeder’s house.
Any comments and suggestions on your part would be wonderful. I can get wordy so I’ll try real hard to monitor that.
