Well, the last week has been pretty crazy.  In my post Odyssey to the Sheep a little over a week ago, I decided that I wanted to get a new Cattle Dog.  So, needless to say, there has been no focus on art, no focus on jewelry, and no focus on academic papers.

Because I hate puppies (note, I actually LOVE puppies, but they are WAY too much work for me), I applied to an amazing rescue here in North Carolina for a beautiful cattle dog who captured my heart!

Three references (thank you agility friends),and  a home visit (which I don’t mind), the rescue turns us down!

Needless to say, I was heartbroken.  I mean, I treat my dogs really well, they get the best food, the best training, and the most attention that I can give them. What did I do wrong?

Well, nothing. The lovely dog wasn’t a good fit for our household, and they need to protect him too.

Lucky for me, I have friends on facebook with a LOT of Cattle Dog folks. There were a couple of cattle dogs in the shelter out in Avery County, North Carolina. For those who are not familiar with North Carolina, this is the really mountainous part of the state between Asheville and Boone, near Grandfather Mountain, on the Blue Ridge Parkway (YAY lovely drive), so either way, we got a great trip, even if it was 4 hours one way!

This is Pearl, Corals 9 month old puppy

This is Coral, found as a stray with a new litter of pups

And these are Coral’s latest litter of puppies!

The puppies, though cute, would get a new home pretty easy! So, I brought out the older daughter. She would make somebody an AMAZING dog, as she was so easy to evaluate, and so friendly for a street dog. Banjo the jerk also loved her.

Then in comes the Momma, little miss Coral. This poor cattle dog was so shut down, but she had these amazing soulful eyes. I had to get her out of there! I didn’t feel sorry for her, per se, because this was a low kill shelter, but I wanted her out.

She was shaking at the shelter (along with the fear of the other dogs), and an echoing room, so when they first met, Banjo lunged and tried to attack. Then we took them out to the front lobby, and everything was much better. He was more relaxed.

By the time we stopped in Winston Salem, they were mutually indifferent, and she wagged her tail for the first time! And we found a good new name to fit her. Pocosin (Swamp on a hill, oh yea), or Poco.

Happy little Pocosin on the couch

Her and Clark hit it off right away. We didn’t introduce Banjo until this morning, and Banjo keeps trying to give her his football, whimpering, licking her, and play bowing.

She literally takes everything in stride, which is awesome! New people, new trips, etc. And she is also a great fit for our house, and loves cuddling in bed at night… AND likes relaxing in the crate! I am so excited to start our training!

And she is adopted