A Double Edged Blessing

I am absolutely loving the process of watching the puppies grow and develop!  Already, in less than 3 weeks, they have grown and changed so much!  Their eyes are open and they are starting to play!  Even though I am watching them through pictures, I still have the sense of being part of this whole thing.

It is unique.  It is exciting.  It is an experience I know I will look back on and treasure.

It is also extremely difficult.

See, I am very aware that if Speedy had not died so quickly and so unexpectedly, I would not be having this experience.  And, of course, there is part of me that would readily give up this opportunity for two or three more years with my sweet boy.

Pass up, maybe, the dog of a lifetime?  Yes, in a heartbeat.

Of course, that's not possible.  It's a huge "if only".  All I can choose to do is to be grateful for the time that Speedy and I had together, treasure the memories, continue to honor him in the way I live and interact with my dogs, and give my whole heart to this new little guy when the time comes for him to join us.

But sometimes it hurts.  A lot.

I know the day will come when I look back and say, "no way" to the idea of giving up the puppy who will be joining us.  I'm not there today, but I have to remember that time will come.

In the meantime, I am enjoying the photos.  I am enjoying the expectation.  I know this will change everything, but I do want that . . .

Sometimes I feel like Speedy is almost still with me through this process.  He was not a dog to wallow in sorrow and if he had his druthers, he would want me to move forward, not get stuck.  And at other times, I just miss him awfully.

Well, it is what it is.  And I choose to be grateful that all of this fell into place.  A little bit of me already loves this new boy - whichever one of them he may be.  I just need to keep on remembering that.

 

Speedy as a youngster at the Pierogi Park in Shenandoah, PA

Cuteness!!!

If IIIIIIIIIII!!
Were the kiiiiiiing!
Of the foreeeeeeeeeest!!

 

 

I'm gonna eat you!

 



A Completely New Experience

Waiting for a new dog from before he was even born is a brand new experience for me.  I guess the acquisition of all of our dogs was a unique experience, but this one really stands out as very different.

We got Sammie from the SPCA.  Ben and I had been married for almost two years and we decided to go ahead and get the dog we talked about when we were engaged.  I asked him where he wanted to get a dog from.  He said, "the pound".  So, we went to the SPCA, met a few dogs, and adopted Sammie.

There was no research, no pre-planning, nothing.  I remember when he came home with us, holding the bag of dog food (a brand I would never feed now!) thinking, "I have no idea how much a dog eats"!!

Speedy's story is similar.  I saw a Border Collie in a pet store and was very taken with it.  It was the first dog I had seen whose color pattern was the same as Sammie's!  I told Ben I wanted a Border Collie, he found a breeder, we went and met two puppies, and came home with one.

Speedy had been with us a couple of days when I got the brilliant idea of researching Border Collies.  What I read as my sweet Border Collie puppy chewed on my feet under the computer table was quite an eye opener!

That story rarely ends well, but in our case, the hand of God was most certainly on us.

Less than a year after Speedy joined us, we decided that we wanted a girl.  Ben found Petfinder and he searched through that.  Maddie popped up as the "Featured Pet" on the site from a rescue about an hour away.  We arranged to meet her two days later and she came home with us that day.

By the time Dean came along, I was wiser.  This time I was going to put some thought, research, and careful choice into the selection of a new dog.  By that time I was a volunteer with Glen Highland Farm, so I went on their website and picked out 5 dogs that met my criteria.

We went up to meet those 5 dogs and connected with Dean and adopted him.  Even though this was a well thought out and planned decision, I still only waited one week to go up and meet the 5 dogs . . .

And then there was Tessa.  My short term foster.  I had evaluated her in a shelter for Glen Highland Farm and agreed to hold her for three weeks because they had no room for her right away.  When I saw that this extremely frightened girl felt safe among my dogs and on my furniture, I simply could not put her out.  The decision to adopt Tessa was a heart decision, but not a typical one.  I was not head over heels in love with her, nor her with me.  She was nothing that I would have said I wanted in a dog.  But I no sooner could have let her go than I could have put one of my dogs up for adoption!  I know now that God's hand was on that decision, too.  The falling in love came much later, but there is no dog in the world more perfect for me than Tessa, and no owner in the world more perfect for her than me.  We were just made to share time on this earth together.

So, the whole experience of being on a list before the puppies are born, waiting for them to be born, then seeing pictures of newly born puppies, and then starting to watch them grow and change and be fat peaceful little sleeping guys is so very new to me!

It is getting to where I can't wait to know which one will join our household.  I am starting to want to know the feeling of holding our puppy!

But . . . it can wait a bit, too.  This anticipation is very sweet.  In the long run I will look back on this time and think it was over in the blink of an eye.  For now, I am really savoring the experience!

Four of the five puppies at about one week old.  Photo courtesy of their breeder.

How This Came About . . .

The circumstances that have led to me looking to add a puppy to our household are not happy ones, unfortunately.  Although it has been at the back of my mind to someday - maybe - try my hand at raising a working bred Border Collie puppy, I had no plans to do so at this time.

Just a little over two months ago, we had four dogs in our household.  14 and 1/2 year old Sammie, who is plodding along in spite of some serious weakness in his back legs.  12 year old Speedy, who was in pretty good health other than some serious allergy problems and arthritis that he had lived and dealt with most of his life.  Almost 8 year old Dean, who, in spite of a bit of a hip hitch, is truly in his prime.  And "about 5" Tessa, a former street dog who is enjoying the early part of her prime.

I had figured that Sammie would probably leave this world sometime within the next year and then I would enjoy several more good years with Speedy, Dean, and Tessa as a trio, until Speedy was at least several years older.

Because Speedy has always been terrified of puppies, I decided long ago never to add a puppy to our household as long as he was with us.

So, I expected that a puppy, if I decided to raise one at all, was several years away.

This plan was not to be.

On January 11th we lost Speedy as a result of complications from a surgery that he needed very suddenly.  It happened fast.  It was a shock.  It was a horrendous loss.

It was literally a couple of days later when my husband said, "maybe we should get a puppy".  I had to admit that idea had crossed my mind a few times.  Of course, it was very soon at this point and we pretty much left it at "maybe someday".  It seemed then that it would be years before I would want to add another dog to our household.

The idea stuck with me.  And I couldn't shake it.  Then an online friend sent me a link to an article about loss of an extraordinary dog (which Speedy most certainly was) and the advice of the author: get another dog, same breed, as quickly as possible.  It rang true for me.

So, I decided to start putting feelers out there to see if I could get on the list for a future breeding.  I figured this would take a good deal of time - six months to a couple of years!

I was surprised when the opportunity to get on the list for two working bred litters came up right away.  True, I would be way down at the bottom of the lists, but it seemed that maybe one of these would pan out.

One did.  And that's how I ended up here - eagerly awaiting the time when my baby Border Collie puppy is grown up enough to come home!

Because of the circumstances, I waffle back and forth between excitement and grief.  Sometimes I think I am a fool to jump into this so soon.  And at other times it is clear that this is absolutely the best way to go.  Sometimes I think that all I really want is Speedy back.  And then at others I know that when this puppy is part of my life and I know him well it will be clear to me that Speedy had to go when he did and that it is a blessing that this boy could join us . . .

Speedy as a puppy, 3 - 4 months old, learning about ball play from his "big brother", Sammie.

New Dog . . . New Blog!

When we adopted our blue merle Border Collie, Dean, I started a blog to record our adventures together.  I also write "Tessa's Dancing and Training Adventures" which has really morphed into a general blog about dog related stuff, as well as Tessa's training and performance blog.

With a new puppy on the way - he was born a week ago yesterday - I decided to start a brand new blog where I can keep my posts on my thoughts and preparations as I get ready for this new boy to join our household.

When he arrives, this will become a blog focused mainly on him, although I will not hold to that strictly.

So, here we go.  New dog . . . new blog.  I don't even know, of the five puppies, which will end up joining us.  But we will know soon!  Within the next two months!

But lots to think about and prepare between now and then.