Princess Finds her Family
After 23 years of marriage, my husband finally persuaded me to let the
family get a dog. I had always figured that our five sons, and the
occasional cats, rabbits, chipmunks, etc., that came home with them, were
more than enough wildlife for one family. Also, I had seen friends' dogs
with unpleasant behavior problems, and I didn't know the first thing about
training.
I started reading about dog breeds and looking them up on the
Internet,
but I never saw a thing on English Shepherds, even though I was interested
in collie-type dogs--my mother's old dog that I barely remembered from my
own childhood had been a clever, well-trained collie mix. Also, we live on
a
lake with many nesting ducks, and I hoped that one of the old farm-type
dogs
could be trusted (trained?) not to harm the ducklings. We needed a dog
that
liked children, obviously, and one that could be trained by total
incompetents. Or at least these were my concerns--my husband and older
sons
just wanted something big and furry that would play ball, and my youngest
child said he wanted "any kind of dog that will stay still and let me pet
it."
My sister-in-law advised us to get an adult dog, which made good sense
to me, and I was on the verge of going down to the local animal shelter
but
hesitant about starting out with a totally unknown quantity. Somewhere on
the Web (where? can't remember...), I stumbled upon a link to info on
English Shepherds, and I was thrilled to read about an adult English
Shepherd in Mississippi, a hundred miles away from where we lived in
Alabama, that needed a new home after her elderly owner went into the
hospital.
We went to meet Princess and got our first glimpse of a red blur
rounding up horses in a field. She could herd them all right, and outrun
them, and even run across right underneath them, between their legs. Her
looks didn't grab us right off--she was skinny and dusty and matted and
had
a half-grown haircut, and she didn't look a bit like my idea of a collie;
her foster family's other dog, a tiny rat terrier, was initially much more
eye-catching to the kids--but once Princess jumped into the car happily
with
us and we got her home for a good bath and brushing, it became obvious to
everybody that no dog on earth is prettier than our Princess.
She is a perfect family pet--an active fetcher and athlete outside, a
quiet and loving footwarmer in the house. Without any training, she's a
perfect watchdog, barking for strangers but hushing immediately when we
ask.
As a bonus, she's so easy to train that she makes us feel like geniuses.
The
kids have taught her all kinds of tricks--to dance, to nod her head Yes,
to
bark on command, to rest her front feet on the windowsill so we can attach
her leash without bending down. When we got her, she'd been kept outdoors
for months, but within a few days she developed (or perhaps relearned) a
full complement of good house and leash manners. Down by the lake, she
wades
out into the water, takes a long drink, studies the ducks carefully (I get
the impression she counts them), but doesn't even try to chase them.
Now, I can't remember why on earth I wasted 23 years refusing to get a
dog...
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