A New Family Member

Two years ago around Halloween we lost our 15 year-old Australian Shepherd, who had come to us at age 12. We had known Holly since she was a newly-weaned puppy, and she was a familiar fixture at Susan's parent's home. Now both her parents are gone, and Holly spent her remaining years living with three cats and three people.

We were reluctant to get another dog and resolved to wait until the right time came and the right dog came along.

Over the past few weeks we were made aware of an Australian Shepherd female that was available for adoption. She is a little over three years old, and has been around children and cats. So, after driving 16 hours Saturday, we spent the night in our own beds, went to church in the morning, had lunch with friends, and drove 50 miles to pick up our new dog.

Dally (the name she came with) was born September 18, 2003 and is an Australian Shepherd of the Red Merle variety with one blue and one amber eye. She looked at the two cats who were present when she entered our house and had a "yeah... whatever..." look on her face. Our black cat, who had really hit it off with Holly, seems to think Dally was brought home just for him. When Dally took her first walk with her new people, our black cat walked right alongside as was his custom with our previous dog.

Susan and Dally

Uhhh... There's a cat in my dish.

Well, if the cat survived, I guess it's safe for me.