Flower's Story
by Flower's Mom, Carol Cale
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In 1984, someone brought a cardboard box full of puppies to my work in Staunton, VA. On impulse, I pulled out a cute little black and white puppy. |
Little did I know I was about to enter the wonderful world of Border Collies. Chelsea was my very first dog, and unlike everyone else's dog, she really was the BEST dog in the world. Through the years, she was with me through moves, job changes, and getting married.
It's a good thing my husband loves dogs as I do. There have been a few times when each of us would pick the dog over the other if forced to make a choice! In 1997, we added another Border Collie to our household. Tasha came from Adopt-A-Pet, and instantly won our hearts. By this time, I knew more about Border Collies and was able to find an agility class to help burn off some of her energy. She did great in obedience and took to agility like a charm. She "sits" with more enthusiasm than any other dog I've seen. When we lost Chelsea to cancer in September, 1999, we all mourned. My husband lost his "shadow", I lost my "first baby", and Tasha lost her mentor and sister. Although Tasha took over the throne as "queen of the house", we all knew that a new dog would soon come to join us.
I had gone to the shelter, Adopt-A-Pet, and PetsMart, looking for our next family member. I played with numerous dogs, and wasn't particularly looking for another Border Collie, but none of them stole my heart and picked me out, although I'm sure they were all great dogs. I was missing Chelsea and decided to look up Border Collies on the Internet. I didn't even know there were rescue sites available when I stumbled across the one for East Tennessee Border Collie Rescue. I pulled up the "adoptables" page and there she was. Flower. A gorgeous white Border Collie with black eyes and one black ear. I called my husband in to look at the picture we replied to her foster mom, Karen Lively. Through several emails and finally a phone call, we decided to go see her. Karen had warned me that Flower was more couch potato than agility dog, and wasn't sure if I was expecting another lively Border Collie or not. Really, one in a household is plenty!
When we drove up to Flower's home, she greeted us with a growly "wooooo-wooooo" and eagerly showed us the way inside. As soon as my husband sat on the couch, Flower was belly-up in his lap and loving it. Before I even sat down, I knew. Flower was coming home with us. After passing inspection by Karen and Suzanne, and seeing that Tasha also approved, Flower adopted us the end of October, 1999.
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We have had her six months, and she has been a blessed addition. She was fully house-trained when we got her, knows sit, down, come, and "get in your bed", and learned the boundaries of our invisible fence in just a couple of days. She enjoys walks, pizza, snuggling in bed with us before retiring to her own bed for the remainder of the night, and giving Tasha baths. Tasha has the cleanest ears and neck of any dog I know. She can out-race any car or school bus that passes in front of our yard but Karen was right, she isn't the least bit interested in a thrown ball or Frisbee. |
She poses for a camera like a super model, and gets treated accordingly. We call her our "cyber dog" (since we found her online) and show her off whenever we can. Chelsea would approve.