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Phoenix' Life

We're Here!

Well, we made it on our cross country trip to our new home in California. The desert is beautiful and the dogs love it. I'm careful to take a whole month to acclimate them to the new climate. Phoenix is doing much better. She walks much more respectably on leash, has a fairly solid "wait" at doors and will do absolutely ANYTHING for food-still which is good. She's shed out all her coat so she doesn't look quite so fluffy and I'm interested to see what she looks like this winter. She has certainly come far enough along that I think she's ready for her forever home. I'll have to take my time finding it though. She'll still have to go to a home that has some experience with assertive, high drive dogs. She'd do well in a home with an active family that is interested in being active with their dog daily or with a single person. She'd do well as an only dog or as a second dog provided the first dog likes to play rough and doesn't mind how serious Phoenix's vocalizations sound. She sounds soooo serious! But after4 months of careful observation I can say that it's just play. In fact she is learning to modulate her bark so she sounds more playful and less serious because my sheltie is wary of her-even though she has never harmed a hair on him.

We will probably start agility training this summer. I figure the more training she has, the better a pet she will make. This girl has come such a long way from being the wild thing I took out of the shelter just over 4 months ago. I'm so proud of her.

Turning Lemons into Lemonade

Ok, I was living with people but I ran away. They weren't so bad. I love everybody.
But sooner or later the "Man" picked me up and I ended up in doggie jail. I was sure that my family would spring me but day after day I waited and they didn't. I smelled, I'd rolled in something fun but after 2 weeks of having burrs in my coat mixed in the muck the smell was rotten even to me. Jail was the pits. Everybody was frantic and barking all the time and no matter how often the people cleaned up the place smelled of frantic dog and death. A lady visited me and took a couple of pictures of me I think she was telling me not to worry that somebody would take mercy on me and get me out of there and that she was there to let good people know that I was in jail and that I was a good doggie.

2 days later, there were tons of people that walked through the jail isles and took doggies but not me! I guess I'm just a plain black and white dog that nobody wants.
I snuggled up to the gate plastering myself against it. Begging anyone to come and get me. Then a couple walked in. The man asked his lady if I was a "Border Collie" and she said she didn't know. Inside I was yelling "I AM I AM, I'm anything you want if you get me out of here!" The lady scratched me through the chain link and it felt like heaven- there was something about her that spoke to me. They left and I was sad but they cam right back with Sgt. Warden and I was a happy happy puppy. They put a leash on me and put me in their truck with them- Nice truck by the way, big cab with a seat just for doggies. There was another dog in there- she told me her name was Delta and she owned everything and if I wasn't good for the ride she'd MAKE me be good. The ride was only about an hour or so and I got to my new house! I met my other new sister who was friendly but she told me that she was the Captain and Delta was the General. Indy is my new fluffy little brother but don't let that fool you- He is the Seargent Major around here I don't mess with him and I'm at least twice his size. (I'm in a military family now- can you tell) I was just a boot private that day but now I'm a Lance Corporal. I take all the guard duty because Indy is just too darned small to be effective.

I found that my new mom is a very smart lady. She has rules and my life has become very regimented but I LOVE it. I love knowing the difference between right and wrong and she is NEVER harsh with me -she gives out cookies for jobs well done and lets me know softly when I have done wrong. Normally, I'd shmooze myself around a soft person but for all that she is quiet, she isn't soft! It's like hitting a brick wall! If I want attention I have to do the right job to get it I can't just jump because she turns away and body blocks me- so I sit very pretty.

The one thing I don't like about this new life is being crated. Mom says it's just until I learn all the house rules well so I'm trying real hard. Still having a problem with getting into the dirty clothes and eating them though. See I like soft chewy things but they don't last long so we have rubber balls, kongs (great when stuffed with goodies), a buster cube, and nylabones. The food here is awesome and the back yard is huge. I used to try to run out the doors when they opened but not anymore because mom showed me that you get cookies for waiting at them until SHE says you can go through.

I don't really like baths but then I'm getting used to them. My mom is a groomer so I get them fairly often and I go to the groom shop almost every day- "Almost" because mom says I have to learn to stay home in my crate for the times when it will be necessary. (Whatever!)

I'm a teenager so I'm a bit rebellious- mom says I push limits all the time so I'm a challenge but she seems to love them so I keep dishing them out : 0 )

I sometimes get the feeling that this is not my forever home. That my mom wants to find me another place to be- she said that was her original purpose of getting me out of jail. I don't wanna leave and I don't really think mom wants that either. But she says I'm not near to being ready for the average person to handle me because I would handle them! So we don't think about me leaving and that is just dandy with me.

Mom told me that she thinks I might be an English Shepherd or an English Shepherd Border Collie cross (She's pretty sure I'm and ES and might have who my breeder is figured out). She says she will have to watch me develop and maybe take me to see sheep (I've heard about them from my brother and sisters) and see how I herd them - whatever that means. I herd that's for sure, but I don't crouch and stare at my siblings or the trees like Delta & Buffy do (I know my sisters are strange they keep waiting for the squirrels). How can they watch the yard for intruders if they are so busy staring up the trees? THIS is why I'm needed here- I'm the only one with common sense. Dad is a Marine and he goes away alot so I have to be here to help protect the house and my mom- nobody else here would! I can watch out for intruders and snag a squirrel (I haven't yet but I could!).

I REALLY love my new mom & dad.