Shelter dogs can have a lot of baggage. Kess was pretty young, and as far as I can tell she wasn’t mistreated beyond simply being ignored. Her cage tag said she spent most her time in an outdoor kennel and that the previous owners had a toddler. I would have to guess that Kess’s unbridled exuberance was a bit to much for them to handle. So when she came to me she was timid, but loving and sweet.

One of the nicest memories I have of those early days is the night I fell in love with Kess. She didn’t like to approach people and was most comfortable if you were sitting or laying down. So I laid down on the floor and called her over. She promptly flopped down next to me and began to wiggle around and dart her nose in for quick kisses. As I started to laugh her enthusiasm increased tenfold and soon she was leaping back and forth over me and jabbing me with her nose and covering me in kisses. This is the moment when Kess knew this place was going to be OK and I knew she was going to be just fine too.

I think with puppies it’s just easy to fall in love right away, I mean you just have to look at a puppy face and you’re in love. Shelter dogs are just kind of vacant for a bit. Getting to watch an adult or adolescent dog go through all the discoveries that normal puppies experience is a joy, and watching them grow strong and confident gives me a great feeling of pride and accomplishment. Kess proved early on that she was an elite athlete, extremely competitive and high drive. I knew what to expect with a border collie, but it had been a Loooong time since I’d shared my house with a young border collie.

One of the worst memories I have from those early days is the day I decided to teach Kess to play fetch. At the time we lived in a somewhat rural area and had an empty field across the street from the house. I decided to take her over for her first lesson, and of crucial importance is the fact that I decided to do so off-leash (bad idea). Soon after we walked into the field Kess spied a minivan headed our way about a 1/2 mile down the road. She ran right into the middle of the street slinking and eyeing that van with all her might, and I was right behind her screaming my fool head off. For whatever reason the minivan driver took this all in stride, and despite the fact that they now had both a dog and a human running straight at them down the middle of the road, they kept driving right at us. I myself (and every other person on the planet with more than 2 brain cells) would stop at the site of such a spectacle, but to each his own I guess.  The minivan kept coming and Kess held her ground giving it her best border collie eye, right up to the moment it smacked into her. Kess let out a loud yelp and was knocked to the ground, the front tire went over her leg. I scooped her up and tried to get back across the street to the house, the minivan impatient as ever, tried to go again with me standing in front of them holding the dog. At this point I decided to make some time to deliver a few choice words to the driver and then ran to the house with Kess in my arms. My husband called the vet to let them know we were on our way and 10 minutes later Kess was getting x-rays. We were very very lucky and all the Dr could find was a possible small fracture in her toe.  To top it all off Kess was scheduled for her spay a few days later.  Lucky me one of the folks from the BC rescue we argued with to get Kess worked at the vet, so red faced and ashamed I had to explain the whole incedent to them. Every dog teaches us many lessons . . . lesson 1. keep you dog on a leash you freakin’ hippie.

Who me? I could never do anything that naughty