Visiting the Shelter

We stepped off the deck into the backyard and were immediately surrounded by collies. From tri~colors to sables to a beautiful blue merle named Jerry who belonged to Jean, the wonderful lady who owns and runs the shelter.

They ran and played so well together. You see, most of these dogs had grown up together. In the weeks before our visit, Collie Rescue had taken in 31 collies including several puppies. They grew up on a farm and were owned by an elderly lady who had fallen terminally ill leaving her unable to properly care for them. As hard as it was for her, she had no choice but to surrender them to the shelter in hopes of finding each and every one a new home. Although they were well fed and took shelter in her barn, the dogs had never been inside a house, never had their own food or water dish (all 31 dogs were fed from one large trough), and never learned how to play with or owned a toy.

We met some very nice people who volunteer their time to help Jean. They were there to answer any questions we had as they too had rescued collies and could speak from experience. We walked around the yard petting the dogs and even for a brief moment we held a puppy. During our home visit 2 weeks earlier, John had informed us "You don't choose the dog. The dog will choose you." Really? Hmmm. Well, we'll see.

There were several beautiful dogs there, one in particular my husband had his eye on. He was kept in a kennel separate from the others. He was very shy, as were most of the dogs from the hoarding situation having never been socialized before. We talked to him, played with him and walked him but he just didn't seem as interested in us as we were in him. Our son, on the other hand, had found his match. A slightly shy 3 year old sable boy collie with a completely shaved rear end and tail.

Cyrus after his first bath in his 3 years of life

He would come up to our son and when our son would walk away, he would follow him with his eyes. I wondered what had happened that he had been shaved. It turned out he had been so severely matted when he arrived at the shelter he could barely walk. He had never had a bath in his 3 years of life so all the running around on the farm, rolling in the mud and sleeping in the barn had taken a toll on his beautiful long coat.

Cyrus when he first arrived at the shelter

Our son kept repeating "I want the one with the shaved hiney!". At 11 years old he could look past the missing fur and see a beautiful soul. This was just one of the many moments he's made me so proud to be his mother. A short hour and a half into our visit it was decided. The shaved~hiney collie would now have a new home. Our home.

After filling out the paperwork, choosing a collar and leash and receiving our goodie bag of dog food and heart worm medication, we were ready to load up and head home. Jean took a picture of us, our new family, for her rescue website before we left.

Although I was excited for our son who, after years of waiting had finally adopted a dog, I was a little anxious about the ride home. After all, we had a little over 3 hours to drive and even though I had dogs when I was growing up, I had never traveled farther than the short trip from our home to the vet! How was this going to go with a strange dog riding with strangers? We were about to find out.

"Dad, can I have a dog please?"

Our 11 year old son had been begging his father for a dog for several years. With such a busy work schedule, my husband was not willing to give up that "get up and go whenever and wherever I want" mentality for a dog to come into our home, tie us down and chew on everything he had worked so hard for all his life. It just wasn't going to happen!

It was just before Christmas, 2011 when we were sitting around our condo at the lake (our little home away from home) and I was browsing on Petfinder.com when my husband says "If I ever have another dog, it will be a collie.".  A collie? That's a big dog! I wanted our son to have a dog because everyone knows every little boy must have a dog at some point in their life, but a collie?  I was thinking more along the lines of a small dog. One that would stay small, could be easily transported in my car, was allowed at select hotels when we travel and wouldn't shed all over our house! A collie was none of that! What was he thinking?!?!

Figuring this is the only way our son will ever experience growing up with "man's best friend", I grab my Kindle and begin to search for books on collies. I wanted to know everything I could as far as temperment, loyalty, grooming, etc,. I was pleasently surprised by what I learned. Aside from the daily grooming, this sounded as though it would be the perfect dog for our family! Now, the big question I kept asking myself was where do we find a collie and quick before dad changes his mind!

Fast forward to early January, 2012. Imagine my surprise when my husband says he'd been following a collie rescue site online, had already filled out an application and had scheduled a home visit! (they require a home visit be done to ensure a fenced in yard and a loving home before adoption is possible) We were visited later that day by John, his lovely wife Peggy and their tri~color rough collie, Sally. Wanting it to be a surprise to our son, we told him daddy's friends were stopping by. He was shocked to see they brought their dog with them. It wasn't until after the home visit that we told him why they were really there. I think he was in disbelief ! After all, if we DID decided to adopt a collie, we still had to drive over 3 hours to the rescue shelter...plenty enough time for dad to change his mind.

Two weeks later, January 28th to be exact, we jumped in the suburban a little after noon to make the long drive to Collie Rescue of the Carolinas. Before leaving the house, my husband made himself very clear. "We are only going to look. Just because we're driving there doesn't mean we will be bringing home a dog today." (famous last words) 

Our son wearing daddy's hat on our trip to Collie Rescue of the Carolinas

We arrived in Winston~Salem, NC sometime around 4pm. The backyard was full of collies. We could see them through the fence as we pulled up out front. My heart started to pound with excitement as it had been about 16 years since I had a dog. I remember all the joy my animals brought me as a child and couldn't wait for our son to experience that very same feeling! Trying to remember my husband's words before we left our house, we cautiously entered the backyard and were quickly surrounded by dogs from puppies to seniors....they had them all! 

To be continued.....