"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.....