Since we lost Jake May 28 and then Charlie moved July 13 I started bookmarking all the animal shelters within driving distance to start looking for a new brother for Aidan.
For two weeks I'd hemmed and hawed and found a reason for any border collie that came up not to be just right.
My list:
No puppies, at least 2 years old.
No seniors, because my heart can't take another loss too soon.
No dogs who look too much like any of our past dogs.
No girls. Katy will be the one and only girl.
No dogs that have any behavioral issues that would be a problem with Colbie or Olive visits (dogs that test aggressively with other dogs or react in a way that makes them worrisome around small children)
There had been a couple where I saw them in the morning, went to see and they were already adopted by the end of the day. I tried to only look in the evenings in case the One showed up, I might be able to get to the place before the opened the next day.
Monday, July 25 in the evening, only newly posted border collie mixes were puppiers.
On Tuesday, July 26 for some reason, I decided to just look again at lunch and there, at the Fort Collins Animal Friends Alliance shelter, popped up this guy, named Dean at the time.
The write up listed him as three years old, in love with people and other dogs, and very much needing a canine companion to play with and a person who would be around a lot. I filled out the application and got an email back about an hour later saying I was approved but they didn't hold dogs. He was there at the moment, if I wanted to come meet him. Of course, it's the middle of the day and Fort Collins is two hours north of here. But Bob, already up in Golden at work, was able to take the afternoon off and get up there in 90 minutes.
They told him Dean had already been adopted once and returned by an elderly lady who reported he was just too "high energy." He's a border collie (by at least half). Of course.
On the drive back, on group text, after I said we needed a name starting with an O or a U (the only two vowels we haven't used) and ending in -an, Sam suggested Orion, which I decided was just fine as Orian. (I won't be looking for his name on a souvenir, no problem.)
Because Colbie answers "what does a cow say?" and because of his Holstein black and white markings, his middle name is Moo.
Even though it was starting to rain when he arrived, within a minute, here was the action in the backyard:
He is a small guy, although we'll likely have to get a doggie DNA test to figure out what he's mixed with. He has that BC personality, but size wise, he might be part Corgi or Aussie Cattle Dog. He almost never barks. He is housetrained (one accident due to rain issues).
But after three days (at the time of this blog) if he's 3 years old, I'll eat my hat. His behaviors are way too puppy like, his teeth puppy white, for me to believe he's out of his adolescent year. Our main focus is "off" because he loves to jump up. He's already made incredible progress in just three days.
He wasn't sure about the stuffed Evan...
But he's very sure about the live Aidan. They've only gotten into a non-play tussle once, just growling and wrestling, no biting. Good sign.
the play wrastlin' on the other hand, is pretty adorable
He really loves being on his back. He typically sleeps with all four paws up, too.
a rare ear down photo
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