MAN'S BEST FRIEND ~

We have this dog. We got her from a rescue shelter 3 years ago. She was the strangest looking dog I had ever seen. She was stripped like a tiger cat and her head was shaped like some kind of shepard puppy. She was awfully little for 11 weeks old. I remember she trembled a lot.....A LOT! She was so strange looking she seemed exotic. It was sort of a combination of us choosing her and her choosing us.....kind of a mutual thing. The usual granddaughter was with us......she was 7 at the time. The dog rode home on the granddaughter's lap.......I believe it was love at first sight on both parts.

The dog seemed sickly so within two days we had her to the vet. After a thorough examination we were told that she was full of parasites. You name it, she had it! Everything except heart worms. She had fleas and ticks and hookworms, and roundworms and pin worms and even a tapeworm. Poor little thing. No wonder she only weighed 7 pounds. After shelling out several $20. bills we were on our way back home with the hopes that she would recover fairly fast. And fortunately for us she did just that.

After several more visits to the vets office for immunization and further examinations to make sure all parasites had been eradicated the vet asked us where we had found such a unique dog. When we told him from a rescue center he asked if they had any information on her parents. We were told that her mother was a pure bred boxer and her father was a "sneaky neighborhood dog". The vet then concluded by her shape and size that her father was most likely some kind of shepard.....either German, Australian or perhaps an Australian Cattle Dog which is different than an Australian Shepard. I think that I forgot to mention that she has a purple tongue, which Chows have but the vet assured us that other breeds also have purple tongues and it was a sign of intelligence. Her parentage didn't matter to us for we had fallen deeply in love with her.

She was an intelligent dog. She was housebroken in 2 weeks, and was already doing tricks for milkbone treats. She continued to learn quickly and so did we. She was getting us well trained too. After she eats her supper, she stands and barks and paws at the floor to let us know that it is now time to go out for a romp. And being trained as well as we are, we accommodate her.