Life Update: My husband has had the last two weeks off between teaching summer school and the new school year beginning. We always try to tackle a project during these breaks and this recent one has been tremendous. But that has been the story of our lives. We’re always ridiculously optimistic about our projects as far as ease and amount of time and money needed. Last year at this time we decided to enclose a weird little porch into our living room. Which led to tearing up all of our hard wood
flooring in both the living and dining room in order to re-lay it all as one floor. I started my homeschool year in a ridiculous mess with flooring and furniture scattered everywhere and Tim coming home to work on it late into the night after school. But it turned our 1100 square feet into 1600 and the extra space has been wonderful. I’m sure this latest project will feel equally satisfying once it is over but Tim’s back is killing him from hours hunched over the ground and coaxing 200 pound
stepping stones into place and I’m wearing kinesiology tape over a tendon on my right arm from dragging large flagstones and countless piles of dirt up and down hill. Our children have been equally thrilled with tasks of hauling sand and dirt and rocks over hill and dale and my older girls were tasked with all cooking, cleaning and childcare while we pushed through.
But I think the final result will have a lovely appearance.
Right now we’re on a three day camping trip to Lake Santeetlah in the middle of it all to take a much needed break!
Anyway, back to dogs. To recap, we had become sadly disillusioned dog owners over the course of our last 10 years - both of our dogs needing to be rehomed mostly because of our failure to train them properly and also for lack of proper research before diving into welcoming a large responsibility we were ill equipped to handle at that point in our lives. After our last fiasco (check out Part 5), I was feeling very over the idea of ever owning another dog. They were just too much work and I simply couldn’t handle another responsibility. I now had 7 children that I homeschooled, goats, chickens, meat hens, sometimes a pig or turkey or two and a large garden. And let’s not forget remodeling never ends once you begin. I always felt swamped. However, The Headless Chicken Incident (Part 3) was one of a few scenarios that increased the longer we went without the presence of a dog on the property. The baby of the family was one, I wasn’t pregnant... it seemed like this might be the best time to start considering a dog again. I was reluctant, but I began to research. At least this time I knew exactly what I needed and what I had to work with as far as our land, farm, and family. I spoke with a family and a farm about English Shepherds. Dad’s infamous dog, Boots, had been an English. And my friend’s dog seemed pretty great. We discussed Pyrenees again, Anatolian Shepherds, a mix of some kind. But I kept coming back to my friend with the Old Time Scotch Collies. I was balking at the price - almost twice as much as I would pay for any of these other options. But they sounded so perfect, too good to be true, but exactly what I was looking for. Was it worth it to pay twice as much for exactly what I wanted? I was even careful to explain in detail the nature of our property layout and the problems we had had with our Pyrenees and chasing things out of "her territory”. Surely another dog would do the exact same thing and see it the same way - invasion! But my OTSC friend and the breeder at Holbrook Homestead I began talking with seemed confident that these dogs were intelligent enough and had such a strong desire to please that it was possible to get the results I needed. Also, their ability to work with farm animals, their gentle nature with young children, gah - it was just too good to pass up. If an OTSC sounded perfect for our needs, then I was determined to get exactly what I wanted. As I explained in Part 2, I began saving my pennies. It took me about a year, but I finally had enough to pay for a female OTSC from Holbrook Homestead. I carefully filled out the application to let them know exactly what we needed in a dog and then I was on her list and excitedly awaiting the litter’s go home date that was shortly before Christmas
I was careful to get everything ready. The crate, toys, dishes, leash, brush, etc. We had even
splurged on Puppy Culture, a rather expensive training program used and recommended by Holbrook. I was determined to do it the right way this time. I had the whole family watch the videos so we could all be on the same page with training and handling our dog properly.
Tim and I made the drive to SC to pick her up, leaving the kids at home. I was excited we were getting a prime breeding female - one the breeder herself had considered keeping. Her ancestry had none of the big names in her background, and she was clear for both CEA and MDR1. This would make her an easy match for a stud. I already had two in mind not far from us. Bringing the puppy home was so sweet. Everyone was so excited, they could
hardly wait to meet her. We finally settled on Lucy, although Journey, Laney, and Maple were top runners. Lucy means light and she certainly did light up our home that Christmas. She was sweet and gentle, attentive and intuitive. She watched us and followed us and wanted to be near us. It was so hard the first several nights to leave her howling in the kennel, but we had decided dogs in the bedrooms was not going to happen. But every morning, I gave up my usual morning routine of tea, reading, and exercise, to spend with Lucy. We worked on manding, coming when called, the clicker, attention, leaving a distraction. This was our routine every morning for a long time. And unlike, our last dog, we kept her on a leash until she came to us faithfully every time we called. I wanted to be sure she knew her home place.
Then came the real test. The road. Sure enough, as we began to let her off leash, when the neighbors drove by in their buggy with their border collie running alongside, there went Lucy after them. It was just so tempting! Another dog, just like her even, running right by the house alongside a fun looking ATV. It took a few months of work and consistency, and watching the road for opportunities to work with her, but eventually, she got it! Now, when they drive by, most of the time she perks up with interest, she may even follow them for a few feet along our yard, but she always comes back to me and she is rewarded greatly whenever she passes up that temptation in favor of listening to my call.
She definitely has become MY dog. She listens to my call the best. There are times she will ingore Tim and the kids, but 99% of the time, if she hears me, she comes. I love her more than I feel like a person should love a dog.
We left her behind this weekend and it surprised me how much I missed her presence around
me. Her gentle pressure against me as I sit on the couch, her patient waiting nearby as I work outside, resting under the table while we play a game or do our schoolwork. We left her because I haven’t trained her to sit in a kayak yet. That’s my next goal. I want her to ride in the kayak so we can take her to the lake. And get her to like swimming. She’ll swim but she doesn’t like it yet. But she is a good dog.
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