Mike was dead-set against it – two cats and one 50 pound dog was more than enough. I countered with “But we’ve never had a puppy! Wouldn’t it have been great to see what Bailey and Spencer looked like when they were young?”
I could see him weakening so went on to say, “And, you know what the experts stay about Australian Shepherds. They need a “job.” If we get a puppy, Spencer can help us with the training.”
OK – that didn’t put as big a chink in his armor as I had hoped but at least we were discussing the matter.
One day during the first week of June, we were outside in our backyard when we heard a neighbor holler out to us. We looked across the street and saw him heading towards us with a lady we’d never seen before…there was one puppy leading the pack…and two more bringing up the rear.
The neighbor had recently lost his dog Rowdy and had decided to get a little puppy. A family friend had a dog who had something like 8 puppies. The neighbor wanted to bring the remaining puppies over to get our opinion and help him pick out the right one for him.
As soon as I saw the one in the front, my heart melted! And something inside my heart told me this puppy was either Bailey reincarnated or at least a part of Bailey.
This little tarty female went running up to Spencer, pulling on his ears, his tail, and anything else hanging down. The other two pups stayed mainly with the neighbor and the lady.
It wasn’t until later that we learned that the neighbor was also smitten with the female but after seeing the look on my face and seeing how active she was, he decided one of the others, one of the calmer ones, would better fit his job and lifestyle.
I had forgotten what a handful puppies could be and Katie was a handful and a half! After the first couple of days and several hours at the computer looking up the traits of Catahoula Leopard Dogs, I feared we had made a HUGE mistake!
That’s when Spencer stepped in. Sure enough, he trained her more than we did…letting her know when enough was enough…ushering her outside for potty breaks. If we got frustrated with the little one, we’d just look at Spencer and say, “Come on, Dude! Talk to your little sister.”
The two have grown inseparable! You would not believe the look of pride on his face when Katie finally “succeeded” in getting a toy away from him. It was obvious he was just playing with her until he decided she deserved the toy.
Oh, by the way, I think I failed to mention that one reason we consider Katie to be a “rescue” is because if neither we nor the neighbor had taken her in, the lady was going to take Katie to the shelter to see if they could find her a home. The lady mentioned this that first day which really helped us make the decision. However, it wasn't until about a year later that we found out why the shelter was the last resort. Apparently, Katie’s name before we got her was “Trouble” and she was an incredible escape artist – no fence could keep her in – and the lady was fearful that "Trouble" would get hit by a car or wander off. Finding out her first, real name sure answered a lot of questions!!! | 
