Introducing…Snow and Charming.
Snow and Charming-double Merle Australian shepherds
In the January 1 edition of The Reflector Newspaper there were these two beautiful dogs with a couple drawbacks; they were both deaf and blind. We haven’t had a dog for eight years and it was only one dog at that. Lady was perfect in every way and every one who met her, loved her. She was 1 – 1 ½ years old when I found her lying in the middle of McGillivray Blvd. I thought she was dead. I was just going to move her off to the side of the road so she wouldn’t be ran over.
Our beautiful Lady Day – May 29, 2005
When I knelt over her, she looked up at me and it was love at first sight. She had a collapsed lung, broken ribs, a fractured pelvis and brain fluid seeping from her nose. I don’t really know what that means but that’s what the vet said. I really wanted a dog but we had four cats at the time and I didn’t know how we’d integrate them. Lady was in a box for six weeks. My brother, sister and mom came at different times every day to check up on her, clean her up and just be incredibly awesome people when I really needed them to be.
The day she sat up in her box for the first time and barked…I’ll never forget it. She was on the kitchen table and I was making dinner and the looks our cats gave me were like four-letter words. They were not happy. Over time, she won them over as well as two other cats we acquired when we moved to a house. She hiked, back packed, rode over sand dunes in a lumbering tour bus, swam her heart out, visited my folks in Bellingham often and barked at every cow she ever saw.
No surprise, I suppose, that these dogs reminded me of Lady Day when I saw them in the paper but I knew they wouldn‘t really be. We left the Humane Society last night at about 5:30 pm. The staff gathered around to say ‘goodbye’ to this very special, bonded pair of double Merle Australian shepherds. The tech who really grew fond of them cried and several other staff took pictures. After being found abandoned on some one’s property, these approximately 5 year old dogs had a safe, one-story home with a fully-fenced back yard.
Charming showing off how beautiful he is
As any completely responsible dog owner would do, our first stop was at Dairy Queen. Snow scarfed down her ice cream with all the grace of an elephant in a flower garden and Charming, curiously, wasn’t as thrilled with it.
They met our best friends last night as well as two sets of our neighbors and they all, appropriately, cooed at how beautiful they are. They met another set of neighbors this morning and went on a very successful 25 minute walk.
We took them to the vet today, as well. She confirmed, that they can, in fact, see very little-shadows, at best- and will, no doubt, be completely blind in a year or two. The upside is that they don’t bark. They were at the shelter for 30 days and didn’t bark once. They also slept right next to our bed all night and didn’t pee until we took them into the backyard in the morning. Obviously, someone loved them ‘Once Upon a Time’ (A poor pun. Sorry).
Since I clumsily brought it up, we’re looking for different names for these pups. I’m not thrilled with ‘Snow’ and ‘Charming’ and, since they’re deaf, it’d be okay to change their names. I don’t like people names for dogs. Charming is a bit of a bully, dominant, difficult, her protector, an overcomer and very brave. Snow is like a white fawn, very docile, lady like. I’ve been calling her Baby Girl cuz that just fits her.
Gotta go. Time to go on a walk. Anyone with name ideas, I’d love to hear from you!
Viki
I am a Clark County native. I am Level 2 WSET (wine and spirit education trust)-certified and enjoy pairing wine with my passion for travel and fondness of food. My most prized possessions are the memories of places I've been with my husband, the chance encounters we've been blessed to have along the way and my carry-on bag. I can often be seen around town and in tasting rooms with our two beautiful, double-Merle Australian shepherds, Challenge and Baby Girl.