Spoiled doggie suns herself to dry off before jumping in AGAIN.
Shadow never complains! She puts up with all of the kids' antics. They lay on her, stand on her, sit on her, pull her hair, feed her an assortment of edibles and non-edibles and tease her and she still comes back happily asking for kisses and belly rubs. She may be pampered and spoiled (and high-energy and a spaz) but she fits in well around here!
Shadow acts like she is starving on a daily basis (eighty pounds, at last visit!). She eats anything, and I mean ANYTHING. Her favorite foods are watermelon and carrots. And bones, but we try not to give her any. Sometimes she gets them on her own (i.e. out of the trash) and in the middle of the night leaves me a little regurgitated gift at the bottom of the stairs. Her middle name is Hoover, since she cleans up after the kids and I don't have to sweep often!
We got Shadow six-and-a-half years ago at the SPCA. She was a sick eight-wee-old puppy, the runt of a litter of ten. They told us she was a shepard mix and would grow to be forty pounds, which she surpassed at six months. Two other dogs from her litter were adopted near our home and we have met her brother and sister. She is twice their size! Turns out she is a Border Collie and Black Lab mix and she inherited her size and bulk from the lab while proudly showing off her border collie coat and play skills. And yes, she herds the children. And the squirrels, rabbits and birds that are brave enough to show up in our yard!
Shadow will jump in a puddle and swim in a lake. She has her own baby pool because she hogs the water from the kids. When we take her upstate she will swim across the lake and back and wade in the deep mountain creeks. But she does not appreciate getting baths. If we mention the words "bath," "stink" or "dirty" to her, she runs and hides.
She is so smart we have to spell certain words around her, but she now knows that W-A-L-K means walk and gets very excited and runs to the door. It took less than a week to house train her, by the second day she had no accidents in the house. She learned several "stupid pet" tricks but can't catch a ball or Frisbee since she has eye problems. She does NOT walk well on a leash since she is trying to herd everything the entire time and must walk in a complete square. You cannot walk any other way, she can't handle the anxiety.
Yeah, she's spoiled. And we feed into it. We had her long before the kids, our first baby. She sleeps on our bed, climbs on the couch with us and cuddles in the winter in front of the fireplace to keep warm. She was so sick when we got her (three kinds of worms, mange, ear mites, ticks AND fleas - in January!) and so malnourished, you'd never know it by looking at her beautiful shiny coat now!
Shad Roe - wonder pet extraordinaire!
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