I searched for six weeks.
I wanted a Border Collie.
I wanted a rescue.
She had to be a 'she', young but not a teething puppy that would need potty training, fairly quiet (Bear does enough barking for one household). She had to have potential for Agility and Frisbee, which meant she needed to be healthy and active. I wanted a medium sized dog this time so she had to be under 50 lbs. Oh, and she had to do well with cats. Mom's cat Anni and I don't always get along. As much as I'd like to see her be herded around the house by a rambunctious Border Collie, I knew that wouldn't go over to well. So...young, active, quiet, content, dog loving, cat loving female Border Collie.
I searched several times a day on Petfinder, craigslist, and breed rescue websites, looking at the same dogs over and over to make sure I didn't overlook my girl. While looking on the Pacific Northwest Border Collie Rescue site for the billionth time, I found her...
She was a gorgeous blue eyed merle. She was pictured with a cat. She was active and seeking a job and a family. I filled out the application for her and called Eileen at Ravensgate BC Rescue. No answer. I was disappointed, but kept trying. After a couple days I began to panic. I knew this was the girl for me and I didn't want to see her go to some one else. Finally, I received an email from Eileen telling me to try calling in the morning and talk on the machine a bit to give her time to answer.
The next day I got through and we talked about my gorgeous merle girl for about 20 minutes. Everything started out well enough. Yes, she does well with cats. Yes, she gets along with most other dogs, though some she doesn't like. She can be a bit pushy. She sometimes barks like crazy while in her crate. She's got a pretty intense personality and doesn't really have an off switch. She will escape from the yard and go roaming given the opportunity...
Ok, so maybe this was not the dog for me.
I'm about to say 'thanks' and hang up, when I remember that Eileen had another female Border Collie foster. What was her name? The one without a tail? Meagan!
Yes, she does well with the cats. She gets along with all the other dogs at the house. She's good friends with the merle girl, but has never followed her on her ventures under the fence. She rarely barks. She's active and full of energy, but she will calm down inside. She's a sweet dog, she just hasn't had a lot of training.
She's perfect! We talked for another two hours about Meagan and Border Collies in general. THIS was the girl for me.
At around a year of age, Meagan somehow ended up in the Canyon County Animal Shelter in Caldwell, ID. After spending three weeks in lock up, she was pulled by a border collie lover and sent to a foster home in Kennewick, WA. From there she went to live on a small farm in Bellingham, WA where they intended to put her to work herding. It didn't work out and five months later she went back into a foster home, this time, with Ravensgate Border Collie Rescue on Camano Island, WA.
We drove seven hours to meet Meagan, the black and white, 40 lb tail-less rough coat gal that stole my heart. We went for a walk with Eileen, Meagan, four other dogs and a cat. After a round of kisses and a full body wag (Meg, not me), I knew that this was MY girl. She jumped in the car as soon as we opened the door. She was ready to go home!
So that's Meg's story. This is her blog.
Meg is my first Border Collie and I look forward to documenting our journey together and sharing it with whomever takes the time to read this blog.
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