Border Collie + Husky = Borsky?

It was last Thursday and I was looking forward to the Sunday arrival of my two new Georgia puppies, a golden Collie much like my MacKenzie and an Aussie that reminded me of Gravy.  They were going to be coming down on a the same transport as Rhys, the miracle Collie.  I was happy.  And then I got an e-mail from Kathy, with photos of two Aussies and a Golden Retriever puppy.  They were at Gordon County Animal Control, the same shelter Memphis Blues came from.  Could I take them?  Sure.  I mean, I expected Hippity and Hoppity to be adopted by the weekend; with the other two coming, that would just be five puppies, no problem at all.  I showed the photos to my husband and Glenn agreed.  I e-mailed Kathy and then called Sherrie, the volunteer Rescue Coordinator at the shelter.  She was delighted and agreed to take them to the vet on the next day.  That was easy!

The next morning, Friday,  Sherrie called to tell me that the owner of the two Aussie puppies had come in and reclaimed them.  I must admit I was disappointed but encouraged when she said the owner had purchased a spay certificate, so we knew they wouldn’t be used for breeding.  I told Sherrie to look around the shelter when she went to get the remaining Golden Retriever puppy, just look to see if there were any dogs we’d overlooked.  They’d have to be small puppies because we were limited in transport space.  I told her I’d be home all day if she called.  That was easy!

At 1pm I took my son to his first job interview (he got the job!), but when I got home I saw that Sherrie had called and e-mailed photos.  The photos were of four puppies, all bunched together in someone’s arms.  I called her back.  She was already at the vet’s office. The puppies? They had been brought in that morning, all healthy.  Looked to be shepherd/lab/aussie mixes.  Did I want them?  Ugh!  I hate this part of rescue.  I’m not good at it.  We were against the clock.  I couldn’t get them to the vet before transport.  I couldn’t get in touch with all the transportation legs.  I couldn’t get in touch with fosters to keep them until Sunday.  Shepherds and Labs aren’t really our breed.  ugh.  I finally said no.  That wasn’t easy.  I felt sick in my stomach.  I slept poorly.

The next morning, Saturday, I checked my facebook.  There was the photo of the four puppies on the Gordon site.  It indicated that they were actually littermates of the two I had originally said I’d take!  Not to get into details, but there were a lot of negative things being written about the owner.  She responded on Facebook, writing that the two had been stolen, were the ones her kids had decided to keep from the litter, they had found them posted on Facebook and she called the shelter.  When the shelter found out there were more in the litter, they convinced her to surrender them.  More unpleasant things were then written on the page.  I went to Janet’s  facebook page, told her who I was, and asked about the parents of the dogs.  The mother is a Border Collie named Monkey.  The father is a Husky named Jackson.  They are great dogs.  They have since been fixed.  She was devastated about the puppies at the shelter.  Now knowing that their breed mix fits in perfectly with our rescue, I told her I would try to get them.  I called the shelter and spoke with Darla. She knew who I was before I could finish my first sentence; she had tried to call me the day before to let me know they were the littermates!  She was thrilled when I said we’d take them.   She was so upset about the comments being made on facebook. “How am I going to get people to bring in their dogs rather than just abandon them if they then get attacked?”  Kathy picked up the four plus my little Golden Retriever a bit later and brought them home for the night.   Sunday morning Vicki got the original Aussie/Husky and Golden Collie to Kathy, who then drove them to  Khaz and Steve, then Amy, then Colin, and finally me.  That was easy!

Actually, none of this was easy.  It was heart-wrenching.  I felt especially bad for Janet.  She isn’t the first person to miscalculate and end up with a litter of puppies.  She has already had the mother fixed.  She was going to rehome the puppies herself but brought them to the shelter when encouraged by Darla (who truly thought we’d take them).  Already emotionally wrought by that action, she was then subjected to very harsh words by well-meaning people.  I guess I’ve eaten my words so many times in my life that I’ve finally learned to temper them, or at least I hope I’ve learned that.  I appreciate that Janet has been very forth coming with background information on this litter.  We almost never know a thing about our dogs, so this is a real treat.

From Janet: “Thank you so much, I was at the point that i was just going to go get them all back because I have cried all morning about all this. The only reason I took them was because she told me that she could get you to take them and I knew that would be best for them because they are wonderful puppies and they need someone to love them and not have to fight for attention with one another. Again thanks…   The mother’s name is Monkey and she was born on Fathers Day two years ago, and the daddy’s name is Jackson and he is about 2 years old two.  He just wandered up at my house and I couldn’t take him to the pound because he was older and I was scared he would get put down. He was very protective of my kids and he actually attacked a pitbull that came in my yard that went after my oldest son and Jackson ran him off.  He has been with me for over a year now and he is really a wonderful dog. They both have a lot of energy, but they like to have their lazy time too, they are both very loving and loyal dogs. Monkey the BC is kinda lazy at times, but yes she likes to run and get hyper sometimes, but just sometimes. She does have the herding instinct and she loves to chase squirrels up trees occasionally she will catch one, she is a very fast running dog.  I am so glad that you are getting them, it makes me feel ten times better now.”

I guess what I’m trying to say is, please think twice before publicly condemning someone’s actions.   We rarely know the whole story.