You Mended My Heart

by Dani
(MI)

Well, my husband and I found out we were expecting our first child, ( due in Nov.), at that time we had two Chows, one great with anyone, and one not good with alot of people especially children. Sadly the one who was not good with kids, also had a food aggression issue and bit me while I was feeding him. At this point I realized we wouldn't be able to keep my 6 year old Chow, once the baby came, we luckily placed him in a rehabilitative Chow rescue and he now has another chance to make someone else as happy as he did me.

After we turned him over I had such a hole in my heart, my husband and I sobbed the whole way home. As if the next few days weren't depressing enough I also had Zeus, our black Chow looking depressed, and crying wondering where the other dog had gone. I'm a sensitive person anyway but being 6 months pregnant on top of this was unreal!

One of my relatives suggested we started looking at other dogs. At first I just wanted to get some massive giant breed, I hadn't brought up the prospect of an Aussie because my husband had one when he was younger named Bandit, who was his favorite dog, and he said it would be to hard to get another one. So you can imagine my surprise when he brought the idea up to me!

I wasnt familiar (and am still learning) with the breed at all, just stories from my husband about this wonderful dog that would keep him on sidewalks by head butting him, lol

We decided to go and look at the puppies. The first kennel we walked up to had this chubby fluffy adorable blue merle. I wasn't sure until he walked over to me and I picked him up, he licked my cheek, it was pointless to bother looking any further. I went back to pick him and his papers up the next day.

He was 6 weeks old and only had one accident in the house, he would wake us at night to let us know if he had to go out. He was already trying to push me around the yard! and loved to cuddle, we named him Ace, and loved him dearly. After 3 days with him, Ace suffered a massive seizure caused by an abnormal birth defect where the fontenelles were open, and retaining fluid, causing swelling, (not from breeding, just something that happens).

I was devastated, sick, couldn't eat, sleep, nothing. But thank god for Zeus, our Chow. He woke us in time to say something's wrong, allowing us to rush Ace to the emergency vet and giving us closure. I was traumatized when we went back to the breeder.

They were in shock, just as we were! This is a reputable breeder. I was just going to get our money back, but as I walked towards the house where she was I was distracted, she walked over to the kennel I was eyeing with me, here comes running up to me this absolutely gorgeous liver Aussie, hazel/green eyes and white points, little tan eyebrows just sweet. I don't know how but he warmed and somehow mended my heart in this first 5-10 min. I met him.

We took him home, a guarantee, and a vet check later, I have never had such a wonderful companion dog!! I understand why they call them velcro dogs! lol

He's just hit 8 weeks last sat. and already knows sit, letdown, speak, shake and "sneaky" army crawl. I'm so impressed with the intelligence, agility and personality of this dog, I think it will be hard for me to ever go another way. And from my understanding I haven't seen anything yet!

I don't think I could have found a better dog with children either, he gets more excited to see my 4 year old nephew than me! When the hubby leaves for work he grabs his bone and I pull him up for snuggle time in the morning. As sweet as his personality is we had to name him Snickers. I don't know if he'll ever know what a good dog he is (although I do tell him all the time :)) or, how he mended my heart. I will try to get a pic. of us up as soon as I can.

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