october is adpot a shelter dog month.

in honor of adopt a shelter dog month, i would like to share the story of our beloved shelter dog mutt, katie.

we had been looking for a dog all over the place, even driving to the shelters in teller county, castle rock, and denver.

but i saw her miserable face at the window at the colorado springs humane society and instantly fell in love.

she came with a rap sheet of sorts, digs, barks, chews, leery of adults, leery of kids, leery of other dogs, the whole list of what made her one of the 'bad dogs'. i was leery of this dog but i still had to see her.

we went in to the meeting room with a handler and right away she begged paul to pet her. she was smart, nuzzled the handler's pocket for some milkbones. then she came to ask me for some pets. i did not want a problem dog, but i was in love.

i asked paul again and again if she was the dog. he said, if you want her lets take her home. i asked, you sure? yes. she came home with us that day.

the first few weeks were tough. she is half blueheeler and half australian shepherd. aussie shepherds are fiercely loyal dogs. they are called velcro dogs for 'sticking' to a person, needing constant companionship. being dropped off at the shelter, she was immensely stressed. she didn't pee or poop for 4~5 days straight until she couldn't hold it anymore and would proceed to pee and poop on the linoleum and freak out. we desperately tried to teach her what is 'right'. after the poor dog had done that twice i took a pee soaked paper towel outside where i let her smell it. it worked! that was the last time she ever peed in the house (well, poo wise she had gotten sick a couple times and pooped on the floor but that's not her fault at all).

as for the chewing i found out that her previous owners had punished her severely for chewing stuff, at the same time she was teething! i had to 'reteach' her what are the right things to chew and what not to chew. she even got that more teeth at 11 months (most dogs get their permanent teeth at 4~6 months).

we trained her the ceaser way and she flourished. she is SO smart. she is completely submissive and knows we're the boss. we don't have any problems with her whatsoever.

later i asked him, why? why did you let me adopt this best 'bad dog' in the world? paul remembered what her rap sheet had said. leery of adults? she came right away and begged him to pet her. barks at strangers? she did no such thing to us. paul deduced that there must have been something wrong with the owner to promote such behavior in katie, for in that meeting room she had shown that it wasn't her innate personality.

because of my husband's insight we have the best dog in the world. she lifted me up while i was depressed (she was the only reason i would get dressed to go outside - to walk her). she has survived about 10000 miles worth of traveling by car (colorado to los angeles like 4 times and from colorado to north carolina), she is a great working dog (i've taken her sheep herding - the instinct is really strong in her), great at dog parks (leery of adults, kids and other dogs?), and a great companion to... our cat (i would never have guessed - they miss each other dearly when one is missing. one time kat got out and we caught katie howling when we left her by herself :( at the same time kat meows sadly when we take katie on walks and leave her at home. haha), a great companion to our family.

i LOVE LOVE LOVE my shelter mutt!