Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Today is Murphy's birthday. He is all of two years old. For the past two years I've had more than my fair share of laughs, all because of this little bundle of energy. I am a very lucky dog mom. To start our day, we trekked to Mello-Creme donuts to get Murphy a birthday donut for breakfast. He enjoyed an apple fritter and a plain old-fashioned donut. Of the two, the plain old-fashioned was his favorite, and I know this because he would take a bite of the apple fritter then put it down. He would then give me that look of "you're trying to give me something with fruit in it." After a few long seconds, he would turn and walk away. As soon as I offered a bite of the plain old-fashioned, he was right there and made no hesitation whatsoever. The entire donut disappeared in seconds. Most of the apple fritter is still in his food bowl. This afternoon we went for a hike along the creek and found the pond we spotted a couple of days ago on our hike across the bare soybean f...

Yesterday, Murphy and I went on an adventure. I've been thinking about new activities for him as we both have kind of gotten bored with our usual walk. The walks are fine, but Murphy's been giving me the side-eye as we walk along, like he's trying to tell me, "Hoomin, weze bin dis way zillions of times. Derz no nu smells. I's need nu smells." After a lot of thinking and researching, I found Dogwood Farms in Indiana.  So Murphy and I drove over to see if he would like to herd sheep. It turns out he kinda does. At first, he was just totally confused. Mary Lou, the shepherd of Dogwood Farms and trainer of sheep dogs, said the confusion is perfectly normal. There was a lot going on that Murphy was trying to figure out. Towards the end of the session, Mary Lou dropped the lead to see how Murphy reacted. I totally get why she didn't want to just turn him loose from the get-go. I would have been mortified if Murphy had gone all attack-mode. But he didn't. He ...

 

 

Murphy is now 13 weeks old. Already seven weeks have passed since I brought him home. During those seven weeks, he's become Ado's best friend (most of the time) and he has learned how to be a part of the family. As of this week, I believe he is completely housebroken because he hasn't done his business in the house at all. We'd been down to once a day up until last Monday, and every day since he has come to me when he needs to go out. He gives me a look and then a little bark. Just like Ado, when I say, "Outside?" he turns and looks out the window then heads for the door. His bark for needing to pee is different than his bark for needing to poop, which is too funny. The "poop" bark is much more urgent. Ado has been a great teacher for when it's time for play and when it's time to settle down, especially in the evenings. Both dogs settle in for the night by 7 o'clock, and after one last trip outside around 9, both sleep through the night, ...

Meet Murphy, the newest member of the family.  He is absolutely too cute. And smart. And a cuddle bug. He has slipped right into the spot that's been open and waiting for him to come along.  I started looking for the next member of the family back in May. I tried adopting because I support the "Adopt, Don't Shop" idea, but I never got a response to any of the applications I filled out and submitted. In August, I switched over to a website that lists all kinds of breeds, and since I knew I really wanted an Australian Shepherd, I had tons to choose from. The only downside was most were two hours or longer away. I didn't want to have to drive over two hours one way to pick up a puppy. So I just checked in every now and then to see if new posts were listed that were within my desired driving range. Two weeks ago, a post showed up for Murphy and his brothers and sisters, and they lived a mere thirty minutes away. I called and asked if I could visit the pups, and the ow...