Tag: Australian Cattle Dog

So, this is Radar. He’s a Blue Heeler and is just over a year old now. We came across each other a couple months ago. Sometimes in the course of normal events, your life changes. For both Radar and I, this is one of those times.

I had been considering a dog for a while now for a number of reasons. Maybe part trail buddy, part body guard, part wing-man, who knows. A few years ago, I had once hiked a 20 mile piece of mountain trail with a group. One of the hikers had a great trail dog with him. This trail buddy would constantly run up and down the group starting in the front and working toward the back, checking on every hiker in the group. For twenty miles. He was never more than 20 feet off trail and never more than a few hundred yards from his master. Quite honestly, I felt like I needed that kind of a buddy  now from somewhere deep down inside me. But I didn’t really have any particular breed or clear concept in mind. It’s funny how these things work out sometimes.

I had shared some of my idea for a four legged companion with a friend of mine, Brenda, and the hunt began. She had done some checking and offered to go with me to go to a friend of hers “just to look” at one. Her friend boards dogs in the area and happened to have a young heeler someone had dropped off. Radar had been with her for a month or so while she was trying to find him a home. For Radar, he seemed to have had a rocky start. He had been given up or returned several times in his just short first year of life. I think he would fall pretty cleanly in to the “rescue dog” category. Rejected, abandoned, and unwanted, he waited.  Even in a pack of dogs he stood out to me. I really couldn’t tell you why, maybe it was his story, maybe it was mine. But that day, I left with him on a borrowed lead and a commitment in my heart to try my best to be a good companion for him.

It’s been about four months now since our paths crossed. We’re still working out a couple small differences (he likes to get up early, I like to sleep in a bit), and learning about each other (he loves to chase a ball or toy, but really doesn’t float well). I work with him and he teaches me what he knows.  My life has changed again, and so has his. Both for the better.

#