Jerry and Dusty

We have a complete dog family again. Jerry came to us out of the clear blue and very unexpectedly, but what a blessing. Jerry is a Golden Pyrenees, that is half Pyrenees and half Golden Retreiver, truly the best of both breeds. He is our first Pyrenees that will listen and follow directions! As those of you who have experienced Pyrenees know, they are wonderful dogs but have very selective hearing and are going to do what they choose, no matter what! It is just a good thing that their protective qualities are in their nature, because obedience is just not their forte! I don't know much about Golden Retreivers except that they are extreme people pleasers. So little Jerry is protective and loves the sheep, yet also wants to please us and will actually listen and try to do what he is told. So far, he is a 'dream dog!' His only bad habits involve pulling out any and everything that is loose and dragging it up to the back door, including the scoop shovel. Other than that, which I know he will outgrow, he is just unbelievable. At almost 4 months and as big as he is, he can still go through the squares of the panels, but those days are just about over. He spends a lot of time with the sheep, just hanging out, just like he knows caring for them is his main job description. However, he already knows that his second priority is to take care of me. Not only does he bark if anything is out of the ordinary, he keeps Dusty from walking under my feet and tripping me, too. He is just a super sweet, big ole teddy bear of a dog that is always eager to please and take care of me and the sheep. We have this special little guy because our dear friends, Sandy and JC McDonald knew that I needed him. to learn more about their operation and his parents and siblings, check out their website. nvrsheep.com. Thank you JC and Sandy!!!

Now for our newest addition, Dusty. Like Jerry, she just kind of showed up with her owners and all of a sudden she was mine. She is half Australian Shepherd and half BlueHeeler. She is very hard to describe colorwise, but I guess you would say she is a quad-color. She has a lot of the blue merle markings that are light gray with dark spots, quite a lot of white background, a big solid black saddle and brown feet and legs and brown peanuts over her eyes. Now part of the reason, she is hard to describe is that she is so fast, most of the time I just see a blur. I don't have any good pictures yet, because like R, she is so fast that the camera can't focus fast enough!
We have tried a lot of names on her, but until last night none had stuck. Candice said she thought we should call her Texas Tornado-T for short. Then Dad after going out to pen her before we left, said that he thought she should be Dusty-short for Dust Devil. I do believe that is a super good name for her. She seems to like it also! She seems to be really sweet, too, but is a live wire! Just like Cocoa in her younger days, she can bonk you on the nose with a kiss faster than you can even know what was coming! She sure gets aggravated at Jerry for trying to keep her away from me. At one point, she had my jeans leg in her mouth playing tug-of-war, when here comes Jerry and he gets the back of her neck and pulls her off of me! One thing for sure, both Jerry and Dusty make me smile and laugh and help me to not be so sad over Cocoa. If I can ever teach her to stay in the back of the pickup, she will be a really great pickup dog. Thank you to Corky, Cindy, Angel, Quirt, Larimer and Stella for Dusty!!!

Jacie is so happy to have playmates, too, even tho sometimes she reminds them that she is the oldest and still boss!

I can't wait for Christmas to get here so that A & R get to meet Mimi's new dogs and grow to love them, too. I expect R to call Dusty, Cocoa and I am totally okay with that.

I fully expect and trust that both Jerry and Dusty live up to the legacy of all the special dogs that went on before them.