Sage

Well, Charlie Mae didn't work out so we kept the dog and changed her name.  :)

Here's Sage, our shelter dog, surveying her new digs.

As I've mentioned before we are big believers in rescue dogs for several reasons and so when Tess died I began casually looking for a companion for Missy at our local shelter-the one that has taken fifty-six feral cats from our property over the last year +.  (Our neighbor facilitates a feral cat breeding operation.)

Anyway, they do very well with the resources they have and so we definitely wanted to support their cause.

I'd wanted a heeler for years, possibly crossed with a Border Collie or an Australian Shepherd, but felt when Chance died that we just had to have another lab as opposed to a heeler since the kids were so small.  

Missy is a purebred lab who came from a shelter in Bryan and I've been aware for several years now that there are plenty of rescue options for purebred dogs either through breed rescue groups or shelters. 

For fun, here's a pic of Missy when we got her at 9 weeks old, just a week after Chance died.  Have you seen a more beautiful Labrador puppy?

After Missy had reconstructive knee surgery in January I was even more determined that a mix breed dog would be the way to go to hopefully avoid the health issues that often come with purebreds due to their genetics.  I also knew when we adopted Missy that she was most likely a genetic disaster since the breeder was extremely irresponsible at the very least (they abandoned Missy's mom 2 days before she gave birth to 9 puppies, only three of which survived).

I saw Sage's picture online right before Easter and went to meet her ASAP, calling Hots on the way home to let him know how sweet she was and to tell him I was taking the kids by right after school.  They absolutely LOVED her.

Hots soon met her and we were all in.  All in for the two week trial period they allow to make sure the dog is a good fit.  Super cool program!

After an anxious few days when we couldn't get her due to a previously planned weekend out of town, we were relieved to know nobody else had adopted her and we brought her home.

Here she is whispering in Missy's ear, as Kaydie said, on the first day home.

They hit it off immediately and have played nonstop ever since.  Because our dogs are outside all day we wanted a companion for Missy.  We hit the nail on the head with Sage and are so thankful to have her!

We are also thankful she doesn't dig, bark, or eat chickens.  Bonus:  She keeps the feral cats off of our property-Ha!

The first night we had her Hots googled "blue heeler red heeler" (since Sage is both blue and red) and found the Texas Heeler with a photo of a dog that looks very similar to Sage as well as the breed information.

See?  (from Wikipedia)

The Texas Heeler is a cross between an Australian Cattle Dog (heeler) and either an Australian Shepherd or a Border Collie so as you can imagine, there is a super wide array of physical characteristics within the breed.

We know that Sage is part heeler and may be a purebred, but most likely has something else in the mix.  Just interesting to learn about the Texas Heeler, which characteristically has plenty of energy to go all day if the owner is active but is also fine to lounge at your feet.

Sage has attached to me and says right on my heels-literally-while I'm doing anything outside.  I love it!

She's a porch dog.

She loves to come inside and lounge on her bed when we're home, too.

And I think she coordinates with the terrain here just beautifully.  It's as if she was made for the hill country!

The vet said yesterday that he thinks she's around 8 months to a year old and I'll say that adopting an adult dog is the way to go for us.  We are spoiled now!

It would be interesting to know her story.  We do know that she was picked up in a neighborhood in a nearby small town with no collar.  Interestingly she was very tender footed when she first came here, so I'm thinking she hadn't ever been to the country.  Her nails were short and she was in excellent physical condition, so she had been cared for.

Whatever her story, we are glad to be on this end of it.  :)