It's been nearly six weeks since we lost our golden retriever, Sarah. She was an incredible dog and the hole that her passing left in our lives seemed as huge as the Grand Canyon at times. The house seemed to echo loneliness. No longer could we hear the jangle of her tags on her collar or hear her tail thumping the floor when either one of us would pass. We also had those moments where we saved the scraps from our dinner...only to remember that there was no one to save them for.
We had talked about getting a border collie...even when Sarah was alive. But the timing never seemed right. And, getting a dog when Sarah was struggling to live seemed to be a contradiction of our love for her. Then...on a hot afternoon we decided to just "look" at a few puppies we had seen advertised. The first stop of our puppy tour took us to Marion, TX to see an Australian Shepherd. The pups were precious and their owners were equally as nice. We played with the puppies and narrowed our choice down to two different puppies...but, for me...it still didn't seem right.
Our second stop was just outside of New Braunfels where we met Johnny, his three kids and all of his beautiful border puppies. The mix of black and white and merle puppies had just finished eating so were laying underneath a wagon on top of each other...like puppies do. There was one black and white puppy, however, that was laying by itself under the shadow of a blue play pool. She caught my eye and I went to pick her up. Her black and white coloring was perfect...as if God did a paint by number... Black on each eye...white "boots" on each foot...a white belly and a white heart on her forehead stretching down her nose.
We picked up several puppies to see if we could connect...but kept coming back to this puppy. Larry took her at one point and flipped her over...belly side up...to see if she would connect...eye to eye. She did. He tickled her belly and she seemed to love it. He smiled, flipped her back over and handed her to me...
"I think that's your pup, Claire".
I knew he was right. We filled out paperwork and loaded her up in our Dodge diesel pick up and headed down the road. There was no separation anxiety. In fact, she sat proudly on the center console as if she belonged there. She was our new dog.
"Have you thought about any names, Claire?"
"I was thinking Belle".
Larry looked over at me and then the dog and said..."That fits. Belle it is."
I began texting everyone I knew to let them know that we had got a new puppy. My dog-lover-daugher, Stephanie, was one of the first to respond. When we told her that we would be naming the dog Belle...she said that we should spell it "Bell" so that she would be unique. I also thought it would be better for when she went to kindergarten and had to spell her name... One less letter to worry about.
So, our journey began with Bell three weeks ago... In that short amount of time she has lived up to her name and now rings the tap bell to go outside to do her "duty". She has also learned to "sit" and is almost figured out "down" (or lay down). Our hopes for Bell is to make her a herding dog and compete. So...along with my other "rural lifestyle" blog series, there will be one called "Raising Bell" as we train her to be either a sheep herding dog or a dock dog...or both.
Raising border collies is just one of the many aspects of living and loving the rural lifestyle. If you have been longing to leave the rat race of the city to realize your dream of living in the country or small town, I would love to help you find the perfect home. I love selling the rural lifestyle and selling with a rural attitude...one with honesty and getting back to the simplicity of life.
Bell--taken last week. Chillin on our back porch.
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