"Perfect Family Dog" Turned Out To Be More Than Perfect!

by Carla
(Tucson, AZ)

I wanted to share one of my favorite pictures and a little story.

Our beloved Australian Shepherd, Reno went to Heaven on September 1, 2009. I carried him to take his last ride in his 68 short-bed Chevy truck. He was my shadow, our best friend, who brought countless smiles, laughter and so much love to our home.

He came to live with us on April 27th, 1998 when our boys were in 6th, 4th and 2nd grade after two years of herding cattle on a cattle ranch. We were blessed with his love for over 11 years. At the time, we were still struggling/grieving with the loss of my parents/the boys grandparents and as crazy as it sounds I know that dog was sent from my mom and dad.

At the time, my husband was not really a dog person, felt that they were destructive (Okay, forget that we had worked on him for months/years to adopt a dog when we brought the Beagle from hell home. Rusty ran away daily, did what he wanted to do inside and outside and then bit Grandpa on Christmas Day. Five stitches later, we found him a nice home with no kids and people that would run with him daily.

If we wanted a dog, it was gonna take some serious work or fate...
(Fast forward 1 year)
We had the day off to take cupcakes for our youngest son's 7th birthday and while reading the paper that morning and not having present for the him yet, there it was... an ad - "Perfect family dog - Australian Shepherd - trained, loves kids". Somehow I managed to talk my husband into driving 30 miles away to "JUST LOOK". We drove, and drove and finally got to a dirt road to a ranch off the Old Nogales Highway (the whole time with the pretense of just looking). That dog looked at both of us and must have known because he went and sat right next to my husband and didn't move until my husband looked at him and looked at me and told Reno "get in the car", he jumped in and never looked back!!

He was and forever will be a wind in the face kind of dog, the best dog that a family could ever have and I pray that I can be at least 1/2 as good as he thought I was.

I will always LOVE that dog!!