DAISY

Daisy is primarily my husband's dog. We'd resided in Missouri for about 1 year and Dusty and Shiloh were loving living in the country on our 5 acres. Erik decided that he wanted a dog of his own and enjoyed coming to my herding lessons. Our instructor had rescued a Border Collie she thought would be a good fit.

She had a rough start in life we found out - when our instructor rescued her (some man brought her to a herding trial and said "does anyone want this piece of sh*t?") she was starving and pregnant. When brought home the puppies were aborted - she was in too poor health and too young to have the puppies. Several months of rehab and good nutrition restored her health, and then Erik and I came over to have a look at her. She had issues - people shy for one, of course with good reason. But a sweet temperament. Erik fell in love and so she came home with us.

What followed was a good scenario for what life would have been like if we'd had a child together. Hubby is pretty much a Disneyland dad while I tend to toe the line on discipline. We've finally come to the conclusion that he needs to back me up on discipline (this wasn't too long ago) and balance is slowly being restored with the pack. The best part of it is I am seeing that Daisy now seems to care what I think and would prefer to please me as opposed to pissing me off. Ahhhhh.....life is so much better now.

She is a lovely little herding dog with a smooth flowing style I much admire. And with the arrival of Blitz and Moto she took on the mothering part which really kept a nice balance in the pack. With Blitz's illness the mothering was greatly appreciated. While I did everything in my power to provide comfort when he had those first scary downward turns, I believe Daisy's kisses and snuggles meant the world to my sick young puppy.

She also helped the oversized rambunctious Moto learn his big size could hurt and knock off balance. Part of his gentleness was learned from Daisy.

We've gone from War of the Roses to A Peaceable Kingdom. Yet another valuable lesson in dog training.