How I choose my Mistress
For this story I have to go way back. So far in fact that I did not experience some of it myself. But I came to know it by what my Mistress told me.
At the time, around 1997, my Mistress got the burning desire for a second dog. They got Lucky, a cute fluffy Terrier-Mix when he was 3 years old. With him they discovered dog-sports. Though Lucky was only 4 he was a lazy-bone. Even so he and Mistress passed the companion dog test as well as the stamina test several times. They where more or less successful at other dog sports too. When to Luckys dismay Mistress wanted to try Agility, Obedience and Clicker-Training as well, she had to find out that all this was too much for a dog who had never learned to play and work. Mistress began her search (and I mean "search") for a fitting second dog.
It was the beginning of 1999 already and Mistress had become profoundly knowledgeable about several different breeds when she stumble across the picture of an Australian Shepherd in a book. He or she was a red merle. Mistress was captured by its looks and by the description of his breed (... very active, intelligent dog which needs a lot of occupation ...). What rattled her was that she had never (knowingly) met a dog of the breed "in Technicolor".
Fate arranged it that Lucky and Mistress participated in an Obedience Seminar (by the Swiss rules for then we did not have our own rules yet). The teacher had among others a blue merle Aussie male. The first contact to a living Aussie ... Mistress practically milked the trainer for information.
From that time she always had her eyes out for other Aussie people. With marginal success for then the breed was not as popular as today ... She found a book about Australian Shepherds instead. She literally consumed the book and it was clear the Aussie was her dog. At the Agility world cup 1999 she met an Aussie owner who was planing to have a litter with her girl soon. She milked that person as well. The woman recomendet an other book. Mistress bought it right there at the cup and did not take notice of any other go.
Now that Mistress knew what she was searching for she found my breeder and phoned her. At this time my siblings and I were only 1.5 weeks old and my breeder said that Mistress should give her a call in two weeks time. Mistress really wanted a red merle male. Though no puppy from the litter had that color she called back 14 days later. She only wanted to get to know the breeder and her dogs.
We were 3.5 weeks old and at that age one tends to sleep a lot. My siblings were all of in la-la-land and Mistress asked after the males. She wanted to know about my dad and my breeder showed her pictures and told her that my parents were not related. As Mistress is not one for inbreeding she was delighted. Mistress did not really like the look of my brothers and asked if the little worm nearly going to sleep in the middle of the basket was not indeed male.
My breeder said no, but I had the attention of Mistress now. I sat in the middle of my sleeping siblings and looked at her with tired little blue eyes. I was swaying because I would have liked to sleep, but I had to stay awake. My eyes drooped but I forced them open again and refused to give in. No, don´t fall asleep, now ... !
When Mistress took her leave I curled up and went to sleep. At the time I thought she just left so I could get some shut-eye. I knew I had done it. She would call again ... I was right: The phone rang that very same evening and Mistress said she would like to have the little one that had so heroically tried to stay awake ... She wanted to have me because she believed my behavior to be a sign: Mistress had read in the books that an Aussie chooses his human ... Could I have been any more specific?!
Her wishes for a red merle male became a blue merle girl.
I choose my Mistress and we haven´t rued it since...
