It's been 9 years since I've been in remission from Lymphoma. After 5 years, I was considered 'cured.' It's also been nine years since Hutch, the star of Who Will Come for Pup, died. I had to say goodbye to him while fighting for my life. He spent his last days trying to protect me from cancer. After he was gone, I visualized him as a furry angel eating all the cancer cells in my body. Kinda weird, I know, but it helped me cope with his death, plus I could still remember him as my unofficial service dog. A few years later, I said goodbye to Carey, my other beloved cattle dog. I was sure I'd never completely bond with another dog; also positive I would never own another high energy cattle dog.
And then this happened.
Meet TikTok. YBR N Wayout's Ain't Out Of Time. I picked him up on his 1 year birthday!
I was an anxious mess picking him up to have him on a trial basis. My family thought I was nuts. I knew my current dogs would be bent out of shape having him around. I wanted a therapy dog to train, wanted this to work out so badly, but was overthinking everything and being an anxious mess. I feared no cattle dog could have the solid, easy-going temperament described to me by his breeder and owner. I thought he sounded too good to be true.
I've had him for less than 48 hours. I'm pretty much a goner. It's almost like he chose me instead of the other way around. Technically, he's still on trial here. But, he's had so much overstimulation already and he's remained rock solid. My two dogs have their noses out of joint as I expected. Tikky just grovels and backs off when they sass him. I'm doing childcare today and figured this will be the real test - he greeted them both by crawling on the ground, so he wouldn't scare them. Earlier today, the toddler pinched her fingers in the door - much screaming and TikTok tried to comfort her by licking her tears. He nuzzled the baby's hand.
I might have found a dream dog to train for therapy work. If he doesn't pass (can't imagine why not!) he'll just be fodder for my next book about cattle dogs!
