Guideposts - Week Five

I like a bit of a mongrel myself, whether it’s a man or a dog; they’re the best for every day.
--George Bernard Shaw

Four years ago, a little border collie whelped ten little puppies east of the Marysville Buttes in California. While seven of the puppies were black and white like their mother, three of them were inexplicably golden. The rancher was not pleased to see that his little helper had been secretly courted by the neighboring lab/golden/aussie mongrel and decreed that the entire litter would be taken to the pound as soon as they were weaned. So at seven weeks of age, they were placed in a large cardboard box and surrendered to the Yuba County Animal Care facility.  The folks there were nice, but the clock was ticking and a week later the unadopted puppies found a temporary harbor in the kennels at Sutter Buttes Canine Rescue.

Meanwhile, I'd been haunting Petfinder on a daily basis for over four months, Spring Break had just started and I was checking the Petfinder site one last time before we left on a dog-finding trip in the Sacramento area.  I discovered a new litter of puppies had been listed in the Gridley area and told my husband that I was positive there was some Golden Retriever blood in these little border collie x aussies (besides the typical border collie pup there was a stocky golden male puppy shown) and that they might be worth a look.

Nine hours and seven shelters later, we were sadly empty-handed.  Should we head towards the Bay Area, stay with family and continue our search there?  Or should we call the Gridley rescue people and see if they still had the tan puppies?  Well, we chose the second option and headed two hours north.  It may have been the best decision we ever made or it may have been destiny guiding us.  The little gold and white puppy I'd been dreaming about was there waiting to fill our lives with joy and laughter. Now we always have good Kharma as our house.

Happy Birthday, Kharma/FreckleFace/Pookie/Chica/GirlyGirl!