Two Black Dogs

Several years ago, I wrote a blog about our dog Sally.  It told the story of how she came into our lives.

http://windyacresnaturalfarm.blogspot.com/2010/04/dogs-and-cats.html

At the time of that writing, we had 3 dogs.  Kelsey and Lizzy were the other 2, both of which have passed on and are waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge.  I wrote goodbyes to each of them in the following blog entries.

http://windyacresnaturalfarm.blogspot.com/2013/06/goodbye-to-sweet-little-lizzy.html

http://windyacresnaturalfarm.blogspot.com/2011/03/tribute-to-kelsey-dog.html

But, back to Sally and the title of this article ... One thing I didn't mention in the first story about how Sally joined our family was that there was another dog indirectly involved in the story.  

At the time Tom found Sally in the shed on our property, our daughter and her family were living here while her husband was in school at OSU and they have a black dog, too, name Mia.  Mia is just a little smaller than Sally and has floppy ears, instead of upright ears, like Sally.  

Here is a picture of the two of them.  Sally is on the left; Mia on the right.

During the years that our daughter's family lived here, Tom used the east half of the property for our farmers' market gardens.  So, he was over here almost every day.  On day that Tom found Sally, our daughter and her family were gone for the week and Tom thought Sally was Mia.  He was alarmed that they had left her behind and, thinking maybe they had just forgot to take her along in the rush to leave, he called me at work to tell me he had found Mia and thought something was wrong with her.  Then, I was alarmed and called the daughter to tell her.  She assured me they had Mia with them and had not left her behind. 

It was all a funny case of mistaken identity.  At any rate, the two black dogs are friends, and when Mia comes to visit, she has to go out and inspect the property and see what has changed since she left it to Sally to guard.

One of the things it took her a while to accept was our chickens.  At first, she wanted to chase them.  It took several good scoldings to convince her she was supposed to guard the chickens and not eat them!

She still has an intense curiosity about them, but she does not try to catch them now.  Here she is taking an interest in what they are eating.

One thing you may not know is that there are more black dogs in shelters than any other color.  The following Wikipedia entry has some very interesting information on a phenomenon called "Black Dog Bias":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-dog_bias

It sad that black dogs are often passed over for adoption at shelters because of their color.  So, the next time you are in the market for a new pet, please consider going to a shelter to adopt one.  And while you are there, please pay special attention to the black dogs.  They are waiting for a forever home, just like the others.