This is a bit long, but I think the pup people on the board will enjoy it.
I have been away from the board for several years, so I am putting this in the New Members thread.
I was given a rescue GSD Mix on New Years Day of 2005.Shortly after, I adopted an entire litter of seven week old Catahoulas Most of the 'Houlas were adopted into new homes shortly after, which left us three and the GSD. A respectable pack. In 2007, I adopted a friend's Black Lab and he took one look at my girls and fell in love. One girl got more of his attention and so Sugar and Jazz were pawfasted.
Each had behaviors and markings that were unique. After thirteen plus years of this, I know those things like the back of my bead table.
I lost Sugar in March 2017 to Osteosarcoma in her right shoulder and Jazz lasted until the following February. Sugar's sister Belle passed away in late April of Hemangiosarcoma (cancer really is an epidemic) and I was grieving hard.
All of my pups have shown me a Sign that they are safe back home Topside. This usually takes three or four days. Some of them have been quite dramatic. Belle was the seventh pup to go and she gave me something beautiful.
The grass was dry and parched and only one or two wildflowers were blooming. Not types; plants. Overnight, and for the next three days, the entire high meadow where we used to take the pups walking was covered in Evening Star Rain Lilies. Sometimes called Drummond Rain Lily or Cebolleta.
After that, I read some of Hairy's antics, and something kindled in me. A longing for paws and fur again. I was down to two and for me, that's just not enough. I decided that it would have to be either a Catahoula or a Black Lab, or both. I also decided that I always wanted a Blue Lace Catahoula. Mine were Leopards.
I looked at the kill shelter. Nothing. The surrounding counties, nothing. And at our no-kill shelter, there were two pups kenneled side by side. Predominantly black, but with Blue Merle markings, just as a Blue Lace Catahoula would have. These were Catahoula/Black Lab crosses. Labrahoulas.
The female was 7 weeks and the male was 7 years. I strongly suspect they are father and daughter or uncle and niece. I will have the DNA tests done to know for sure.
I took the female first and came back for the male in twenty days. The little girl was scared of everything and her favorite place was next to me. She has the exact same body shape and tail and ears as my Sugar girl. The same honey brown eyes. When she walks ahead of me, there is a dot of white behind each paw where the paw attaches to the pastern- another Sugar trait.
When I got the male home, all 83 pounds of him, we took both for a walk. The little girl stood on the porch and her hacks went up. The fur on two thirds of her tail was standing out- I'd never seen hacks on a tail before. She hadn't made a sound in weeks. She looked at the male and growled. And then...
She looked again and then she sniffed. And looked sheepish and turned her head in a calming signal. It was funny to see the expressions change on her little face from, “Hey you- get off my lawn!” to “Oh my sweet God!” to “It really is you! You're here! I've missed you so!” And his expressions were comical too. They are now inseparable. He literally put the heart, soul, voice, and courage back into my little girl, instantly. When she gave that first play bow and he bumped her shoulder and gave her a nuzzle, I felt something knit itself back together in me, too.
He is Mo and she is Lali, and they are being accepted well by my ancient furballs, which is more proof that the pups Topside had a paw in all of this.
Lali has the underside of Sugar's back paws, while Mo has the topside. The message writ large in fur split between the two dogs, so there would be no mistaking it. The shape of Mo's back paws and the black and white markings on them are identical to Sugar's. He has Jazz' eyes and ears and several of his behaviors, as well as a helping heaping of Catahoula traits from Sugar's line. Might as well be written in neon. Lali has the two white hairs on the left shoulder that Sugar had, and that Sugar's grandmother Mai Mai had back in Catahoula Parish, LA. Those two little hairs were still there on her shoulder after twelve years of blowing and regrowing a coat. And here they are again on Lali.
I know that both these guys are of my pack's gene pool, and there are many more quirks, and markings and behaviors that tie them to this pack. All I know is that my heart is alive again and I am ready to join the living. Miracles rain on us and I will be forever thankful.
It literally is all Dennis' fault. He was so opposed to adopting again, but because of members on the board and something special growing in his heart, his pack is increased by one and is much the better for it. As is mine. It's good to be back!
