BORDER COLLIE DOUBLE HEADER

 POST # 624

Sal and Gracie

In all of my years of house/pet sitting, I have had the pleasure to get to know a number of Border Collies, but this is the very first time, that I have had the opportunity to take care of *two of them at the same time.  A Border Collie double header as it were.

I arrived here in Delta, a couple of days ago, and only had a couple of hours or so to spend with the owners in order to go through any information that I needed to know about the house, but more importantly about Sal and Gracie.  The time went by very rapidly, and then they were off on their vacation to Hawaii.

Now it was just the three of us. Time to get to know one another.  Sal is the younger of the two, and right from the start, she was doing her Border Collie best to "round me up" as it were.  She follows me from one room to the next, and it didn't take long for her to decide that this new human can be trusted.  Of course, a few dog treats along the way has helped to cement the relationship.

Sal

Gracie on the other hand, is content to remain on the ground floor.  In actual fact she is 16 years old now, so she is pretty unsteady on her feet, and she doesn't have the ability any longer to climb stairs.  So part of my job is to make sure that I spend time on both levels of the house, so that both of them can have the opportunity to interact with the new human.

Gracie

Gracie spends much of her day, lying down and sleeping.  She doesn't have the energy to do much of anything else.  She lets me know when she needs to go out, and when that happens, I guide her around the yard, to make sure that she's okay, and eventually we make it back inside.  At that point, she settles in once again for a nap.  Gracie is certainly the oldest Border Collie that I have had the opportunity to spend time with.  No doubt, she will teach me a few lessons, during my stay here.

Sal on the other hand, has plenty of energy to spare, so we make sure to get out for our daily walks around the neighbourhood.  

So it's early days for now, and the three of us are still getting used to the routine.  But if the time spent so far is any indicator, it looks like things should go pretty smoothly for the rest of the house sit.  I'm looking forward to hanging out with these two.

* It is true that this is the first time that I have cared for two Border Collies, however I did care for four of them all at the same time, way back when during a sit at my friend's place in Bear Creek, in the Yukon.  Here is a link to that post from January 14th, 2016.  It includes a few videos, including one with all the dogs barking as was their habit, when the daily plane to Whitehorse took off for its journey south.

https://wherespaulnow.blogspot.com/2016/01/back-in-bear-creek-yukon.html

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer