Name
Type of pet
Location
Allie is a rather large miniature American Shepherd, which leads to many people thinking she’s a border collie pup.
Like any of the herding/collie breeds she is highly intelligent, and likes to chase things (or be chased herself).
Her favourite things in life are food and social fun, whether it be with people or other dogs. She’s learnt all sorts of tricks that she knows how to respond to, particularly if there’s a small treat. (Ordinary dog kibble will do, but cheese is one of her favourites.)
She is strong willed and smart, and has a remarkable ability to find insecure doors especially if there is food inside, and food means pretty much anything, so if you have anything potentially toxic like chocolate, you need to keep it secure, and out of reach.
She sleeps on the end of our bed, and has someone at home most of the day during the week as I work from home.
Although she’s smallish she has all the energy of a herding dog, and is happy rushing around a mountain bike track after us, or joining us on a trek up a mountain.
We got her because our daughter is an only child and wanted a dog who could be a sibling. She came at a time that my dad was dying from dementia, and my wife was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, and she really brightened up our lives.
The last thing Dad was able to say coherently was to ask to see her, and we know she brought joy to other people in the rest home too.
She’s a really special part of our lives, and we’d take her everywhere if we could, but sometimes that’s just not possible, and she’s a highly social dog so leaving her alone is unkind. She does travel well, but there are places like national parks where she’s not allowed.
Out walking, she’ll often run up to other people with her frisbee, one of her favourite toys, and drop it at their feet to see if she can get them to play, and she’ll also offer it to other dogs.
We have a fenced off back yard where she’s free to run around and play with her toys or us, and dig, but she tends to get distressed being alone for extended periods, although she’s independent enough to entertain herself for a time.
She can get mouthy at times with people she knows well, but it’s important to understand the difference between mouthiness and biting. She uses her mouth like we use our hands, so sometimes it can actually be a show of affection, or trying to get attention, and can be quite gentle, but if she needs to be told to stop if she gets too carried away, just like little kids who want to play rough games, and don’t always know when to stop.
Why would we want to share her? She’s a really special dog and we want her to live her life to the fullest as do we. Sometimes there are things we want or need to do that can’t involve her, but we don’t want to sacrifice her quality of life for our convenience. If the paw were on the other foot, we wouldn’t like it if we had to give up on socialising and recreation because of her, and she has a much shorter life expectancy than us, so she needs friends to help her make the most of it.