HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CINDY!!!!

 Happy Birthday, Cindy! I Love You!

It's hard for me to believe that my darling dog was born eight years ago today.  She is still young at heart, and a great pet.

     I first met Cindy as a six week old puppy. She was a member of "Featherwhisker", a company that visits schools and nursing homes with their farm animals and puppies and kittens.  Usually, there were three or four puppies. They did sell the puppies, but the prices were usually 3-4 hundred dollars, since they were purebred. Nice, but out of my price range.

      On this day, there was only one puppy. She was really cute. Small body, big head. Big bark! She kept on chasing the baby goat, and barking at him.  I could not resist her collie-like snout, and her eyes that matched her nose. She was adorable!

    Immediately, I told anybody within earshot that I had first dibs on this puppy. Then I asked how much was she?  It turned out that she was a mixed breed without papers, so she was only $100.  I called home and asked my Dad to come up to work right away and bring a hundred dollars. I must have mentioned that I finally found the right puppy for us, and he had to come up and look.  Since my Mom worked at the front desk, I must have called down to let her know what was going on.

     I found out that Cindy was an orphan, who had three other litter mates, and she was the last one without a home. Her mom had been hit by a car when the pups were three weeks old, so they ended up on the farm. A yellow lab that these people owned nursed the puppies until they were old enough to eat solid food and find new homes.

     I wasn't really prepared to bring home a puppy, but I did. It was August 24, 2004.  It was a hot, humid day.  I remember that when we left work, Dad, Mom, and my niece Emily were waiting in the car. She didn't know about the puppy, and was very surprised and excited. My Mom snapped a picture of her look of delight as I held my tiny puppy in her little blanket.

     When we got home, I got out the cage I had from when we had rabbits. Later, Cindy inherited Emily's playpen! 

     Cindy is half Australian Cattle Dog, half Collie. She acts like the cattle dog most of the time. She is territorial, and loves to bark. ALOT. But she is quieter than she used to be.

     The years have flown by. 

Look how big her leash is! This was from the first week we had her.

She was tiny enough to fit in the cat carrier. This was a day I brought her to work!

This was a day Cindy visited my grandmother. Doesn't she look intelligent?

Cindy liked to chew on the ice left in my tonic cup.

Cindy's first toy, Octoboy! She chewed him to bits, and a second one too.

We called her "Kennel Ration Ears" when her ears were still a little bit floppy.

This was the only day ever that Cindy let me put a bandana  on her neck.

Back in the days when we took off the leash for her to play. After some close calls, we stopped.

Isn't she majestic?

Cindy loves to play ball- this was December 2004, she was only a few months old, but she looks full grown, doesn't she?

One of the best pix I took of Cindy. Yes, she is smiling.

This is my all-time favorite picture of Cindy--from the same photo shoot. I love the color of her eyes, and the way her nose matched her eyes. And look how clean her teeth were!

Cindy, hope you had a great day! 
You are a wonderful pet!