Maddy: The Arrival

Maddy appeared on my doorstep 10 days ago. She looked and acted like "my dog" from the beginning. Soulful eyes met mine and said "I'm yours!" I haven't had a one-on-one bond with a dog like this for a very long time. Suddenly I was swept into a land of unconditional love, a wonderful country to be in.

Maddy is very compact, with a black body highlighted with merle and copper points. Her ears stand up (and go in all directions) and she has a long tail. I don't know if she's purebred, but she is cattle dog to the core. I've known a few. They have a rep of being hard-headed and tough, in constant action, as busy as a Border Collie except they'll smash right into and over you. 

It only took two days for Maddy to take over the bed (and my life!). Fortunately my cat Isabel isn't afraid of dogs; she likes them better than cats, I think. They have become fast friends.

Her leaping prowess is quite amazing. She loves to sit on the patio table where she can keep an eye on flocks of birds that visit the feeder less than 30 feet away. She stared at them with an intensity that's admirable. In the car, she wedges herself into the back window and gazes soulfully at me, or sticks her head way out the window to emulate a drinker of the wind. In my truck, she likes to ride shotgun on the center console, but it's slippery and she's taken a dive more than a few times. (Need to get a nonslip surface up there.) And when the rear sliding window is open, she'll poke her head out and if the truck isn't moving, she'll shoot in and out of the truck bed.

Maddy comes when called, sits and is generally a "good dog", although I think we'll be in for some obedience training. She could be a star in Agility, and we'll work toward that goal. She's bright and always thinking several steps ahead of me.... she intuitively knows what's going on.

My friend, animal communicator Sharon Callahan (www.anaflora.com) says that "An angel just pushed her off a cloud." I believe that my kitty Sophia, who made her transition at age 18 on Christmas Eve, may have had something to do with that. I'd been thinking that a new cat might be coming into my life, but the Universe had other plans.

Got cattle?