We’ve had an unexpected addition to our family. When Charlie and I came home from the Cow Country Congress in October it was a dark and foggy night. As the headlights of the truck turned toward the front of the camper, something white popped up on deck. I jumped a bit until we both realized it was a dog sitting there greeting us. We’ve had other stray dogs and cats wander up to our deck before and they usually wander back off as quickly as they appeared. This dog was different. She seemed well mannered and fairly well cared for. We tried to ignore her that night – even though we did put a bowl of fresh water out. We went to bed and woke up to terrible thunderstorms and winds from a front blowing in. In the morning we opened the camper door to find that silly dog sitting on the deck waiting for us. Apparently she stayed safe and dry protected by deck and covered by the RV. She enjoyed coffee time on the deck even though Charlie tried to ignore her. Charlie took her for his morning walk to see how she acted around the cows and horses. She stayed beside Charlie and didn’t chase any of the animals in the pasture. She didn’t bark at them either – at least not until one of the cows was moving too quickly to her liking toward Charlie. That afternoon I had to “run to town” for some groceries and decided to buy some puppy food. I couldn’t let her go hungry. When I came home, Jason had shown up with dog food because Charlie had sent him a text and asked him to bring some over. The puppy was growing on Charlie!

The grand kids came over for the afternoon and the puppy fit right in playing with them. She was also extremely gentle with all of the kids.

Scarlett and the puppy bonded quickly and went wandering through the front pasture.

When we headed home to the city, we decided to take her with us after checking with all of the neighbors to see if she had wandered off from one of their properties. While we were pretty sure that she had been dropped off by someone – dumped on our country road – we were still trying not to get too attached. However, we were beginning to talk about giving her a name. Charlie came up with “Shadow” because that is exactly what she was. Every step of the way, she was right beside us.  Once we were home, we took her to see if she had an identity chip but she did not. We took her back to the country the next weekend but still no one claimed her. We officially had adopted a rescue pup, or Shadow had rescued us!

As you can see, Shadow has a favorite to ride in the truck! She quickly made herself right at home in the house (and on the couch). Mia Bella (matriarch cat of the house) is becoming accustomed to Shadow’s presence – perhaps not happy but tolerating her. Charlie and I are enjoying this new addition to our family. She is a definitely sweetie! She loves our trips to the property and we’ll be a perfect country dog when we move there permanently!

Next post…the latest news on our property…