Softies

We kept a cyberspace eye on the "hard to place" runt for a couple of weeks more, even called the breeder - no takers. But we did find out that our guy was  actually 10 months old, having been returned for a refund, and no longer in the best bargaining position when a new litter of half-siblings were his competition.

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Our long-distance, dispassionate pragmatism was starting to come apart at the seams, and the Skagit Valley Highland Games & Celtic Festival in Mt. Vernon finished it off. While watching Border Collies compete in the sheep trials we were completely blown away by a two-year-old male who didn't place, but the rapport with the commands of his lady guardian...priceless. And that wasn't all.


Even more than that, her exhausted "kid" jumped into her lap for a rub down, as we were kudoing their performance. Public displays of affection were never our alpha girl Molly's thing.

"Oh, yeah," she said, "Border Collie males are way more affectionate than females, real softies, at least those that I've worked with. They just want to please...look at my love junky here." That got my attention. Just had to go check on Bob.