How Jed Came to Be a Part of Our Family

It all started years ago, when I was just a young girl.  

My parents bought a collie (pictured here with my sister Donna...I know somewhere there are some pictures of me with him, but I couldn't find them today).

He was a beloved part of our family for several years, until his tragic death in the road in front of our house.  When it happened, ALL of us in the family cried.  We never had another dog, but I wanted one.  And he would be a collie, of course.  :)

After Jeff and I were married, we lived in San Diego, and then in Israel--neither of which gave us the opportunity for having a dog.  When we moved back here to Virginia, we thought we'd get a dog; and in fact, we did.  Three of them, to be exact.  Our first dog Mollie (whom we still have, although she is strictly an outdoor dog and roams freely in our pasture) came to us when she was a puppy, carried into the barbershop by a customer whose dog had had puppies and who needed to find homes for them.  She was little, so cute, very sweet...and free.  :)  Our next dog was free, too; in that case, a neighbor's dog had puppies, and he gave us one--our Jasper, who--like the collie of my childhood--met an unfortunate end in the road.  Our third dog, Buddy, was given to us by another set of neighbors because they were moving and couldn't take the dog with them.  Touched by their desperation, we took him; and of course, he was free, too.  After quite a while, we realized that the combination of those three dogs wasn't working well, since Jasper and Buddy were competitive with each other, so we gave Buddy to someone else who was grateful to have him.

I've been glad to have other dogs (and I still have a very special fondness for Mollie, our first dog), but none of them were collies.  None of them were the dog I had been waiting years to have.  

As time went by and I saw how the years were passing and how my boys were growing up without having a dog as a close buddy (of course, they all like Mollie, but that's different than having an indoor dog to pal around with), I began to think more and more about getting a collie.  I discovered that there was a breeder who lived pretty close to us, as a matter of fact; and every time they had a litter of puppies due, I stalked their website.  I stalked it even more after the puppies were born and they were posting pictures of the cute little furballs!  :)  However, the price tag was a huge obstacle:  $600 for a female collie puppy, and $550 for a male one.  For Jeff, who had never paid so much as a dime for any of the dogs he had had throughout his lifetime, that was almost inconceivable to pay that much for a dog.  I saw his point and agreed...but in my heart, I still longed for a collie.  :)

We also looked into a collie rescue organization based in northern Virginia, and Jeff had actually contacted them back in the spring, shortly before Moriah was born; but it didn't work out for us to get a dog that way (which, in hindsight, I was grateful for because who in their right mind gets a new pet when they're nine months pregnant anyway??)  ;-)

A half a year passed, and Moriah was such an easy baby that my thoughts again started to turn to the idea of getting a dog.  It just so happened that the local breeder had another litter of puppies, and my heart leaped.  Maybe we could get one this time?  But the price!

So...Jeff started searching.  Through the good ol' how-did-we-ever-live-without-it internet, he discovered a couple over the mountain from us who had a collie for sale:  a purebred, but one who wasn't registered because, as they told us, his tail has a defect in it.  (We didn't care at all about it not being registered.)  The price?  Only $150.  ;-)  That's still $150 more than Jeff had ever paid for a dog before; but because of his great love for me, he was willing to do it.  :)

Sunday was the day we could pick up the dog, so we enjoyed a GORGEOUS drive over the mountain and marveled at God's good creation as we rolled along.  I'm not sure when the official peak of our fall foliage is supposed to happen; but if that wasn't the peak weekend, it was still close enough to the peak for us.  :)  It was good for the soul to get out and drive on a day like that.

And then, at the end, we got our Jed.  :)  That was the name his owners gave him, but we liked it and decided to keep it.  I have to admit though:  most of the time when I say his name, I still have to think for a second or two to get it right.  My mind starts to say Buddy, or Jasper, or Rex (why Rex? probably because on the day we got him, Shav was pretending to be somebody named Rex, so I was saying Rex a lot on that day...also because Rex means "king" in Latin, and to me, our dog looks so regal).  :)  Today Jeff was calling Jed "Zed."  Oh boy.  :)  Tobin calls Jed "Jeddy" while Josiah insists that his full name is "Jedidiah."  I'm just waiting for one of the boys to tell me it's really "Jedi" (and then his middle name could be "Knight")!  ;-)

When we first saw Jed, he was a little shy; but during the long, beautiful drive back to our home, he was between Tobin and I in the big white van, and we had a chance to bond.  At first Jed stood up and seemed nervous, but he ended up lying down on the seat with his head on my lap.  It was bliss for me.  I just couldn't believe that after so many years, we really had a collie, and he was sitting there beside me, and I was petting him, and he was going home with us!!!

Jed's former owners told us that he was born on March 25 of this year, making him about 7 months old (and also making him just a little older than Moriah).  :)  They said they got him from a breeder back in West Virginia near Seneca Rocks.  Since he's  already 7 months of age, I don't expect Jed to get much taller, but he'll fill out more.  I always did like big dogs better than small ones.  ;-)  (No offense to the small-dog owners who read this...)  :)

We've only had Jed for a few days, but already I've been surprised at how easy the transition has been.  We've avoided some of the puppy problems I expected to have--one of the advantages of getting a dog who's a little older.  For example, Jed is housetrained and hasn't had a single accident.  He hasn't chewed on anybody's shoes or any chair legs.  He doesn't jump up on my parents when they come to our house.  He rarely barks. He doesn't tug wildly at the leash.  He's great!  :)

Well, except for how he sneaks up on the little couch when we're not looking...  ;-)

I'd say the only real issue we have at this point is his herding instinct.  He sometimes "herds" Tobin and Shav, and even has tried to nip at them--not aggressively  but playfully.  I keep a pretty close eye on him when they are around, and I realize that they need to learn how to interact with him so as to not draw out that part of his character.

Oddly, he doesn't go up or down the steps in our house.  Yet.  I expect he'll master that eventually.  For now, however, I'm content with that because it makes it easier to keep track of him.  :)

When we got Jed, the first person in our family that he went to was Josiah.  Josiah is still the one who interacts with him the most: taking him for walks, etc.  I'm really grateful for Josiah's willing help in this area.  This morning, Josiah even said, "Should I get out the vacuum cleaner and vacuum the living room floor now to clean up this dog hair?"  (Isn't he great?)  :)

Here are a few pictures from the past few days...

Jed listening to Josiah practice piano...

Jeff and Tobin playing tug-of-war with Jed...

Two nappers...  :)

On this day, as soon as Jeff got up from the couch to return to work from his lunch break, Jed hopped right up on the couch to lay in that spot...until I shooed him off...  :)

It's amazing how this long, skinny, furry face can put such a smile on mine.  :)

Jeff said yesterday that it's hard to believe this is really true, that Jed is really ours.  I know exactly how he feels.

I'm glad it's not just a dream.

I'm SO glad it's a dream come true!!!!!  :)