From Solo to Duet

The way we were
 

Mira left us on November 8th, 2012.  We noticed a disturbing breathing pattern on Wednesday evening and less than 24 hours later she was gone.  After extensive testing in search of diagnosis, it was presumed to be Hemangiosarcoma, a particularly aggressive and lethal form of cancer.  Her cancer appeared to have started around the heart and metastasized to the lungs.  There was nothing we could do for her other than to free her from this time space reality and the disease that was taking her life before our eyes.  I sobbed into her luxurious coat and Dave stroked her head as her spirit floated away.

For quite some time before last week, we had decided to welcome a third dog into our home and lives.  Mira was approaching 8 years and Maddie is on the edge of 13 years.  Because I run, I needed to begin to think about how to transition from an able bodied distance partner (Mira) to a younger partner.  We tossed rescue around, we looked at puppies and we were digging into breed options - I wasn't quite sure I wanted another Siberian right now, somehow I thought I might want to experience a different breed.  After many conversations and much research Dave and I both continued to return to the Siberian and we decided to go for a puppy and started talking with the our friend and the breeder of Mira and Magic.  It was set, we were on the list and I actually had picked out two sets of registered and call names for our "puppy to be".  Now all we had to do was wait.

Then Mira left unexpectedly and I find myself without a running partner and Maddie is without canine companionship for the first time in her entire life (we co-bred the litter she came from and they were whelped it our home in Kansas City).

I admit we were in a panic of sorts, between worry for Maddie's enrichment and my own need to have a canine running partner for companionship and safety.  So we began to review our options, again.  We ruled out an adult Siberian rescue, for our purposes, a young puppy that we can mold and bond with from 8 to 10 weeks works best.  We ruled out any rescue other than something that had been fostered in a home environment we trusted to be able to evaluate because we have an older dog in the house that we didn't want stressed unnecessarily  Then there was the puppy option; although a puppy might spark some excitement for Maddie, I would be running solo for 18 - 24 months in order to allow proper growth and maturity thus reducing injury and/or permanent damage of a young dog's body. Solo runs at night and on trails were not an option in my eyes or in Dave's.  So we were brought back to seeking an adult.

We spoke with a breeder of Australian Shepherds that we had previously considered a young adult from and set up a meeting to see him.   It was pretty much love at first sight for Dave and the boy; I was smitten without much further delay.

"Stetson" is lovely, kind, sweet, and looking for a job and people to claim as his own.  We pick him up Saturday and bring him to meet Maddie.  If they like each other and he works out otherwise, we will be back to two dogs and I'll have my running partner (once he is conditioned) again.  Maybe I'll nick name him Duet in her memory, and anticipation of what we will grow to be together. I wish I had a picture to post of him. His eyes are deep and his heart is open; hopefully all that fits into a great match for the four of us.

Mira will be forever missed, she truly gave me wings beneath my feet and patiently guided me along paths and roads that I would never have dreamed of jogging solo.