How It All Began, or I Was Just Thinking About Getting a Dog

It all started with a phone call on a cold and rainy day in January 2012:

My friend and now-roommate: You remember how you said you were thinking about getting a dog?

Me: Uh, yeah.

Roommate: Do you want a dog?

Me: Uh, what?

It turns out my roommate had found two dogs abandoned on the side of the road out in the middle of nowhere (my roommate was doing home-health at the time and had a patient out that way). My roommate had managed to get the dogs in her van and was on her way back into town with them. After a few more 'uh's' from me I told her to bring the dogs by and we'd brainstorm as to what to do with them.

Well, when she called me to tell me she was in front of my apartment I went outside to see the dogs. And as soon as I saw them I told her she could have warned me. They were beyond cute.

This is the first picture I took:

Darcy is the one on the left. We think the two dogs were siblings as they were about the same size. After much discussion I decided to take Darcy in as her brother was more high-energy than she was. We found a nice family to take him in a couple of days later and Darcy and I were off to the races. I had two weeks solid with her as I was in between jobs and I just want to say I had no idea what to do with her. I'd grown up with cats and had never owned a dog in my life.

And I just want to say I've probably made every mistake in the book with her at one time or another but I'm learning. Right now we're in private training and it's going very well. Each week I get a one-on-one with a trainer so I can tell her what's going on and what I'm doing and in turn get direction. It's been a huge help for me as Darcy has developed some aggression issues mainly relating to establishing territory and being over-protective of me.

She's a collie-Australian Sheppard mix though I'm not entirely certain of that as she is a rescue. Those two breeds are high-energy yet highly-intelligent. Darcy has huge potential and she gets better the more I do the right things with her. She's very sweet and loving and I just want her to be able to focus her energy and intelligence on good behavior.

Darcy's taught me not to give up on her (the day I had to put a muzzle on her was one of the worst of my life, but that's another story for another time) and not to give up on myself. I've never thought of myself as an Alpha personality but with Darcy I'm slowly learning how to be.

Now, my original intent back in January of 2012 was to go to the shelter and liberate some older small dog that would be good for apartment living. Instead I got a 55-pound high-energy dog who would probably do better with a house in the country or with an owner who can take her jogging. Instead, she's got an apartment in the city and an owner who's never going to take up jogging. But she loves me and I love her and together we're making it work.

Sleepy Darcy - not something she does too often