My husband and I arrived at the Rescue Ranch late in 2019 because we decided we were finally ready for another dog after losing our 18-year-old Border Collie, Panda. We saw online that RR had a small, young, calm, Border Collie female for adoption. We were intrigued, because calm was not in the description we would use when describing Panda. We had loved his intelligence and character, but his ADHD was overwhelming at times.
Intentions aside, our visit to RR resulted in a completely different outcome than we would have ever expected. Upon arrival we were told the Border Collie of our initial interest already had two families applying for her. We didn’t want to fall in love with an unavailable pup, so didn’t even go visit her. Instead, we asked if there were any similar pups to check out. Rick was very clever in suggesting we walk around the facility to see if any of the residents peaked our interest. He also showed us pictures of litters of pups that would soon be available, but we weren’t ready to go through puppyhood again after our experience with ADHD Panda.
We started our self-guided tour of the RR. Many of the dogs seemed triggered by my husband’s big beard and hat, until we walked by one kennel with a white and brown Pit-mix dog just calmly laying near the back. When we stopped to look at her, she gently got up, walked to the fence, and put her paws up to greet us. She looked at us softly with her beautiful American Bulldog eyes (ringed with messy black eyeliner). Right then Rick walked up with a leash and asked if we wanted to take her for a walk. He said he didn’t know much about her because she had just arrived from Siskiyou animal control after being found months before wandering and starving in N CA. They only knew she was shy, gentle, submissive and couldn’t be in a household with poultry.
We took a walk with her around the track at the Ranch and she had perfect manners. My husband was nursing a knee injury at that time and so we stopped at a picnic table near the track to rest it. When he sat down, our new 62-lb. acquaintance, at the time known as Tootsie, crawled into his lap and laid her head in the crook of his neck. He looked at me and said, “I think she just adopted us!”
Once we introduced her to our grandchildren and my brother’s Labrador, and all went well, we made arrangements to adopt her. We still couldn’t believe how gentle, calm, and loving she was for a pup who had spent months in a cage at
animal control after obviously surviving abuse and abandonment at the hands of her previous owner(s). We decided her name should reflect her origin and renamed her Cali.
Cali quickly became the perfect canine companion, other than her initial separation anxiety that told us she’d had too much trauma in her past. Only a few months after her adoption, Covid hit and my husband and I had to work from home for the next sixteen months. Even though quarantine tough for us humans, it was a blessing for Cali, as she overcame her separation anxiety and cemented her place in our hearts. My husband took her through advanced training and that, plus her realization that we weren’t going to abandon her, allowed her to become a secure, confident member of our family.
Cali is the most expressive pup we have ever been around. She constantly makes us laugh with her antics, and tells us exactly how she feels at all times with her body language and facial expressions. She talks and wiggles when excited, greets everyone with a toy in her mouth, thinks everyone is her friend and is specifically present to visit with her, and loves to chase yellow tennis balls (apparently her favorite color). She has multiple family members vying to be her godparent, and always attracts attention wherever she goes with her good manners, calm demeanor, beauty, and affectionate personality.
Cali is a joyful companion, and we feel blessed that RR rescued her so that she was available that day five years ago when we planned to adopt a Border Collie. She couldn’t be more different than the pup we thought we wanted, but we are thankful for fate (and Rick at Rescue Ranch) for bringing her into our lives!
~ L. Elizabeth
