Meet Holly Mercier

We adopted a dog today! Yay for us! We had actually not made up our minds about whether or not we wanted a pet, but then J stumbled upon a dog named Holly while he was doing some research on animal welfare. Holly is a stunningly beautiful border collie from the pound. She is three years old, and she ended up at the pound because her owners moved to a place where they weren't allowed to have pets. They came back and changed their mind several times, so they must really have loved her. Unfortunately, she has a grade 4 heart murmur, which means that she can't be exercised too hard, and will need some extra care. When J saw the listing on the SPCA website, he was immediately concerned that no one would adopt her with such a serious condition, especially since it prevents her from being spayed (because she can't go under general anaesthesia) and that she would have to be euthanized.

For those of you who don't know, we had a border collie named Callie before we moved here, and my mom very kindly adopted her when we left. She is a wonderful dog, and I think she and my mom are happy together now, which is wonderful. But the point is that we are predisposed to liking border collies.

We weren't 100% sure what we wanted to do, but we decided that we absolutely needed to go and see her. When we showed up at the pound, we told the lady there that we were interested in Holly. She looked sad and said, "She's the nicest dog, and everyone loves her, but she has a heart murmer..." J reassured her that he is a vet and could take care of her, and her face lit up and she practically jumped out of her seat to take us right over to Holly and tell us all about how great she is. It made both of us feel good about it, that she is the type of dog that people care about that much.

We both really liked her right from the start, and we were glad to find that she can actually run around a bit and get excited without seeming to make herself uncomfortable. It seems like we'll need to keep it to short walks, or make sure to rest for a while in the middle, but that she can still participate in nice activies. Since we're so busy anyway, I think that will suit us very well. So... Holly became Holly Mercier, and we're very happy!

This is Holly on the way to the pet store from the pound. We had the back window on the other side open for her, but she was determined to catch the wind out of my front window, so she jammed her face in between the window and the seat and looked like she'd never been happier.

While J went and bought some necessary dog things, Holly and I went for a walk. This is her watching another dog run by. Notice the cute little white marks on her paws - she has at least a little white on all of them.

I thought that Holly couldn't look happier than she had in the car, but then I scratched under her ear. She leaned back, closed her eyes, lolled out her tongue, and was the picture of doggy bliss.

When we got her home, Holly enthusiastically explore our yard while J and I did a little cleaning and maintenance to make sure that she'd be safe and happy. She seemed to be pacing herself a bit - she'd run around for about 5 minutes, then lay in the shade for about 5 minutes, then go back to exploring.

There are some birds that fly under the overhang of our porch, and Holly was thrilled to chase them, although it seemed clear that she knew that she was never going to catch them.

After we were all hot and tired from being outside, we showed Holly around the house, and she is now contentedly alternating between sleeping and watching me type.

In case the pictures have not adequately proved it, I would like to point out that Holly is an amazingly winning and beautiful dog, and we are lucky to have her. I also think that she is lucky to have J, because she will get the best care possible for the rest of her life.