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“Mike has almost an entire litter of blue bitches!” my friend
Carol told me in our weekly Maine to California conversation. She was getting one. “Why don’t you get one, too? It will be fun to have litter sisters!” Carol knew that there was a hole in the house since we’d lost Oliver. There’s nothing like a puppy to cheer things up.
Zuzu was in Tennessee so we arranged to have her flown into Boston, two and a half hours south of where we live. That way she wouldn’t have to change planes. We’d had good luck flying dogs and apparently it was time to pay our dues. Zuzu wasn’t on the flight and the cargo staff didn’t know where she might be. Hours later they located her... back home in Portland, Maine. When we finally got back to Maine we found Zuzu in her crate behind the ticket counter. Airline employees had done their best to make her comfortable with an airplane blanket and pillow
Because the litter had been born on Christmas day, Mike asked that the puppies be named with holiday names. I named my puppy “Southland Christmas Carols” because music is such an important part of the holidays for me, and the “Carol” part of the name is a sort of thank you to Carol for ..... (Carol named her puppy Southland Sleigh Ride.)
Zuzu’s call name comes from the Christmas movie “It’s A Wonderful Life”, in which Jimmy Stewart’s little daughter is named Zuzu.
Zuzu has taken me on many adventures. As well as points towards her AKC championship, she has American and Canadian obedience titles, three levels of rally titles, a herding instinct certification, the most advanced backpacking title, a carting title, our first American Working Collie Association Versatility Excellent title, and an now we’re having fun with tracking. Is there a tracking title in the future? Who knows. I only know we’re having an absolute ball!
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