Journey

My Early Life

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Baby Journey

I can’t say I particularly like this picture, but this is me at three weeks of age. Guess who is holding me? Yup – Mom! She and her good friend drove all the way to the farm in Newport, WA to meet me and the rest of my litter.

I come from a place called Chandrea Farms. It no longer exists but there is some fun stuff online that gives you an idea about the place. Here’s a link to the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ChandreaFarms/ And another link to an inactive WordPress site that talks about some serious Aussie business: https://chandreafarms.wordpress.com

Chandrea Farms was a wonderful place to be born. The mama dogs and pups lived in the big house. When anybody came through the door we were handed out like candy to be loved and snuggled. The man of the house used to stuff us in his jacket pocket to keep us warm. We learned about how loving people could be before we even opened our eyes.

When it was time for me to go to my forever home, Mom came back to Chandrea Farms to fetch me. By then I was nearly eight weeks old and full of myself. I was out running in the field when she arrived. It was easy to spot me. I was off on my own adventure while the rest of my littermates were running together in the opposite direction.

The nice boss lady who owned Chandrea Farms asked if Mom was sure she wanted a little devil like me. By then Mom had already chosen my name (I’ll tell you more about that later) and there was no doubt that I was going home with my new mom to Asherpark. This is me just before we left the farm.

Young Journey

It was a long drive home – nearly six hours. I cried most of the way and acted like the world was ending. I was scared but also wanted more attention than Mom could give me since she was driving. Soon enough we arrived home and I got to meet my new family. All of a sudden I wasn’t scared anymore. I knew I had ended up exactly where I was supposed to be.

 

 

Journey

Humble Beginnings

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Baby Journey

Once I signed on to help Finn with BarkingProse I thought I should ask him what he wanted me to do. Finn asked me to go back through all our old pictures and find early ones of me as a pup and write about my puppyhood.

At first I was kinda embarrassed to be writing about myself. But Finn said it would give me something to do while I recover from my torn ACL and it could be fun. So here goes.

I was a born in Newport, Washington in May 2015. It’s the same place my Uncle Asher was born. My common breed name is Miniature Australian Shepherd but the AKC classifies me as a Miniature American Shepherd.

I think this AKC stuff is a lot of bunk. We were better off when the AKC didn’t recognize Australian Shepherds and we were part of the herding dog registry. As far as I’m concerned, we’re all Aussies but in case you want more details about my breed here’s a link with lots of information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_American_Shepherd

Finn comes from the same place and is the same breed as me. We are both blue merles, but his coloration is more standard. He would be able to participate in breed conformation competition. Because I have so much white I would be disqualified. By the way – that’s fine with me. I can’t think of anything worse than standing around while a bunch of silly people argue over who has the prettiest dog.

Herding dogs like us Aussies frequently have a genetic mutation known as the MDR1 Mutation.

When a dog has this condition certain common drugs can be like poison and even kill a sensitive dog. Because of that Mom had both me and Finn tested. Finn was clear but I have the mutation. That means I have to be careful what drugs I take and have to avoid common veterinary drugs like Ivermectin.

 

The MDR1 Mutation

Whew, all this serious stuff. I’m gonna close for now with a couple more pictures of me as a little squirt. The next Bark won’t be so serious and I’ll write more about starting life on a farm in the far northeast corner of Washington State.

 

Journey

Help Is On The Way

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Finn

Did ya’ hear the news? I mean did you read Journey’s Bark from yesterday? She’s gonna help me with BarkingProse. It makes me so happy I can’t even find the words. If I had a tail I’d chase myself around in circles – circles of joy.

Not only will Journey help me so I can get a day off once in a while, but she promised to tell about when she was a pup and all the cool stuff she did like riding on a fire truck and hanging out in bars. Really! You don’t know the half of Journey’s life before I came to Asherpark.

I don’t want to spoil her fun so I’m gonna let her tell you herself, but I bet you learn some things about her and Mom you never knew. Okay, okay, I can’t resist. I have to post a teaser pic that I found in the archives. How cool is this??!!

 

Journey and Fireman

I’ll let Journey explain the rest of the story or how she happened to meet the nice fireman. And yes, that’s Mom’s arm holding Journey’s leash in the picture.

Me and Mom and Journey have been talking about what we want to do with BarkingProse going forward. I mean we could just keep doing what we’ve been doing, but BarkingProse has been around for a lot of years. Maybe it needs a new focus. Maybe Mom needs to stop being the editor and become one of us Barkers. And what would that look like? Would she tell stories about all us dogs? Would she tell about herself?

She’s been non-committal about making her own voice heard. I kinda think it would be a fun thing. She’s got some cool pictures you’ve never seen. How about this one? Only thing wrong with it was me and Journey weren’t along for the ride!

At the Ranch