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Kiki was only 6 weeks old on the day we saw her cradled in the arms of a young man on a street corner in the tiny community of Estacada. I had been mourning the loss of my Chow/Golden Retriever cross dog, Baby, and Adam thought it was time to cheer me up by adding a Border Collie puppy to our happy home. Earlier, we had seen a sign at a farm near Estacada, advertising Border Collie puppies for sale, hence the reason for our commute to that picturesque area. Unfortunately for me, all the puppies had found homes, and we were heading home with heavy hearts.
As we passed through the downtown area of Estacada, I saw the most adorable puppy being held by a young man. She reminded me of a dog I once was blessed to live with and love, and so I asked my hubby to stop so we could find out if there might be any littermates of this adorable fluffball still available. The young man informed me that his own particular fluffball was the last of the litter; they had all found new homes. He told me of her heritage, which included Chow Chow and German Shepherd. He then went on to tell me that he needed to find a home for his puppy, as he couldn't keep her where he was living. Eureka! Here was about the cutest pup we'd ever seen, and the young man said that we could have her. Adam said "yes", we gave the young man some money, and soon we were on our way home with a fuzzy bear of a pup wriggling in my lap.
The first thing we did was take her to the vet, as it was apparent that she was totally infested with fleas. Before she ever came home, she was started on Advantage, de-wormed, and received her first puppy shots. The vet's office is located in a large pet supply store, so the young pup also received a collar and other supplies. One of my cutest memories of Kiki's first day with us was a little boy of about 4 or 5 who walked up to us as we carried Kiki around the store and asked, "Is that a BEAR???"
Next we had to choose a name for her. I wanted a name that showed that she is a lucky, loved dog, so Adam went to work searching the Internet for just the right name for our fuzzy puppy. After researching dozens of names, we found just the right one in "Kiki", from Sumerian mythology, meaning "Earth Goddess".
Kiki has grown up to be about the bounciest, sweetest-natured family dog anyone could ever ask for. She's shy with strangers, despite constant socialization in a city setting, but if approaced slowly and quietly, she soon accepts everyone except small children. For some reason, she refuses to tolerate them near her. She adores her entire family and smothers us with affection and sloppy dog kisses, but her greatest love is reserved for Adam. My husband quickly grew to love Kiki's dignified yet affectionate personality and the way her pointy ears show her moods. Most of Adam's childhood and adult years were filled with the love of a Bearded Collie named Zero. When Zero died at about age 20, Adam missed him dearly. Kiki has helped fill that void in Adam's heart. Now he has a new dog to love and shower with attention. I have my hands full with our Border Collies, so Adam and Kiki are happy to belong to each other.
Besides her family, Kiki loves belly-rubs, playing with balls and chew toys, and riding in cars. Her favorite activity is going on long walks where she can bounce along, enjoying the people, animals, sights and smells that she comes into contact with along the way. She is a very strong, compact, heavy dog for her short stature, and we suspect she might enjoy pulling activities if introduced to them properly. She certainly enjoys pulling Adam along at the end of a leash!
So this is Kiki's story. Like many, many lucky dogs in the world, she lives a simple life, doted on by her family and looking forward with joy to each new day filled with the promise of adventure, good food, happy times and love. What more could anyone ask for?