Yacky

We have always been a one dog family. Right now we have a 5yo golden retriever. She's a good girl, but she has a few health problems. We THINK we're narrowing it down to allergies, but that's not for certain. Over the last couple years she has had a lot of ear infections, she's covered in lumps (which thankfully are benign) and scabs (from sores that grow and rupture). Both of these things are apparently common in this breed, or so we've been told. She has periods where it's harder for her to get up, but she eats well and has a lot of spunk outside most of the time. Basically, she seems to be aging fast =( My mom had a retriever with the lumps, sores, scabs, hard to get up, etc and he just died last year around the age of 14 so she may have a long time to go! She loves to go for rides, loves to run and be with you outside, she loves to chase balls and sticks, but refuses to bring them back to you! LOL!

Anyway, all this to say, it has come to our attention that there is a 4 year old australian shepherd looking for a home. The woman has had her since birth, actually her daughter had the momma dog. She got divorced, moved into a trailer home, and wants the dog to have somewhere with room to run and children to play with. She also has a 12yo Rott and she knows he won't relocate well so that leaves her to find a home for the aussie. It's GREAT with children (she has grandkids), very smart and trainable, and sounds like a very good girl. She hasn't told anyone else about this dog, and really wants her to come to us.

We have a 13yo who is a horse lover. She bought a horse this summer and she, myself, and my step-mom are currently working together to train her. That takes a good portion of her free time. Our 9yo is somewhat apprehensive and stays back. She's a tad fearful, and just doesn't have "the love" that her sister has for horses. She loves quiet projects such as writing books, drawing, coloring, etc. That's great, I can encourage that, but she also has symptoms of ADHD, and has tourette-like tics that she suffers from. I have been searching for and praying about a good "project" that she can focus her mind and extra energy into. I think it would be wonderful for her to get a couple of dog agility books and videos and work on setting up courses, and teaching and working with a pet! She has tried to do this with our retriever in the past, but of course, to do that you need a willing participant, AND as I said, we do not! LOL!

This could be a great thing for her! On the other hand, it's one more mouth to feed, one more set of shots, etc.... My husband and I are discussing. He's always been a "one dog man". He's concerned that two will run more and listen less.

On the other hand, he saw an aussie at a customers house a few months back and came home and told me that he thought he wanted one.....he was just figuring that time would be when Bailey was gone! He's not against this one.....we just want to make the right choice!

Some other information....we also have a 3yo and a 1yo. We live on 40acres. Besides the horse we have a steer, an outdoor cat, chickens, and may soon have more steer and a heifer. We are a homeschooling family so the children and I are home most of the time.

The woman who has her said that we could try it, and if it didn't work out we could give her back. However, we would much prefer to do our research, make our decision, and stick to it if we can, eliminating added stress and heartache on both the dog, and the family!

Thoughts?