Kitsel
	Gender: Female Age: 1 Year Foster Home: Bill and Jean

Kitsel came to us through the GLBCR system from a shelter in Newago, MI, near Traverse City, MI. She wandered into an oil change garage one day from somewhere, and those folks took her to the shelter. She was pretty young, perhaps a year old, and pretty confused after getting lost and spending a month or so in the shelter where she was going crazy. We got her home and she settled down pretty quickly with some attention, room to run, and some decent food. She got along fine with our then, old gal BC, Jill, and seemed to have a fair bit of sheep sense, but very undisciplined. She also was very eager with children whenever they were around. Our best guess was that she was lost or dropped at a rest stop perhaps along I-75 and was part of a family with young children.

Long story short, we decided to adopt Kitsel ourselves. We still had a few old sheep at that point, lots of dog room (25 acres of yard and attached field). Kitsel has turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable companion. We finally got rid of the sheep (long story) but she turned out to be just as fascinated with the volley ball game. She’s a smallish dog and couldn’t really get the ball in her jaws, but took to “herding” it into submission after a good long kick from the humans, and then “possessing” it while she daintly but aggressively stripped its cover off. Balls had about a one month life. We later learned to get the smaller number one sized balls and not pump them up hard so Kitsel could get them in her bite without jaw strain and without puncturing them. They now last much longer until she finally tears a hole through the cover and gets the bladder. The humans get a good exercise session in this game, as Kitsel does not bring the ball back, she takes it to a “den” spot to work on it, but willingly gives it up for another big kick and outrun. We have a small slope in the yard and she will sit at the top in full “down” crouch waiting for the kick, then catch it and “nose” it back down the hill for another kick. Great goaltender.

Jill, our old gal, finally had to be put down and we adopted another rescue dog, Macy. (See Happy Tails 2009) This has worked out really well as they play together like sisters. Kitsel remains our smallish soft furred kinda shy, but intense little girl. She has an independent streak and isn’t the quickest to seek out our company, preferring her own little den spots in the house. She will always go into tummy rub mode if we smooch her in the evening, but heads for a den spot to spend the night. We haven’t crated her since very early on after she proved to be house broken. She still takes to kids eagerly, perhaps still looking to see if the original ones have returned. She has turned out to be an eager hunter of moles and voles that populate the high mowed grass in the field. Watching her evokes images of a little black and white fox out there doing the classic pounce leaps. She gets her share of them. She also likes playing and digging in the water in the drainage ditch at the back of the field and occasionally comes back looking like the miniature “creature from the black lagoon”. No big deal, they wash. I’d rather let her have her fun.

In all, we’re almost glad the first adoption didn’t work out and we had a chance to adopt her ourselves. She’s been a super companion and a joy to have in the family.

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