A message from Kathie: On October 2nd, I received an email with tragic news about the breeder of my puppy, Tighe. The DesMoines Register carried the headline, "Rural Ogden woman found dead in well; likely tried to save puppy. Click here to read the article.

Marcia touched my life and as the days went by, I wanted to write our story.

MARCIA GAVE ME A GIFT

It was March 2010 when I filled out the Puppy Questionnaire for Marcia King-Brink and Windmill Farm. Now I was driving to Ogden, Iowa to meet Marcia, her dog Keeva, and the four-week-old pups. Keeva was a bit protective of her first litter and wary of me as a stranger. I sat quietly on a bale of hay until she had inspected me and been reassured by Marcia that I was no threat to her young puppies. The “Fabulous Five” were just waking up as Marcia called, “puppy, puppy, puppy…”

Twelve years ago when our Golden Retriever, Murphy, was dying of cancer, I knew I wanted to introduce a puppy to our household before the big dog was gone. I had had a Border Collie mix when I was younger and missed the smartness and working attitude of the herding breed. Murphy was lovable and had a great heart, but intelligence was not his strong suit. I don’t remember how I discovered the English Shepherd breed, but I was lucky enough to find a female ES puppy from a breeder in Florida.

Josey became our “nearly perfect” dog, friendly, fearless, biddable and beautiful. She survived a skunk spray, killed young raccoons, and waited patiently as I pulled Porcupine quills from her muzzle. Last fall, when she was 12 years old, a neighbor’s Husky viciously attacked her. Marcia heard the story of how I bathed her wounds, removed dead hide and bandaged her with baby diapers. The recovery was slow as the winter months crawled by. She was making good progress, when she tore her ACL chasing deer in the February snow. I realized then that her time with us would be limited, and I knew I wasn’t ready to be without an English Shepherd in my life.

Marcia put me on the definite list, and I watched the on-line postings of the pups as they opened their eyes, explored life close to Keeva’s side and were named for comic book super heroes. Because Josey was sable and white, I was partial to the two sable pups, but Marcia had been teaching me about “right fit” for our household. One of the pups would be selected for SAR training (search and rescue), so we had to wait until they had matured enough for that pup to be chosen.

We shared our stories as women commonly do. Both of us were in our fifties and married to older men. Her husband (DH Kenny) farmed, and mine grew up on a farm. I learned that DH sometimes stood for darling husband, and we laughed about the other meanings. I had taken early retirement at age 55, and Marcia said she was thinking of starting phased retirement in January 2012.

In July, Marcia called to ask me if I would like Redstone, the big shaded sable boy in the litter. Of course, my answer was yes. He would become my second English Shadow, registered Tighe Redstone of Windmill Farm.

Marcia continued to counsel me about puppy training and neutering and asked for progress reports and photos. His littermates, Sage, Maya, Topaz and Aurora (Rori) would carry Marcia’s love and training too.

Now, when it is time for Tighe to come to me, “puppy, puppy, puppy” is still his favorite call, and I hear Marcia’s voice as I watch the love and joy in his face as he runs to me.