Roxy - Praying for Rocky

First off, I'm not really 99, I'm 2, but MySpace says you have to be at least 14, but I think that's irrelevant since I'm a dog! Anyway, I am a fun loving Border Collie (we think). The vet seems to think I'm a purebred Border Collie (it's a tail, coloring and body build thing) but we herding dogs can be hard to tell apart unless we have papers and know who our parents are since we share so many of the same traits. Lots of people ask about my coloring since it's so distinctive, depending on whose answer you go with it's either Blue and White or Lilac Tricolor. I live in Park City, UT with my Mom, Melissa. Melissa adopted me last July from Central Utah Wag-N-Train Dog Rescue and Training in Gunnison, UT (www.wagntrain.org) after her last dog Chuckles died from Cancer. I was just 12 weeks old when I came to my new home in Park City. My mom tells me it was a great story about how she came to find me so I'll share it with you . . . Chuckles passed away and that night my mommy went over to a friends house to get some needed cheering up. She knew she couldn't live without a dog and they started looking online at Petfinder.com for adoptable dogs that night. She knew she wanted a young Australian Shepherd (Chuckles was an Aussie/Terrier Mix) or a Border Collie. Since she lives in Park City she wanted an active dog that she could take hiking, skiing, jogging, swimming and do other fun stuff with. My profile was one of the first ones she looked at, but I was 2.5 hours away in Gunnison, so she kept looking. After looking online, she starting visting shelters, rescue groups and adoption agencies in the Salt Lake City area looking for a puppy. After several days of meeting 100's of dogs, but just not finding the one for her, she sent an e-mail to the nice people taking care of me at Wag-N-Train. They had some bad news for her though, another nice lady had already said she would adopt me and was coming to pick me up the next day. The nice lady who runs Wag-N-Train emailed Melissa pictures and bios of some other dogs that needed to be rescued, but they were just not the right fit. They had her fill out an application anyway so in case the right dog came along they would already know she was approved to adopt (Mom said it was almost like filling out a college/job application since she needed 3 references to make sure she would make good dog parent, but she was glad to know they wouldn't just give dogs to anyone). Melissa wanted to help them and to thank Wag-N-Train for all of their time, so she made a small donation to help buy toys and food for the dogs they were fostering. The next night she got a phone call from Wag-N-Train saying that the lady who was supposed to adopt me just couldn't do it (apparently she had just lost a dog too and after breaking into tears when she met me she decided she wasn't ready to adopt). Melissa said of course she wanted me and would come get me right away. It was a Friday night and I was going camping with my foster parents for the weekend so she made the arrangements to pick me up on Monday. She tells me that when she saw me, she immediately knew I was the one for her. She signed all of the papers, I said my goodbyes, she put me in my car harness and we made the long ride home. I tried to stay awake to see everything, but I had to take a few naps along the way since it had been such an eventful day and I was really tired. My foster family had named me Pebbles since I had a lot of grey spots on my coat, but Melissa thought that name was a little too girly and decided that she needed to give me a new name. It was kind of funny how she came up with my name. It was a combination of three things. First it was tribute to Pebbles (You know, little Rocks), second one of her favorite bands is Roxy music (we listened to them on the drive home) and finally in her quest to find me she had seen a dog named Roxy who looked exactly like her friend's dog Reggie. So my name is Roxy! From the day she picked me up we've been constant companions. I get to go everywhere with her and I've traveled to Jackson Hole, Las Vegas, Colorado and to California many times. I'm training right now to be a therapy dog, but as you can probably tell I'm still somewhat distracted by other dogs. I have a really great life and I can't wait to meet lots of other dogs so I can hear their great stories too!