8 State Hurricane Kate

CHASE

Chase (ACD-X, Virginia) rehomed in Minnesota, with me in May of 2006

We think that Chase is a red heeler/ Collie mix. He was dropped off at my friend Sarah’s rescue in western Virginia early in 2006. Sarah and I met in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. We had both gone down to help care for rescued animals and became good friends after our experience there. After we returned home (I to Minnesota and Sarah to Virginia) we stayed in contact. I had taken home a rescued cattle dog (Kate) to care for her. Sarah’s shelter had taken in 20 rescued animals from Louisiana and Mississippi.

I was amazed at all that Sarah accomplished through her rescue organization, Lost Fantasy Stables and Animal Rescue. I started to help her apply for grants to help support her the animals in her care. One day I logged onto her website (www.lostfantasystables.com) to get information for a grant application. Up popped “Fred”, who was listed as an Australian Cattle Dog/Sheltie mix. He didn’t look very happy in those early photos.

Fred’s photo from Sarah’s website:

His somewhat unusual coloring and markings were very much like my dog Rainbow, who had died unexpectedly in an accident after I returned from Louisiana. I was looking for another dog who would get along with my then 2 year old Australian Cattle Dog (red heeler), Bandit, who can be a bit of a bully. I asked Sarah a lot of questions about Fred to determine whether he and Bandit might get along. We decided that Fred would be a good addition to my family.

Sarah told me that Fred had been dropped off by a very angry man. He had stuffed the dog into a small chicken crate and thrown it into the back of his truck. He told Sarah that he was going to shoot the dog if she didn’t take him because Fred had been chasing sheep (just imagine a herding dog wanting to chase something!!). She said that Fred shook in fear for a very long time after the guy left. She held Fred in her lap to comfort him. She told me that this man had been in the habit of dumping his wife’s dogs when he got mad at her. She suspected that this dog had belonged to his wife. When she ran into the woman in town, she mentioned Fred, but got no response. So, Fred had been with Sarah for about 3 months when I spotted him. She had a number of her own dogs already and needed to find him a permanent home.

We organized a transport to deliver Fred from Virginia to Minnesota. Twelve volunteers (including Sarah and me) drove him through VA, WV, KY, OH, IN, IL, WI, and MN to bring him to his new home. He stayed overnight in Indiana with Laura on Saturday and arrived in Minnesota the Sunday evening of Memorial weekend, along with another cattle dog (blue heeler) Tas who was going to his new foster home in Minnesota.

Fred on the road:

Fred was renamed “Chase”. His official name is “Lost Fantasy’s Chasin’ Rainbow”. At first, Chase and Bandit had a few scuffles to get things figured out. Then they became fast friends. We live on 5 acres with a large fenced-in field for the dogs to run. They love to play chase games and wrestle together. They both also love to play ball. In his new home, Chase has been to obedience classes, has tried agility and tracking, and has become a very good (supervised!) sheep herder. I can tell that he had some natural sheep herding ability, which he improved during his freelancing stint. Chase is a very smart herding dog who needed to find a home where he gets enough exercise (and, of course, love). He just needed to find the right outlets for his energy and intelligence. He is starting to let his personality out more and come into his own. He is a handsome and very sensitive boy!

Doesn’t he look much happier now?