Three months after Felix, our old Collie, left us, it was time to find a new companion for Horatio  -  and for me and Judy, my wife. The nearest available OES rescue was in a Southern California shelter, where the rescue agency was unwilling to consider sending her out of the State, let alone to Canada. We luckily had a close friendship with a member of the OES-L list in California who often worked closely with Southern California Rescue.  Her plea on our behalf convinced them to let her travel across California to evaluate the dog.

Meeting and falling for the loving but emaciated Shelby, Ann Rambaud took her home to foster while we made arrangements to complete the adoption. A week later, on Canada's Thanksgiving Day, October 10, 1998, Ann tearfully parted from Shelby when she sent her northward by air to Calgary, where I awaited our new family member.

Reaching home in Saskatchewan the next morning, Shelby met Judy, quickly became Horatio's friend and playmate and a family companion, but refused to tolerate our cats! The potential chew-toys resorted to self-exile in the basement, until months later we induced the critters to co-exist in relative peace.

Coming freshly shorn into the bitter Saskatchewan winter, our California Girl attracted attention on our daily walks by wearing one of my sweat shirts until she gained normal weight and her coat grew back. Unaccustomed to the restraint of a leash, Shelby dragged constantly until we eventually learned the value of a Gentle Leader. She also proved to be a traveller, escaping my hold more than once, leading to hours of searching, tracking paw prints in the snow. On several such occasions she found her own way home while I was still hunting for her.

Two years later, caring for and being loved by Shelby and her buddy, Horatio became my anchor to stability after the sadness of Judy's untimely death.

But who could have guessed that a year later, Shelby and Ann would be re-united, as they became part of our newly combined family, together with Horatio and Ann's Penny and Chester, in our new home in Western Canada? Brought together through the magic of the internet, Ann and I have a new life, with Shelby and her fellow-rescue, Penny, contributing their love and enthusiasm to our home.