This past weekend I packed up my RV and trailer and left my summer Santa Fe, New Mexico location for my annual winter retreat in Phoenix, Arizona. It was starting to get a bit chilly in Santa Fe and the art festivals in the Phoenix area are just starting to get underway.
I didn’t leave Santa Fe alone this year and had the pleasure of sharing my ride with my new copilot Scrappy. A blue heeler Australian cattle dog, this little fellow started hanging around my RV in July looking for scraps of food. He soon had his own chair and eventually started hanging around for companionship in addition to the treats I would give him.
He lived on the horse ranch next to me. Being a puppy he was small enough – and smart enough – to figure out ways to escape his yard and visit me by digging under the fence or squeezing through holes in it. He started to learn my schedule and the sound of my pickup truck and many times would be either sitting on the road or would be sleeping in his chair waiting for me to return.
By late August/early September Scrappy was a regular visitor but then he all of a sudden stopped coming over for a few days. I had been hearing coyotes at night and feared the worse, as it didn’t seem like the ranch let him in at night very often. When he did return he wasn’t the same Scrappy for a couple days – he wouldn’t eat and seemed skittish. My guess is he either got beat up by another dog or ate something that made him sick, or both. It was after that incident that I really started considering adopting Scrappy.
It wasn’t until 2 weeks before I was to leave that I finally had the courage to ask the rancher if I could adopt Scrappy. This puppy was so well behaved and docile, I thought there was no way the rancher would give him up. After a week of waiting, and just days before I left, he gave me the ok. I was now the proud parent of an adopted 6 month old blue heeler.
I have had dogs most of my life, but none has sought me out and adopted me before I adopted them like this one did. So far he is never far away, often using my feet as a pillow during his afternoon naps. This little guy is a special one and I look forward to bringing him along on my numerous photo and RV adventures.
You can see more photos of Scrappy as I upload them here.