Maya & Mia Meet

Maya and Mia are 6-year old Australian Shepherds. Maya came to us as a puppy in August 2003 and Mia arrived recently after completing her show-dog and breeding time. We were pleased that Heartland Kennels was willing to part with Mia so she could come and live with her sister on Salt Spring Island. The trick was how Mia was going to get all the way from south-east Nebraska to our little Island in British Columbia.

We were pleased that our friends at Bluegrass Kennels in South Dakota (http://www.bluegrasskennels.com/) and Heartland Kennels in Nebraska (http://www.heartlandminiaussies.net/) were able to introduce us to Debi of 4 Paws Miniature Aussies in Wyoming (http://www.4pawsminiatureaussies.com/). Debi was planning to attend a dog show in Oregon in early April, weather permitting and she agreed that Mia could travel with her and her dogs to Portland and we would meet them there. Despite some severe snow storms in Nebraska and Wyoming the day of Debi's departure all the logisitics eventually worked out and we connected in east Portland on a warm, sunny afternoon.

With Debi's doggies barking goodbyes Maya and Mia started to get to know each other. They were certainly reserved to start with. Both seemed to be trying to ignore the other as they were not sure what the heck was going on.

Our Durango offered the sisters lots of room to stretch out while keeping a cautious eye on each other. They were both great doggies as we started driving north again.

We overnighted north of Seattle and eventually made it back to our Island in the late afternoon the following day. This concentrated traveling time allowed us to get to know Mia and she us.

Though she seemed relaxed we are sure she must have been wondering what the heck was going on. Mia is now an experienced Island dog as we managed to miss a ferry connection and ended up with some quality walking time while waiting for the next ferry.