by Laurel Michaels

Created on: February 01, 2009

I didn't want a dog. I already had a husband, 3 young children and a job. The last thing I needed was another whining creature that ate and pooped. Nonetheless, I came home from an out of town visit with my mother to find that my husband had bought a puppy. Our 2, 3, and 4 year old children were delighted. I was slightly less enthusiastic. I brightened a little when my husband told me she had peed in his bed the first night he had her and when he complained that he hadn't gotten much sleep because she cried at night. "Welcome to motherhood," I thought, as I looked at the fifth creature I would have to care for.

Our newest addition was a little black ball of fluff with a white patch on her belly and floppy ears. My husband named her Mia. He had answered an ad in the paper placed by a woman who raised border collies and Australian Shepherds. Somehow a cheeky shepherd had managed to woo a cute border collie and suddenly the breeder had a litter of half breeds to get rid of.

My husband didn't pick Mia as much as she picked him. He looked over the litter, picking each pup up and scrutinizing it in search of the perfect pet. She was the only one that licked him, and so we were chosen.

Despite my misgivings, Mia won me over. Her soft brown eyes looked at me with such hope and gentleness that all my objections melted. She was a smart little thing that after the first few nights away from her canine family, settled in quite nicely with our human brood. By the time she was several months old it was clear that she had established a pecking order in her mind. First in charge was my husband, second was her, third was me, fourth the cat, and last the kids. Over the years, she carried out her self-imposed alpha female role quite efficiently.

Border collies are by nature, sheep-herding dogs. When there are no sheep, children and any toys with wheels will do. I was amused one day to find her pushing with her snout all of the kids trikes and bigwheels into a little circle on our patio. When she saw me looking out at her through the sliding glass door, she barked happily at me and wagged her tail as if to say, "See? This is how you do it - gather them all together so you can keep track of them better. You should try this with those little pups of yours."

She would try to herd the kids too. We used to find pieces of disposable diaper laying on the floor and thought our youngest was picking them off her diaper. Then one day we saw Mia nipping at our 2 year-old's behind as she ran

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