In late April 2009 we adopted Remington, quickly shortened to Remi, to join our family of myself Sara, my partner Mark, and two other dogs, Sladge (a mixed breed adopted from the Squamish dog pound a decade ago) and Brady (a border collie adopted about 5 years ago from That’ll Do Border Collie Rescue). Sladge immediately asserted her matriarchal dominance, not without a couple of days of protest from Remi who thought he had to be the boss, events which made us wonder if we’d done the right thing bringing this big, bold, brash, beautiful collie to disrupt the harmony in the home pack! But relying on our collective belief that dogs have a way of sorting things out, and only intervening when absolutely necessary, sure enough on the second full day the dogs all woke up in the morning as friends. It has been interesting watching their relationships develop. Now Sladge doles out kisses to Remi as they trot along together on their walks. Brady, always having been a nervous dog, spent the first months keeping a distance from him. But Remi has proved to be a great role model for Brady and now they hang out together all the time with Brady showing no nervous behaviour at all. The three dogs together we refer to as the muppets, they love to please and make us laugh with their antics together. One thing we find most funny is the way Sladge tells Remi off when he has to be called more than once to come back to us on a walk.

Remi frequently attracts comment from passers-by, impressed both by his beauty and his calm temperament. Nothing fazes him, not even the vet. Well, nothing except being groomed – he runs off to hide in the yard if he catches sight of the brush! We even tested him at a 10-year old neighbour’s birthday party to see how he behaved around a mass of overexcited small people. The only thing he got excited about was tracking down the hot dog sausages the children had tossed into the bush!

When we first got him, after having been in shelters and so on, Remi was a little unfit and huffed and puffed his way up and down the local trails and mountains, exhausted after about half an hour. He also pulled on the leash quite a bit, and took to barking at certain dogs or, on sight of dark German shepherd types, going into ‘stealth’ pre-attack mode crawling close the ground. No doubt he was still dealing with some history from when he was a stray, thinking he had to defend himself. So we took it easy, ignored the other dogs, and within a few weeks Remi was relaxed, confident in being a permanent member of our family, and no longer pulling on the leash – in fact he is the best behaved of all our three dogs on the leash, I can walk him at heel with the loop hooked over my little finger. Remi is very fit and outgoing, pleased to be off leash and out in front on long hikes in the forest, dashing up banks, rocks, onto large tree stumps, and generally exhibiting what we call his Hollywood moments “saving little Johnny who has fallen down the well” and posing Lassie-like against the skyline!

Remi is a great dog full of character. We love him. We think he loves us too.

Sara, Mark

Remington June 2009

Remi and Sladge getting wet rock-hopping on the way to The Chief, Squamish in summer 2009

Brady, Remi and Sladge wearing their bear bells enjoying the view from the steps of the Jesmond fire lookout at the top of a mountain 6,490 Feet ASL near Clinton, BC September 2009