Oh, Bleuford!
5 years ago, in late August 2012, Terry had decided that we should get another dog to keep Zoey company. Searching online, he found a border collie mix at the Baton Rouge Animal Control and drove up once to meet this dog and once to bring him back to New Orleans. I will always remember meeting this poor thing, who had been fixed earlier in the day and was not feeling well when he arrived at our home, and thinking that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Zoey and I both were a little put off by this apparently high maintenance dog who didn’t have much in the way of manners.
From 2013:
I think I’ve mentioned before that we added another dog to our krewe/family just before Hurricane Isaac slowly blew through New Orleans. Bleu is a border collie/labrador mix and at less than two years, he is very much the puppy. He embraces life, makes us laugh and has become our first dog Zoey’s best friend (and workout buddy–she’s lost the weight our vet has wanted her to lose with all of their roughhousing and play). But we adopted him out of death row at the Baton Rouge Animal Control and there have definitely been issues.
When we first got him, he was oddly shaped. He had a skinny body with a big head and if you add that to his one brown eye and one blue eye…well, he just looked different. He’s a chewer and has chewed through 5 pairs of my shoes and a number of pieces of furniture just to start. He is a wiz at jumping the fence and not coming when called–but doesn’t take off down the street running after cats unless he is prodded by Zoey. He has issues with flatulence, will nip at human hands if they startle him and regularly gets put into time out at doggy day care for being too energetic with the other dogs.
However, he has a lot to live up to. Zoey is 95% angel and has spoiled us rotten.
Bleu’s first 6 months with us has been a mixed bag and we’re seeing signs that he is maturing and adjusting to our family.
Terry adopted Bleu on a Thursday and by the following Tuesday, we had decided to evacuate because of Hurricane Rita, heading first to Nashville and then on to Michigan for Labor Day Weekend. Traveling with a new dog was definitely interesting. I will always remember him finding a way out of the metal dog cage we had for him when Terry and I went with friends to see a pre-season Detroit Lions game at Ford Field, leaving the dogs at my parents, as well as Zoey and Bleu playing on the beach at the Cottage with their cousin, Magnus.
Here is Bleu, the center of everything, full of life!
So far, I have been the one that chooses the names of our dogs and so for some reason, this crazy guy made me think of  George Rodrique’s Blue Dog series. Also, I was told while living in the South that everyone must have a dog named Blue at some point in there lives and so we decided to name him after my favorite color, just with a French twist in honor of NOLA’s French influence. One of my favorite nicknames for him is Bleuford which seems to fit for some reason.
One thing we noticed pretty early on was that despite Bleu having been advertised as being a border collie mix, he sure didn’t act like a border collie. At one point, Living Social or Groupon had a deal on a DNA test for dogs and I jumped on the opportunity to see what kind of dog he actually is and man, we were surprised!
I bet you didn’t expect that mix, either! However, the report that Mars sends includes a lot of information about the traits of each dog type. Malamute is the most dominate of Bleu’s traits, but all three of these key breeds share some main traits: intelligence, loyalty to family, independence and stubbornness.
Bleu’s mixed breed traits are actually very evident.
Have you ever seen a bigger dog jump up a tree after a critter like a little terrier or a pharaoh hound? It’s crazy to watch.
Another funny thing is Bleu’s reaction to his booties when it gets cold outside.
Anyway, Bleu has turned out to be a great dog and he loves his momma…and his momma and daddy–love him!
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