I was 12 or something like that and our family moved from a house in Salt Lake to a house in Provo. My next door neighbors were actually my aunt, uncle and of course cousins. My cousin Troy is the one that owned the dog that started my love affair with the cattle dog. Well actually it was his dog Kizzy. Kizzy was a female blue heeler and she was amazing.

We lived next to a park, and a big hill. On top of the hill was an elementary school. The children would walk through the neighborhood, into the park, and up the hill to get to school everyday. As a true herding dog, Kizzy would follow one group up to the schoolyard, turn around and run back to find another group. She would do this all morning, until the children stopped coming. At this point she would wait at the school until that magical time when the children would reverse their routes. On more than one occasion the principal would call my cousin and let them know that Kizzy was hanging out at the school and they would appreciate it if he would come pick her up. I don't understand the principals logic because Kizzy never hurt a fly, except for one time, another dog.

Directly across the street from us, the neighbors had a large dog about 3 times the size of Kizzy. The paper boy, who one could argue, was not the brightest crayon in the box would throw the paper directly at the dog, in its pen. This worked well for a period of about six months until the dog escaped and proceeded to knock the boy from his bike and latch onto the boys face. Kizzy attacked the dog, causing the dog an immense amount of harm and saved the paperboys life. The paper boy did need reconstructive surgery on his face, but was saved due to Kizzy. The local newspaper even did a story on Kizzy, proclaiming her a hero.

I had totally fallen in love with this dog and I am not sure if she passed away before we moved back to Salt Lake or after. The only thing I know is I couldn't wait until I was on my own to get a Blue Heeler of my own. Several years later I briefly had an encounter with a very beautiful Red Heeler named Diggs. When I was 23 and decided to get me my very own dog, I couldn't decide on a color or a sex, so I got a blue male and a red female.

Having two of these dogs, has occasionally, been a nightmare. High energy dogs that get bored easily can destroy a lot of your favorite belongings. It has been an expensive journey but 13 years later, I don't regret it for one second.

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