Introducing Ollie!

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you probably noticed a new addition to my family this week.

Meet Ollie, the Australian Cattle Dog mix (and soon to be runner)!

I’ve talked a lot over the past month about how Ryan and I wanted to adopt a second dog. We love Charlie and wanted to provide him with a companion. Charlie does well running short distances and I wanted a dog who could run with me on longer runs.

We originally began this search back when we lived in Valparaiso, Indiana – almost 18 months ago. We paused our search when we decided to move to Seattle. Once we passed the one year mark of living in the Pacific Northwest, we both started casually glancing at Petfinder or local shelter’s pages at night.

Ryan and I binge-watched Dogs 101 videos on YouTube and read numerous articles to determine the breed we wanted. Of course, since we planned on rescuing, we knew we would likely adopt a mix, but we wanted to have an idea of what to look for.

While Charlie is adorable, we knew we sort of struck the jackpot on the puggle genetic library. Charlie is likely a second generation puggle, which means his parents were probably a beagle and a puggle. His long legs, perceptive nose, stubbornness, and athleticism are traits more commonly found in beagles than pugs. Plus, I just don’t think I could handle the sassiness of two puggles! (Because when Charlie and my parents’ puggle were together over Christmas, it was chaos).

Ryan and I wanted a dog that could keep up with us while running and hiking but would also be suitable for apartment living (i.e. not huge and not one of the restricted breeds). We narrowed our search down to Australian Shepherds, Border Collies, Australian Cattle Dogs (Heelers), or hunting sized labs or retrievers.

We filled out applications at shelters and local rescues, inquired about numerous dogs via PetFinder and PetTango, and met a few dogs even.

Saturday we went to a nearby shelter, PAWS, to meet a Border Collie mix. Within the first few minutes of meeting him, we realized he was too energetic and in need for our situation. We were briefly smitten with a lab mix, only to realize that our apartment would not allow him since we was half pit bull.

But before we left, we inquired about one dog we had seen on their website, who was currently in foster. This dog was on his was back to the shelter for adoption. So on Sunday, we took Charlie to go meet this dog, whose foster name was Ernie. He won me over in his shelter profile photos because he was holding an apple in his mouth and wagging his tail.

Then, on Monday afternoon, after some deliberation, Ryan and I adopted Ernie and renamed him Ollie (short for Oliver – a name we decided on long before adopting him, just as we did with Charlie).

Ollie is a one-year-old male Australian Cattle Dog mix. He’s intelligent, quick to learn, and playful. We’re going to start running and hiking him this week! He’s already sleeping well through the night, learning the rules of the house, and playing well with us and his toys.

Ollie is still a puppy, so he’s a bit uncoordinated and lacks some spatial awareness, but he makes up for it in cuddliness and playfulness. He’s already sleeping well through the night, learning the rules of the house, and playing well with us and his toys.

Charlie is still adjusting to Ollie, which is understandable since Charlie spent three years as an only dog. Ollie desperately wants to play with Charlie, but Charlie’s stubborn beagle tendencies are taking over right now. Charlie is so friendly that we know he will warm up! He’s just having a grumpy pug moment, which he usually has at least once a day.

Also, please ignore the clutter in the photos! Those of you with new dogs (or let’s be honest, any dog) know how that goes. I’m in a constant (losing) battle against dog hair and toy fluff.

Do you have pets? Share about them in the comments!