Tofino
Tofino Yoriko Cheriton
Born May 19, 2018
Miniature American Shepherd
The Miniature American Shepherd resembles a small Australian Shepherd. True herders in spite of their compact size, Minis are bright, self-motivated workers and endearingly loyal and lively companion dogs who have an affinity for horses.
Yoshiko and I have always had a place in our lives for pets. She had many dogs as pets in her home as a child including... I had an English Springer Spaniel early on, a beagle/terrier mix and a Dalmatian in Los Angeles.
In Tokyo, we raised three cats, who enriched our lives and all lived long lives. The eldest, Spago, moved with us to Vancouver and lived to be almost 22 years old.
Spago left us in December 2017 and we were initially relieved that he was finally free of his constrictions and pain. For us, no more daily injections, medications and watching him slowly go downhill. And we had some freedom in our lives again. Even though we missed him so much and every day.
Initially, we had two cats in Tokyo and we talked about getting a dog. Both of us were very interested in a Border Collie, due to their intelligence and coloring.
However, I opted to get a third cat, another Bengal, whom we named Woody. The irony was that he was more dog than cat.
Back to Vancouver. We had a hole in our lives after Spago left us and decided to pursue getting a puppy. The Australian Shepherd is an interesting breed but I thought they would be too big and energetic for our lifestyles. The Miniature version seemed to be the right fit for us.
I checked local breeders but couldn't find any litters available for our schedule. One local breeder recommended a breeder in Washington state. When I contacted her, she had no puppies available but expected more in a couple of months so she took my contact information.
One day in May I received a text message from the breeder.
I think the breeder liked us even though she had yet to sell a puppy to anyone in Canada. We expressed interest in the female blue merle after seeing some puppy photos of the entire litter. The breeder suggested we come to visit the farm, meet the parents and let the puppy choose us. She offered to show the puppies at age Week 5, three weeks before they could leave the farm.
Despite it being close to the holidays in Canada and the US in early July, we hustled down to Washington State for an overnight trip. The farm is about 30 minutes west of Olympia, where we stayed.
