Denali Bosco spoke with The Commuter about Paisley, a sweet and well-trained dog, who was a crowd favorite at the LBCC talent show
My only problem is I couldn’t bring the dog to campus (today). I can only get away with that sometimes.
She’s 7 now. She is a Catahoula with a smidge of border collie. Her name’s Paisley. Her brother is actually a national ranked border collie, competing. I’m like, he’s that special. And (Paisley’s) she’s going to the community college talent show. So that’s pretty funny.
We have another Catahoula named Marble, who’s actually her cousin, which we didn’t know that was gonna happen.
We were looking for a dog and we knew what breed we wanted, and then they kind of found us.
She is a working cattle dog. So actually (that’s) all those tricks that we were performing on stage.
We moved out to a farm, where we got a whole crap ton of animals, of chickens, sheep, goats, turkeys, rabbits, and horses, of course.
She eventually started learning. So now when we say like, go get the chickens, she’s on it.
So she’s gone from city girl to farm girl. But she still loves her ball to pieces. We have 20 acres, which is amazing for her because she would run a mile for this ball. Like she would run a marathon.
She is a therapy dog to my mom. She’s even been certified with that. And she has gone through training, like going into old folks homes or veterans hospitals. So she’s a very well behaved girl. Which was funny because one thing of bringing an animal on campus, I was checking in with everyone, like, is this okay? Checked with security, checked with all that. And one question was, is she aggressive? Or like, what will she do with kids? And I’m like, she’ll lick the kid to death.
So they wouldn’t let you bring in chickens and pigs?
The funny thing is we have a pig that also knows a couple tricks, but she is scary big. Like she’s 700 pounds.
You mentioned that you look at it like Paisley found you. What were the circumstances?
Marble came to us after, like, two weeks of looking for a dog.
Finally someone called us and they’re like, yo, my friend has this load of puppies that was an accidental breeding. Do you want to go look at him? So my mom and dad went, looked at those, and she kind of stayed in contact with the lady.
Marvel’s a great dog, and we love him. He’s 10 and still acts like a puppy.
And it was my freshman year. My dad and I left on a trip for a week.
Sure enough, we come back, and we’re sitting out in the backyard and I look down and (my mom) she’s like, shh. It took my dad till, I think the next day, to realize there was another dog. And then she’s like, so here’s the story….
When she (Paisley) was six weeks old, her mom went and jumped into a creek and was poisoned by blue algae. And my mom was following that story because that’s just heartbreaking. So my mom, she’s really invested now.
And all the puppies got sold and off to good homes. And the people who had Paisley originally felt so bad for the family because they had lost her mother. And that was one of their favorite dogs. One of the reasons they wanted to breed her was so that they could have another, like, a mini-her to raise with a similar personality.
And then the mom died and they were just so heartbroken that these people they said, we’re gonna donate her back to you.
And that was the only one my mom looked at was Paisley. That was the only dog in there. She was like, that one is adorable. She just looks smart. I’m like, mom, how can a dog look smart? She’s like, that one. Those eyes.
And then when we left, we heard the saga of oh, all the puppies sold. And she’s like, well, maybe next year I’ll look into another one with this lady when they’re over their grief.
But the story, after my dad and I left, was this lady had known my mom was looking for another dog, known that it was this specific dog she was looking at and known my mom has Marble, who’s, like, Paisley’s cousin. And she was just so heartbroken. She’s like, I can’t raise a puppy right now. Do you want her? If you drive out here, I’ll give her to you. Would you take her?
So my mom immediately went over to my brother and was like, grab your permit. We’re going. So my brother was ecstatic. Because he loved cars. I get to drive! So they drove there and they got her and they’re like, oh, my God. Like, they were just in love. As soon as they saw her.
This dog is perfect.
And then they drove back and a tire popped. And my mom was like, I don’t think I’ve ever had a flat tire in a worse situation (with) a new puppy.
So my brother, who’s new to driving, is fixing the tire. My dad and I are over in Maine, (the) other side of the country.
My brother’s like, I’m learning how to fix tires. I get to drive. I get a new dog. This is great.
My mom didn’t tell me or my dad any of this until after we got back. The absurdity of, like, hey, hubby, we now need to go get a new tire. Oh, why do we need a new tire? Well…
I think she’d (Paisley) only been home for three days. We got back, and she’s just under my mom’s feet. Like, she didn’t have a leash on or anything. And I was like, oh, my God, they got a dog.
It was the one dog she looked at. The one dog.
And my mom told the whole story. I’m like, that’s a meant to be situation
