Totally Terra

Breed: Australian Shepherd

Age: 6 years

Color: Tri-Split face Blue Merle

Name Meaning: Earth

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Birthday: March 29th, 2011

Color: Split face Tri Blue Merle

Name Meaning: “Earth” in Latin; named after the Teen Titans character Terra

Nicknames: Tiara, Tiramisu, Ter, Taro, TaroBean

Favorite Toys: Stuffed toys, Tug Ropes, Frisbees, Balloons

Favorite Foods: Sojos Simply Lamb Treats, Rawhides, RedBarn canned food, Bully Sticks, Nylabone Healthy Edibles, Cow Hooves

Favorite Activities: Learning Tricks, Agility, Chase, Tug, Keep-a-way, herding, running, biking

Dislikes: Water being sprayed at her face (no hose-chasing for Terra!)

Titles:

NTD (Novice Trick Dog)

ATD (Advanced Trick Dog)
CGC (Canine Good Citizen)

Publications:

2013 Online Gallery of the Bark-Smiling Dogs
2015 Fido Friendly Magazine’s TongueOut Calendar Cover

Achievements:

2012 Voted Fan Favorite for HauteDog: Wet Nose Culture Magazine’s August Cover Dog Contest
2013 Finalist in the PetHub Summer Adventures Video Contest

Background:

Terra joined our family as a puppy around 8 weeks old. She came from JailHouse Aussies. Her Dam was Scarlet and her Sire was Justin.

My brother wanted a dog and we met the breeder in Tombstone. There were two girls left-one named Tara and the other named Bella. My brother chose the one named Tara. He named her Ash, because she became part of our family during the Monument Fire where we had to evacuate our house and he said her coat color looked like Ash.

FullSizeRender (33) — Terra and her littermates-she’s the second pup from the left

I got to interact with Ash a little bit as a puppy, but then only saw her every four or five months since Bella and I had to go back to Flagstaff for school.

007 — One of the handful of pictures I took of Ash-I really wish I had taken more

With little interaction, rules, and direction, this little ball of cute fuzz became quite the out of control terror. She destroyed and chewed many things out of boredom, treated people like play toys (she would run by and jump up and nip the person as she went by-playfully, but it was still not appropriate), and she wasn’t potty trained (as soon as she would come in, she would pee on the carpet in the playroom). Without interaction from her person or training, my grandma relegated her to an outside dog-she put a blanket outside for Ash to sleep on, unless it was too cold and then she slept in a crate by herself in the playroom. The first time I brushed her there was matted hair behind her ears that I managed to brush out without cutting it out-though I almost did that. And she didn’t even know her name “Ash;” she thought her name was a kissy-noise and only responded to that.

Almost at her wit’s end, my grandma was going to re-home Ash and find a ranch for her to live on. My brother said he wanted her, although he couldn’t take her to college with him since he would be living on campus-I said I’d take her until then. So Ash came to Flagstaff with Bella and me in the Fall of 2012.

Terra and Bella with our wonderful first foster girl Annie

She joined Bella and me on our adventures-from camping to walks in the forest to Yappy Hours and fostering. She joined us in learning tricks and practicing Agility with a local club, and a little Frisbee.

Training was on going and intermittent-especially after Kronos joined the family in the Winter of that same year Terra came up to Flagstaff with Bella and me. And yet Terra has come so far. She has had her first professional photo shoot and traveled across the country with me for BlogPaws in Tennessee.

A few extra puppy pictures which were recently given to us: