From the moment my sister and I adopted 8-week-old Ashley from the Humane Society, Ashley was truly not only the CUTEST puppy I’ve ever seen, but also the SMARTEST.

A collie/German shepherd mix, she got her brains from two of the most intelligent breeds. It didn’t take long before she knew all of her 15-20 squeaky toys by name, and she understood so much English that we had to start spelling things, and Ash picked up some of the spellings as well. (Although I repeatedly tried to get her to recognize the spelling of her own name, and she never really caught on to that).

Oh, she had her "dumber" things too…the taste of freedom made her do crazy things…if she knew you were no longer holding her by the leash, or if she managed to pull away from you (which at 70 lbs. was not uncommon), she’d be off and running…and there was no stopping her! She’d wear herself out, and even then, the only way she’d willingly come home is if I went to pick her up in my car, hence, taking her for a "ride".

Like any dog, she had her fair share of mishaps. But Ash probably had even more mishaps than most dogs. When she was only 3 months old, she got her tail caught in the hinge side of a door and had to have it docked. Throughout her life, people always asked about the German shepherd with the docked tail! One of her more harmless mishaps was the time she was playing with an empty milk carton and got it caught on her head! She started banging her head around trying to get the carton off! It’s a good thing we were there to pull it off before she suffocated or something!

And of course there were the mischievous times…one day she decided she wanted to be an auto mechanic and chewed through some wires under my sister’s car! And once she decided she wanted to lift weights and chewed through the pad on my lat machine! And we won’t even go into the huge hole she put in the upholstery of my car’s side panel!

Ashley was always one of those dogs that had a very limited "pack". There were only 4 people on Earth that she loved and truly accepted as "hers". (My sister, my mother and father, and myself). Everyone else was someone to be barked and growled at…and she scared away many a person when she’d come lunging at the front door! One time someone was standing out on the porch, holding the storm door shut for dear life with all his weight! However, Ashley was not a vicious dog…in fact, if you stepped toward her, she’d back away (unless of course she was cornered). But she was certainly not a friendly one either…except with us.

There was never any pet who I’ve ever seen give her loved ones a better greeting when they came home than Ash. She would literally start "talking" to you in a high-pitched squeaky tone of voice, and she’d lay down for tummy rubs and totally overwhelm you until you paid her some well-deserved attention.

Out of all the dogs I’ve ever seen, Ashley was always one for the record books…the most loyal, intelligent, loving and unique pet anyone could ever have. And I thank God for my time with her.