On Christmas Eve the year after we were married I decided that a dog would make a great Christmas present for Travis. I saw an ad in the newspaper for a border collie for $50. I told Travis my plan and late in the day on 12/24/1996 we drove to the dairy farm where she was born. She was one of the small ones in her litter. She was a feisty one though. She loved chewing on our fingers. Travis had found his baby. We even gave them a $10 tip for her (they didn't have change for 3 $20 bills). We got into the pickup to drive home. Dakota was scared. She tried to crawl under the floorboard at my feet. She was shaking. When we got home she tried to crawl under the carpet.
We calmed her down. Her first night with us we tried to get her to sleep in a box next to her bed. She started whining immediately and wouldn't stop. We put her in bed with us. She started coughing up what looked like rubber bands. They were worms. Ewww! We took her to the vet and got her some meds. We then tried to get her to sleep in the bathroom downstairs. Whine whine whine but she did fall asleep. She slept in there until we got heat on the porch and then slept on the porch every night.
She loved going everywhere with Travis. When she was big enough she would stand with her back feet on the seat and her front paws on the dash. As she grew bigger Travis would latch her in and left her ride in the back. She would spin around and bark at every sign.
She also loves spending time in the dead pile on the farm. Every night she would reek of dead animals and bring various bones to the front step to chew on them.
She also liked to chase the chickens and the turkeys around the yard.
One day the electricity qent out but it was cold outside so we sat a container of ice cream outside. She found it and polished the whole thing off.
She also likes playing with Travis's coveralls which he hung on the back of the door in the kitchen. She would run and grab a pant leg and swing from side to side.
She also likes to chew the black plastic pieces off of Travis's caps.
One day she cut her leg badly and Travis had to take her to the vet to get stitched up. She needed a plastic cone on her head so she would stop chewing on it and let it heal.
We started running a little but on the farm. She also learned how to catch a frisbee and a football and she would play for hours.
In December of 1998 we decided to move to Fargo for a job for Travis. That meant apartment living for us and Dakota went to the farm to live for a few years.
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