The Warrior King

Casey was the "runt" of the litter. Combine that with a fang that grew in the wrong direction and you've got a puppy that is less likely to be adopted than the rest of the litter. This was so much the case that Casey didn't get adopted until we found him at 6 months old. His diminutive size and crooked tooth didn't matter one bit when he tucked his sweet, little head under my chin the first time I picked him up.Casey was a wonderfully obedient and intelligent puppy. We were so delighted with him that when it came time for another dog we knew that only another Sheltie would do. To be certain that Casey was ready for a little brother, we took him to visit a new litter that his "grandmother" had recently delivered and Casey lit up like a shinning star when he saw the puppies! In the seven months we had had him, I never saw him so overcome with joy as he played with the puppies. So, of course we brought home his brother, Cory.

Cory was definitely not the runt of the litter. In fact, it was predicted that he would be a good deal larger than your average Sheltie. We worried a bit about what would happen when he got bigger than Casey, and we worried even more when their play time seemed much more aggressive than we liked.

We don't know when it happened - or even how it happened. I think it might have been around the time that Cory reached Casey's height when he was only four months old. Casey was King. That was it. No dispute. Casey got the pillow he wanted, the toy he wanted, and played when he wanted. He even cussed us out if his dinner was late! (I don't know where he learned to cuss - but if you heard him you would know that he could!)

Attitude
If you look into Casey's eyes you will see an equal looking back at you. There is even a distinct feeling that Casey feels that he's superior to you.Casey's complete domination became evident one summer when we dog-sat our friends' 70 pound Golden Retriever, Kody. After a day of sizing each other up, the dogs settled into their pecking order with Casey as King. Cory and Kody became playmates under Casey's supervision. But when Casey thought that he wanted the 3 foot long rope the other two were playing "Tug of War" with, he just walked up between them and grabbed it. The other two immediately let go, and Casey strutted off dragging a rope behind him that was twice as long as himself! Cory and Kody could do nothing but sadly watch their game come to an end.How in the world did this happen? What made a 16 pound runt of the litter think he could take a toy away from a 70 pound dog? And how come Kody let him? In a word - attitude.

I Can
This all brought to mind an old saying: "If you think you can - you will. If you think you can't - you won't." I've learned from watching Casey that I can accomplish much more if I begin with an attitude that I can. Even if I don't succeed, at least I'm not setting myself up for failure before I begin.Try it next time you have a daunting task before you. Don't just approach it with the attitude that you're going to try. Know that you CAN!