You may have seen him here and there on a few Instagram stories, but until now I have not properly introduced our puppy to you! So without further adieu, Artisans, meet Indigo Bernard Kirchner!
The story of how we found him
Anyone that knows Ian and I, knows that we have been wanting a puppy for the longest time. We both grew up with dogs in our families, and we knew our family wouldn’t feel complete until we got one.
My childhood dog Zach was my best friend and the best dog I have ever known. We got him when I was 8 years old and he just passed away last April at 15 years of age. He lived such a long, adventurous life full of love- but that didn’t make it any easier when he passed.
Zach was such a beautiful dog, with soft long fur. I knew if I were to ever get another dog I wanted them to look like and feel like him. The problem was, Zach was a mutt. We knew his mother was a Labrador Retriever, but the owner we originally got Zach from had no idea who the father was. So we never truly knew what breed(s) he had in him besides Lab. Looking at pictures online and researching a bit, my family thought that he may have been mixed with a Border Collie or Australian Shepherd because of his mannerisms and coat.
Even if we didn’t know for sure that he was either of those breeds, I knew that when the time came for me to get another dog I would look for either of those two breeds. The trouble is, Ian and I could not decide if we wanted to get a Border Collie or Australian Shepherd puppy! We thought they both were beautiful! So we just thought “we’ll know when the time comes which breed is right for us.”
Flash-forward to a lazy Saturday a few weeks ago, I was bored and decided to look at puppies online to see if there were any available around. (Not that I was even really thinking about getting one at that point) And that’s when it happened. I found a listing for puppies that were Border Collie MIXED with Australian Shepherd!!!! Both of the breeds we couldn’t decide which we liked better!!! Now we wouldn’t have to decide! I thought this HAD to be a sign!! Without even talking to Ian at all, I messaged the owner and asked if there were any still available, and he told me that all that was left was ONE boy puppy. Zach was also the last puppy left out of the litter we got him from too, so I thought this, without a doubt, had to be ANOTHER sign!
We decided to pick him up the next day, and the rest is history! And I couldn’t stop crying when we got him because he reminded me soooo much of Zach. I truly believe Indigo was meant to be ours.
The story of his name
Some of you may be thinking, “Indigo, that’s an odd name. Where did she come up with that?” But in true Kaitlin-form, there is a reason for everything…
About a week or two prior to getting our puppy I was listening to the radio. You know how every radio station has those little trivia games where you call in with the correct answer and win a prize? Well, they were doing one, and the trivia question they asked the listeners to answer was, “Name a color that does not have the letter E in it.”
As you probably know, I pride myself with my expansive knowledge of colors and color names, so this question was right up my alley. I didn’t call in or anything, but I love playing those little games by myself in the car and I answered almost immediately “Indigo”. After coming up with that answer I started thinking more and more about the word Indigo and how I thought it would be pretty as a name. But, as I mentioned in my 24 Random Facts About Me post, Ian and I already have our future children’s names decided, so I knew I couldn’t use that for any of them. So like I always do when I like a name I default to that would be a great dog name! haha
Ian and I went out to dinner later that same night and I told him my idea for the name Indigo and to my surprise, he LOVED it! We both talked about how cute it was and how the dogs nickname could be “Indie” which I think is adorable! Little did we know that a little less than two weeks later we would have our own little Indigo! ❤
As for the middle name, I always knew I wanted to call my future dog “Nard Dog”, which (big shocker) is a The Office reference. “Nard Dog” is the nickname (nickety-name) of salesman, Andy Bernard in the show. And what better nickname for a dog than Nard Dog?? Nard Dog is a play on Andy’s last name Bernard, which is why we chose Bernard as Indigo’s middle name.
But one thing that worked out from Indigo’s name that I didn’t even think about until we named him was how similar it was to Andy’s name. Andy Bernard – Indie Bernard Yet again, it was fate.
The story of how much we love him already!
Indie has been such a good boy so far and we knew we would love him unconditionally from the moment we met him.
Actually, a quick story about when we first got to see him in person: Ian originally wanted me to be the first of the two of us to meet Indigo because dogs always like me (most likely because of the high-pitched voice I make when I talk to them) and sometimes dogs are a little unsure of Ian. Well, that was the original plan anyway. When we got out of our car, Indigo immediately ran up to Ian and rolled over for him to give him belly rubs. Yep. He was meant to be ours.
He is already sooo smart! He learned how to sit on command pretty much the first day, was completely potty-trained in a week, sleeps out of his crate every night (with no accidents) and I taught him how to give me a high-five in like 15 minutes!! There is still a lot we need to work on, but I know he will do so well! I read somewhere that since border collies are so intelligent, they are great to be trained to do chores around the house such as cleaning up their toys and getting the newspaper. So, I am going to try to train him to do our dishes and laundry! 😉 hahaha!
We are so beyond blessed to have found such a good dog! We are so in love with him already and he brings so much light into our lives. And it has only been 3 weeks!! Cannot wait to see him grow! ❤
Auburn Artisan 
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