Rusty is our Australian Shepherd. He came to us from Willa's daughter Maggie. Rusty was originally a ranch dog, and then he lived with Maggie and her family for awhile. But Maggie knew that he missed the ranch life, and they were moving to Alaska, so we decided to see if Rusty would like Dream River Ranch.

Rusty loved Dream River Ranch, but most of all, he loved Cody. The two became bosom buddies. They wrestled, played and guarded the ranch together. Cody taught Rusty everything he knew and Rusty brought Cody much happiness in his old age. In fact, around Rusty, Cody was young again.

Rusty was very sad when Cody left us to cross over the Rainbow. He sat by Cody's grave and mourned. And though we have Sam and he likes Sam, we notice that he has never unbent with Sam the way he did with Cody. I guess that was a special "dog" friendship.

Rusty has a wonderful grin, which I could not get him to produce for a picture. He like to know what is going on, and he follows Willa around whenever he thinks she might need him. He loves kids as well. But most of all, he loves to help Sam guard the ranch every single night.