Mama Cass can't sing but she's an eager and willing companion for Charlie Worsinske, especially when he goes to work. She loves to go with him. Cass is an Old English Sheepdog, is purebred and turned four years old in April.

"She was a rescue from some folks out on Whidbey Island who had her but when she developed some medical issues they couldn't keep up with her so we got in contact with them," Worsinske said. "My dad passed away around Christmas of last year and we had raised sheepdogs when we were kids and we sold a sheepdog to Merrilee Rush (famous northwest recording artist) , so this is a Merrilee Rush dog. When we went through my Dad's stuff we found a picture of Merrilee and the puppy so I got in touch with Merrilee and got to talking and then Cass kind of came up and so here she is."

Merrilee and her husband Billy Mac still raise Old English Sheepdogs on their farm outside Redmond called Merrimac Farm.
To learn more visit their site http://www.merrimacoldenglishsheepdogs.com/

Cass was about 20 pounds underweight when the Worsinske's got her and now weighs in at a healthy 80 pounds. "About 15 pounds of that is hair," Worsinske said chuckling.

Worsinske is a landscape architect and Cass has had quite an impact on the job. "She mostly lays around the office," Worsinske explained, "but when I go out on a site she calms everybody down. It's amazing. Some of these old gruff contractors, they just kind of stop and look and tell you a story about their dog. It's really kind of an interesting thing."

"I went out and looked at her and she was there laying on the couch and she just really didn't notice anything (…) so then I took her home and for the two hours back and ever since then, she won't leave my side. She just really now is going up to my wife Adele and that's primarily because she feeds her but she's very attached."

She eats a cup and a half of kibble type food both morning and night and she gets some yogurt as a bedtime snack. "We're kind of on a quasi vegetarian diet so she eats carrots and celery and apples."

Cass doesn't fool around with toys but, "My wife put out this little bear with a pumpkin jack-o-lantern on it and the bear was up on the shelf and then we walked in later that day and the bear was down on her bed. So I put the bear up on the couch and about an hour later the bear was in her bed so she kind of likes that pumpkin bear."

Sheepdogs, due to their long coat don't have many issues with vision but she will occasionally bump into things around the house so the Worsinske's have a number of scrunchies (elastic rings with fabric) that they use to keep some of her fur in a topknot, helping Cass to see.

Cass has all the instincts the come with a herding type of dog. "When my wife and I will walk she'll be behind us and she'll kind of herd us. She'll go from side to side and keep us on the straight and narrow."

"We went out in June to see her former owners and Cass just looked at her and then jumped up and put her paws on her (the former owner's) shoulders and just licked her face. It was really something. Then later she told us a story about when she was in the backyard and somehow she tripped and pulled a muscle and she couldn't get up. Cass came over and laid on her and I guess that's what sheepdogs do when they have an injured sheep or lamb. They will lay on the lamb to protect it."

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