When Mike Bryan was born five years ago at the Lyric Aussies kennel, he had a littermate which he shared nearly identical traits. His breeder, Lindy Patrick, dubbed the two black tri Australian shepherd pups the Bryan brothers, after the twin brother tennis doubles champions, Mike and Bob Bryan. When Monica and I brought Mike Bryan home with us nearly five years ago, we stuck with the tennis theme and called him Rafa, after the Spanish tennis champ, Rafael Nadal.

Like his namesake, Rafa’s dark, handsome, and athletic. He’s graced the cover of the United State Australian Shepard Association (January 2012) news magazine (okay, it’s not Sports Illustrated but still it’s pretty cool). He’s got no backhand to speak of, but Rafa’s great at chasing down tennis balls. And he loves hiking and swimming. He’s smart, too– a bit opinionated at times–but smart all the same.

Rafa and our older Aussie, Reina, are two sides of the same coin. I’ve written about their differences more than once. He’s not shy when meeting up with new people and dogs, and operates on the assumption everyone adores him. If they don’t, the rebuff just rolls off him. A video clip I shot last December sums up their personalities nicely:

Rafa & Reina: two sides of the same coin.

Rafa’s simply 55 pounds of great dog.

Rafa cutting loose at Lake Pueblo in January.