Many people here would not know it from the past few years as I focused a lot on Trevor, but the first once in a lifetime dog was my Niamh. Like Trevor, but before him she came into my life and changed it… she came after the loss of my McKenzie.. my first ever collie from 20 years ago….. Our collie family is named Niamh’s Misty Meadow after her…. she was by far the most intelligent and most dynamic in every way… while Hallie was more human and Trevor the most loyal… Niamh excelled in every quality…. far beyond any other collie we’ve been blessed with…. she impacted my life more than any other… helping me make friends finding her, making friends while living with her and her death opened up the Meadow to the most dynamic group of collies we ever had. She opened doors with every action of her life… she was super serious…. the only area any other collie excelled in their lives her was being more light-hearted and happy. The only other areas were Hallie thinking she was human, Trevor being loyal and Ginger plotting.. 🙂
This is the story of the coming into my life of Niamh, the collie who touched my life as no other ever has. It is one of my early stories and is not well written, but it is a moment of time recorded in my writings. So, I did not change a word….. even though if I wrote it now it would be much better written….
The Arrival of Niamh
It was a sunny, warm June day as the petite tri-color collie lay in the kennel with her four other chums. She was of the minimum size for a collie and slightly underweight at 39 pounds, not quite making the 45 pounds they weighed at her size. They called her “Jazzie”. She looked up at the house and saw the owner and sighed since she wanted her attention and love so much.
The collie had come to her after the owner bought her because her father was a champion. The owner had high hopes for the petite little collie who was not only beautiful like her father, but who had a sweet disposition and wanted so very much to love and be loved. The owner had loved how quickly the collie learned for she was very smart indeed. The collie learned to walk perfectly on a leash and to sit, to stay, to shake, and most of all to strut when walking and to look and act like a champion. She did everything she could to please the owner. In the short year of her life, she had learned much.
But, unfortunately for the young collie she fell short of expectations in order to win a championship. You see, dear reader, she developed a dull spot on her eye. While not contagious, and not the dreaded eye disease some Collies get, the spot deducted points for her to win shows. She carried her tail slightly off to the left, instead of perfectly straight back and her tail was a eighth of a inch too short. The collie would be beautiful to the average person, but in the ring she would never win…. perhaps rise up to second… perhaps, but never win.`
Ever since those discoveries she had been put out in the kennel with the other collies. Now, our collie is a docile, loving, kind dog and thus she was pushed around and underfed since the other collies bullied her and took her food (this would change in the future, for when she came to her new home, she became the dominant dog, but that is another story.)
As she lay there sighing, pining for some love, she heard a car drive up. With her chums she barked and danced hoping these people would come out to give her attention. To her delight, she saw three little children, a woman and a man walking with her owner towards the kennel. The collie rubbed against the fence, danced, then barked. But, her bark was different. It was loud like a male’s, instead of the squeekier female bark. Also, when she barked, she threw her nose up, and turned her head and peeked out of the side of her eyes as she barked as if she was telling the people something.
The owner opened the door scolding the dogs back and then pulled the petite collie out. She ran to the children and danced around them for a minute as the man and woman looked on. Then as the children walked across the lawn she walked beside them looking up into their faces in curiosity.
“She sure is petite” the man spoke. His thoughts noticed her fur was dull, and in badly need of a brush job. “She is a very sweet dog…” the owner spoke. The Man called the collie and she came to him and looked up into his smiling face. The man looked into her mouth, her eyes, felt how skinny she was and then held her head in both hands and looked into her eyes again. She wagged her tail, and tried to look away since her docile nature told her not to challenge him. But he squeeked to her and she looked into his eyes. She noticed his smile, and paused… looking back into his eyes. The Man could see a fire in her eyes. He saw her soft, gentle nature, but he saw the fire of determination in her eyes. He smiled and kissed her nose and she looked up at him with her head cocked and ears erect. Who is this man who is being so kind to me she wondered. He was gentle with her, he didnt force her to turn or to open her mouth, he just gently guided her. She liked him…..
The Owner gave sharp orders to her to jump up on the bench as she told the man she would brush out her fur and trim the mats for him. The man winced at the sharpness of the orders. It is one thing to be firm, another to be harsh. But, he let the thought go since he knew she had to give orders like this to get results in the ring. Yes, the collie would never have to worry about sharp orders ever again.
From now on her life would change. Orders would be few and far between. The Man would prove to be a companion, who would call her in joy and speak to her softly and lovingly. As she stood there the woman kept giving her orders and the small collie kept quickly responding. The man reached down and petted her. He talked gently to her and she quickly looked at him and then just as quickly looked away. The man noted her shyness. (She would loose this shyness under the man’s guidance and become a brave, outgoing collie through the years. A collie who would prove her braveness time and time again)
After about a half hour, the little collie looked a lot better and and was ordered off the bench. She lay down and watched as the man and the owner sat down and talked. The Man agreed to the price and the owner showed them her pedigree, which included her father, who was considered the greatest champion since his grandfather who was called Joker’s Wild. Now, Joker’s Wild is considered the greatest and most influential champion of the midwest. His bloodline led back to the great SunnyBank Collies, the collies of Albert Terhune. The Man was stunned, her pedigree consisted of champion after champion.
He looked at her and smiled for she was of royal blood in the collie world. He noticed the collie peeking at him out of the corner of her eye. “She sure is shy isn’t she?” the man said. The owner nodded. “She tries her best to please everyone, which makes her easy to train” the owner said. The man nodded, thinking it was good to know. He thought about how this meant her feelings could be easily hurt so he had to make double sure to treat her extra gentle till she felt at home.
The collie listened to them talk more and wondered why the owner kept mentioning her name. The man kept looking at her and kept petting her. He seemed nice and the woman and children then petted her and she soaked up the attention wiggling in joy.
Finally, the man handed the money to the owner and put a collar and leash on her and headed for the silver car. He opened the door and she halted… was he going to take her in this car? The Owner spoke: “I’ll help you load her in if you sit down I’ll help her jump up on your lap.” The man sat down and the owner gave sharp orders and the collie jumped in. The man held her as the owner closed the door and he gave her a hug. She turned and sniffed his face and looked out the window towards the owner, whom she had done all she could to please. Who had for months not had time to give her attention, yet whom she still loved. The woman started the car and backed up and drove out onto the road.
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You did not tell them about my quirk dad! Wait…. er…. well I have no quirk… never mind!
Collies Of The Meadow 