A Collie Affair

I love Collies, I mean I am maybe just really soft in my old age, but I just love my Collies. When did this love affair start?

                  When I was 7 we lived in Waverly PA, farm country, surrounded by farms I brought home a farm collie and named him Brownie, that dog saved me from many perils in my youth, lonliness, being lost in the woods, the neighbors german shepherd, when I shot their son with a rubber arrow during a game of cowboys, the bulls we teased by daring each other to run through their pasture, until one day they got out and came after us. Brownie was my hero, I was reminded of that yesterday when one of those secure web sites asked me who my childhood hero was as a security question. Brownie was the stereotypical Collie, he walked me to the bus stop each morning, then returned home only to be back to meet the bus each afternoon. 2 years later when we had moved to Mass I was waiting for the bus and Brownie was across the street playing with another dog, I called him when I saw the bus coming the yellow lights were on as he came running, a red sportscar sped up hitting Brownie and sending him flying in the air to come crashing down on the pavement, all so he wouldn't have to stop for the bus. I sat in the road cradling my dying dog.

Later that year our parents bought us a purebred Collie, who we named Lassie of course, we walked her (on leash!) every day and trained her to do the things we saw Lassie do, but she was taken away a year later and I never trusted a Collie with my heart again, until eleven and a half years ago. 

        I fell just as hard for Roma as I had as a child for Lassie and Brownie, but I knew I needed more Collies, a buffer so I would never again be without a Collie. Yes, I was up to 5 Collies, it seemed just right. Then 3 months ago I lost one,  my sweet Keyna, and it has been just as awful as it was when I was a child, she too was too young to leave me, and I still think of her and miss her every day.

       This weekend I was at the Collie speciality and a friend told me I needed to get over my attachment disorder with my Collies, so I could send them off to be shown, or bred or let someone else whelp a litter. I understand what she says but  I don't think I can. You see last week I had a week of worry with a personal health scare, Inca was plastered to my side, she still is this week, she stays right next to me unless I'm at work, how could I send her away?
 I think my attachment disorder is going to require a service dog. Not to cure it, but to help me cope.
 Collies they get under your skin and directly into your soul!