End of an era - again

I'm afraid the bad luck continues. I'm currently in Dublin, having been to the annual conference of the ADCH. Myself, Sue and Lisa the Asst. Manager came over on Tuesday and first thing Wednesday morning came a phone call from Ken, our Chairman, who is staying at the centre in my abscence. Taffy our 14.5 year old collie had suffered a stroke and been rushed to the vets. Little I could do in Dublin but keep in constant contact with Rachel the kennel manager. Unfortunately, at 3.30pm today we made the decision that Taffy was unable to fight off the effects and so I've lost a true friend.

It is indeed the end of an era for me personally, Taffy was my introduction to Border Collie Trust in 1995 and there's no doubt that had fate not bought us together I'd still be retired but not as involved in something that can make so much difference to the lives of so many border collies.

It's only in the last 5 years that I've come to really appreciate how lucky we were with Taffy. I now see all the mistakes I made, that with many other dogs would have led to many problems. Yet despite my poor skills he taught me all that is good about collies. His intelligence was second to none. His trick with video tapes became a party piece he was delighted to perform until DVD took over. His ability to know toys by name never ceased to amaze me and even when he became deaf about 18 months ago he seemed to understand sign language straight away.

So having lost Sheba in November and now Taff, Sue and I are "dog less" for the first time in almost 15 years. It will seem very strange arriving home in the early hours of tomorrow and not see his happy face to welcome us. Of late old age had certainly crept up on him, his back legs were obviously beginning to reduce his mobility but fish oil, fish based food and other natural products had put a little bit of a spring in his step.

I'm grateful for his sake that his parting was fairly quick, I'm sad that I couldn't be there to say goodbye but as we had a telepathic link between us I know he'll have heard me. I don't suppose it'll take long before another collie moves into our home but as all of us who've been owned by a collie know, we can never forget each one who is so special in their own unique way.

I'm sure Sheba will be delighted to meet Taffy again and give her the opportunity to boss him about - but only when it's dark of course.

Despite this the conference was a wonderful event as always and we return with lots of ideas to consider.

If you're having a drink tonight please join me in raising a toast to the collies who have made our lives so special during the short time we're lucky enough to spend with them.

Bye for now

Ben