Toby, My Birthday Collie

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It didn't take very long to realize that the only thing that would help me get over the loss of my dog Katie, was to get another collie.
About a week after we lost her, I started searching. I contacted a Collie Club in my area. They were very sympathetic. The president of the club emailed me a list of reputable Collie Club breeders to contact.

Since my husband has hip problems, and I have heart and back problems, we were not looking for a puppy. We were looking for a retired collie. Retired collies are well bred dogs who have finished a show ring career, are finished having puppies, or for some other reason, need to be placed in a pet home. We've gotten all of our other collies in this way, and have been very happy with them. With the exception of Katie, the retired collies that we've gotten have been around 5 years old.

But a retired collie was exactly what I wasn't having any luck finding. Several breeders offered us puppies, but nobody that I talked to had a collie that was ready for retirement.

We were offered a 1 year old tri colored smooth collie, and we even drove to Ohio to see him. I had my hopes up. A tri colored smoothie! The grooming for a smooth (short coated) collie is much easier than on a rough collie (a.k.a. Lassie or my Desktop Nexus Avatar.) Not only that, but he would look a lot like Katie too! But this 1 year old puppy turned out to be way too energetic for us. He needed lots of training and young owners who could keep him thoroughly exercised. Our hip problems and back trouble were not the right match for this dog! He was sweet, but very bouncy. He reminded me of Tiger in the Winnie the Pooh stories.

So we kept looking. I was puzzled about the lack of dogs ready to retire. We'd never had any problems getting one before. One friendly breeder explained to me that retiring dogs tended to be available in cycles. Only 6 months ago, she had placed 3 of her middle aged dogs into pet homes and knew of other breeders searching for adopters. Another breeder I called said he had a show dog he was planning to retire, but not for 5 months. My husband and I didn't want to wait for 5 months or even 5 weeks!

So we started trying another way to get a collie. For the first time ever, we applied to 2 Collie Rescue Groups; one in Ohio, and another one in Michigan. The Michigan Rescue Group came through for us. It helped that they've known us for nearly 30 years. Every year we go to their annual Rescue picnic with whatever collies we have at the time. (It's like a second Christmas for me. For one wonderful day, I get to see and visit with all the kinds and colors of collies that I want!)

This Collie Rescue showed us a dog that once again, was too young for us. An Animal Control 30 miles away had caught her running wild in farm country, and had contacted them. She was a sweet dog, but young and very restless. We could tell she needed a family with children who could keep her busy.

After this dog, they told us about another dog, a collie that sounded promising. He was a rough collie, 5 years old, with a pure white coat and a dark sable colored head. He'd wound up in Rescue because his owner had passed away. Other family members were not able to take him in. We made arrangements to see him at his foster parents house. That is how we met Toby.

We liked Toby very much. He was affectionate and spunky. Unlike all of our other collies, he loved to play fetch, and he proved it while we visited there. We took 2 (required) days to think it over. Then we called the foster family to say that we would love to adopt him. They recommended that we pick him up that Friday, so he would have a long weekend to get used to us before we went back to work on Monday. I immediately let them know that I would be willing to take several days off so that he would have plenty of time to adjust.

After we hung up the phone, I looked at the calendar-- and realized that we would be picking him up on Friday, August 11th. On My BIRTHDAY! For weeks, when family members asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I said that all I wanted was a collie. God, knowing how heartbroken I was over losing Katie, had arranged for me to have the perfect birthday present.

Toby has been a wonderful gift for both my husband and I. I have no doubts about Katie either. I still miss her sometimes, but she was in a lot of pain and was ready to leave this earth. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Katie would be glad to know that we have another companion who loves us.

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