The boys had several mutts for pets and when the boys left home and the last pet died, a collie border collie mix called Specs, a friend of ours bought us a registered Collie for our Anniversary. Her name was Tally's Country Miss and we called her Misty. She came to us on Feb. 4, 1981.
It just so happened that Misty was in heat and the Activity Director at the home we operated owned a registered male Collie......we were in business. The male collie, Ace of Spades xiii came a courting and on April 14 Misty whelped 9 perfect puppies.
The runt of the litter which I carried to the home daily on a heating pad and made sure she got to feed when all the other pups were asleep, became endeared to us and there was no way we could let her go so we became a 2 dog family.
We offered the pups free to friends we knew would love and care for them with the stipulation that we name them. Our runt was named Misty's Little Bit of Gold and we called her Little Bit, although she didn't stay little very long. Misty's Fancy Lady called Fancy, went to my beautician, Misty's Brandy Sniffer, called Brandy, went to a friend, Misty's Waltzing Boots, called Boots went to a co-worker, Misty's Country Patchwork, called Patches went to a co-worker, Misty's Black Velvet called Velvet, went to the niece and nephew of the friends who gave us Misty, Misty's Aces Over, called Ace went to our Secretary at the home, Misty's Little Black Sambo, called Sambo went to the owner of the Sire and Misty's Country Buccaneer went to Butterfly. They were all beautiful dogs and hard to part with, but 10 dogs, we didn't need!
Misty and Little Bit ruled the roost, but Misty became ill and had to have frequent transfusions. On July 4, 1983, Misty died of Leukemia.
We cried and buried her in the back yard. George had the local funeral director make her a grave marker. Little Bit laid beside her grave and mourned her mother.
On 9-25-83, we invited Ace of Spades back for another romp in the hay........
This dog was beginning to like our house!
On 11-27-83, Little Bit whelped 6 perfect puppies and one with a cleft palate that didn't make it. Once again we kept the runt of the litter an once again we gave the pups to friends and family we knew would take care of them.
Bit's Bit O Pepper went to the owner of the sire. Bit's Bit O Honey was the runt we kept. Bit's Bit O Ginger went to my son Paul, Bit's Bit O Mist went to a special friend Carrie, Bit's Bit O Cinnamon went to Cathy, my special foster daughter, and Bit's Bit O Luck went to Butterfly.
Little Bit and Honey became our kids. They welcomed us home after a hard days work, they guarded the yard against intruders, they kept us company and were protective of Shawn and Nikki when they were with us.
Honey became ill like Misty. She died on Oct 22, 1986. We had an autopsy done and found that she had died of Paraquat poisoning (agent orange) The farmer had sprayed the cotton field behind us with Harvaide laced with Paraquat (which was banned) to get a harder kill. Honey had a hot spot under her flank that was being treated by the vet and that is where the vet suspected the poison entered her system. Paraquat can only enter the system through a break in the skin. The Kindergarten was locate on the other side of the Cotton field and that farmer cared more about his cotton field than the fact he could have harmed one of those children. Of course he denied using it, but I had the papers from the University of Missouri and the testimony of area farmers that tested the leaves on the plants.
Little Bit died on Jan. 9, 1990 and we buried her on the grounds at the store. On my birthday Jan. 12,1990, the same friend who bought us Misty bought me a new Collie Pup. He was a beautiful black 8 week old collie named Debonair's Mr. Top Notch. He was show material but his owner had dropped a bottle on his tail that necessitated amputation. To much of his tail was gone to make a show dog out of him.
Topper endeared himself to us and became more George's dog than mine. We kept him at the store for security purposes. He would bark at the falling leaves.....
He was loved by all the kids kept us entertained with his antics. He was deathly afraid of storms and would dig under the fence and disappear during a storm seeking refuge in a neighbors garage or inviting himself into their homes. They all knew him and looked out for him.
Topper died in Georges arms in August 2001 the day my dad was diagnosed with Cancer. He is buried under the Maple in the back yard. It will be a while before I want another dog. We can't replace the ones we've had and it's too painful to lose another.
