RIP Sweet Border Collie

Yesterday we put down our beloved border collie Geddy. Her kidneys had failed and she had stopped eating. As much as I wanted her to die at home, the vet told us that she was in a lot of pain, felt so nauseous she couldn't eat anymore and that bringing her home would be more for us than for her.

Geddy came into our life nearly 15 years ago. She was six months old at the time, and as is the case with many rambunctious, high energy border collies we were her fifth home. Her mother walked into the street when she was five weeks old and was hit and killed by a car. Shortly afterword she left her first home to live with the breeder's son's girlfriend in an apartment with a makeshift yard (a kid's swimming pool filled with dirt). When Geddy became too much for the girlfriend, she dropped her off with the breeder's son, now her ex-boyfriend. Geddy spent the next couple of months in a pen with her litter mate. Finally, the breeder's son returned her to his parent's house where we adopted her.

All of the puppy trauma made for a submissive little dog. She suffered from such great separation anxiety that she used to fill our bedroom with mother nature -- wood chips, leaves, dirt. She destroyed our shoes, baseball caps, ripped apart a couch -- she was a little terror. Yet we had to rebuild her confidence with encouragement -- which was pretty hard to do when you are trying to reassemble your couch and hide the foam before company arrives. But each day she became a better dog.

When she was 18 months old we rescued a golden retriever named Barney as a companion for Geddy and some much needed adult dog supervision. The two dogs were best friends until Barney's death four years later (at age 14 of kidney failure).

In her prime she was an amazing athlete. A natural frisbee dog. She would lay down in an open field, and from a crouch position, run, jump up in the air, catch a frisbee and then leave it at our feet. Impressive.

She was our constant companion. We took her everywhere with us, to Burning Man, Santa Barbara, on camping trips, hiking, the beach... When we lived in the city she was in a play group with other herding dogs. She was a very happy dog.

But when we had kids her life quickly changed. We left San Francisco for San Jose and a big yard. Geddy was displaced by the boys. All of the time we once spent with Geddy we now committed to our boys. She adapted. She became an elder statesdog. She tolerated  the boys, she kept them in order, herded them, and sometimes corrected them ... And she also left them alone, and pursued other interests, like barking at the mailman and chasing squirrels. Her new favorite place to sleep was under Xander's crib, and then later under his bed. And I think in her own way, she loved the boys and has been very content these last seven years.

We are so sad to say good-bye to Geddy. She was our baby girl. She taught us patience and optimism -- to see her for her potential, and not her puppy trauma. She was loud and rambunctious, smart and sweet. We love you Geddy girl. Rest in peace little border collie.