Brighteye Devious Dragonfire MAD

Brighteye Devious Dragonfire MAD, RM, GM, SAM, EAC, O-EJC, EGC, WV-E, TG-O, TN-O, AX, AXJ, OAP, OJP 8/26/95-7/16/2009

On the evening of July 16th, I lost my Devin one month before she turned 14. She spent the day doing old dog things, sleeping, chasing the broom, getting in my way. I took her to the training facility, she ran, chased the Kelpies, ate her dinner and I put her in the xpen with Riki. Amy wanted me to look at her, because in the pen she was laying down, as if she collapsed into herself. I took her out and she could not walk. Her eyes were sunken in and she did not look well. I took her to the emergency hospital, I knew she was in bad shape, she did not care when I picked her up, her head just flopped as if it were too hard to for her to hold it up.

At the hospital they told me she was in shock, her gums were very pale and she was fading fast. I could have done iv fluids, x-rays, but I chose to give her peace. Whatever it was it hit her fast and hard. She died in my arms, quietly with grace and dignity. That is what she deserved for giving me 14 years of wonderful life experiences.

The fun police is gone, a piece of me went with her, but she will always be remembered, loved and treasured by me.

I decided that I had to have a border collie to learn how to run a fast dog. I got Devin from Debbie Hotze, Brighteye, who also sent me my Berner, Sophie. I had met Devin's mom, Silver, at a visit to the breeders house. I was impressed with Silver, the fact that she was such a nice calm dog in the house, but could turn on, be intense, active and fast when she needed to. Just what I thought would be good for an apartment in Queens.

Devin was the most adorable puppy and fit in with the resident dogs like she had always been there. The Paps loved her, Travis played with her all the time. Lola ended up being the object of Devin's attention. Every Border Collie has a quirk and Devin's was watching and herding Lola from a distance. She would lay on the floor and stare up at Lola sleeping on the couch, when Lola moved so did Devin. Lola was very tolerant of her and ignored her blue shadow. When I lost Lola, Devin just forgot about staring at any Papillon and has not done it since. She is a bit of the fun police and when things get a bit out of control around here, she steps in quickly to bring order and calm.

Devin and I jumped in agility training with gusto, she loves agility with her whole heart. Teaching her was different than working with the Berner and the Paps, we went down some very rocky roads, true teamwork eluding us. However, the during all our years together we have solidified our working relationship, got those stays at the start 9 times out of 10 and running her had become a real joy. My personal goal which we achieved was the USDAA MAD. Every show we attended was a learning experience and further cements our relationship in and out of the agility ring.

In October 2006, Devin retired from agility competition. She will be 13 years old in August 2008 and she was having some small old age problems in agility, so I thought it best to just let her have fun in life and retire on a good note. She is enjoying her retirement and still she is as bossy and playing the fun police as well as she did when she was young.

Devin and I also did some herding when she was young and years later went back and tried it again. She enjoyed it and showed instinct. It was a true joy to see her turn on when she saw those sheep and do what the breed was meant to do.

Devin raised a few more Paps pups for me, Carmen and Riki, now she is busy being the old coot to a new Australian Kelpie, Raven. She occasionally helps out in flyball practice by doing restrained recalls over jumps and giving the other dogs in training someone to race!

Devin's dad & Devin (meeting him at Fairhill, years ago) - CH OTCH Bugaboos Wind Beneath My Wings UDX, AX, AXJ, MAD, GM, SM, RM, O-NATCH. FMX, HCT, TT, ROM-F, V