Pete... It was our honor.

In one of those bizarre twists of life that blind side you and turn you inside out... we lost 2 pets in as many days. We're still reeling from the shock of it all and the quietness that our "children all grown, empty nest" lives have suddenly been struck with.

This is about Pete, a Border Collie of such impeccable standing, his presence would have been welcomed anywhere. He never met a stranger that he couldn't creep into their heart in the span of mere minutes. His ice breaker was to bring the new person that came into our yard a stick, lay it at their feet and give it the Border Collie stare at it until he willed them to toss it for him so that he could return it. It was his pleasure to give people this joy... people that he didn't even know, but I guarantee no one forgot Pete once they met him.

Pete came into my life in 1998 when Sally and the kids moved to Missouri and Sal and I started dating. The first time I met him was a repeat of the scene that I described above. He had made a couple of moves with Sal, but was still a young dog and so full of life... you just wanted him with you at all times so that you could watch him. The kids nickname for him was "Hockeydog" from the time that he was with them in MI, he'd be with them on frozen ponds and played Hockey with them for hours, until he decided that it was time to go home. He'd just pick up the puck and go to the house. Game over. Pete wins.

He loved to ride in the truck with me, but not in the back, he rode in the front seat, sitting up like a person watching the world go by him, hoping to see another dog in a yard or a rabbit make a hasty retreat out of the road, he had eyes like an eagle and reflexes fast as lightning.

His biggest joy, like most Border Collies was to be able to herd something... anything, it didn't matter to him. He'd move the sheep around, up at the farm he'd get around the cattle and put them where they needed to be. He'd herd the cats around the yard, we had chickens for several years and he'd herd those stupid chickens out of the barn and back in and back out, just to herd them. No other reason.

Once when I bought 3 new Angus bulls, it took Pete a solid week to "whip" one of them. A good Border Collie doesn't bite an animal it wants to herd unless they, as a last resort, need a nip. Pete in typical BC fashion would go into his crouch, his hunker... and lock eyes with the other animal until he would make them so uncomfortable with his stare, they'd do what he wanted. 2 of those bulls fell for his bluff right away and did his bidding, the third it was a battle. I have a picture that I can't locate of Pete, all 40 pounds of him, locked up nose to nose, literally touching, with an 1800 pound Angus bull, not the least bit fearful because he knew who the winner would be before he started. And after a week, he did win and bossed that bull wherever he wanted him to go.

Another time Pete went for a ride in my truck without me. I'd left it idling in the driveway to warm up, Pete had loaded up and was sitting in the passenger seat and didn't want to get out when I went back in the house to wait until it got warm. No sooner had I got back in the house than I looked out the window and there goes my truck, rolling backwards out the driveway, across the highway and into the gateway across the road where it hit the only thing that there was to hit for 40 acres, one lone osage orange fence post. I'll never forget the look on Pete's face through the windshield of the truck while he went for that ride. He looked rapidly side to side a few times then just sat and stared straight forward, until it crashed, with a disgusted "what the hell?" look on his face. Thinking about it right now gives me a smile.

This family has more smiles from that old dog than could ever be counted. You just smiled when you were with Petie.

The years were rough on him, he was an active dog. His hips were all but worn out from miles and miles of running... his teeth were broken and worn down like happens with farm dogs. His vision, once razor sharp was all but gone and the last few months he had a different look to him. His hearing was almost gone, only hearing the loudest of sounds... and he had cancer.

Pete went home to the Lord last night, I wrapped him in a quilt that Sally had done and buried him in the corner of the yard this morning.

Pete was a king among dogs... not just because he was ours, he was a king.

Pete
June 25 1995
January 25 2008



We'll see you later, boy.