Helping Nickie

Nickie

The Border Collie community is an incredibly dense collage of people from all walks of life. I'm amazed by the cross-section of humanity that is drawn to our dogs and our lifestyle. While regaling a friend with the down-side of what I considered at the time, a group far too inbred to be good for anyone, I was reminded that we're in it together. "These are OUR people," I was told, and the teller was right. We're tethered tightly by the animals that we love beyond reason.

The picture is of Nickie, owned and loved by Susan, a woman in New Jersey and a friend of a friend, as those things go. Never met Susan, never met Nickie, even my friend is of the cyber variety. But I know Nickie by her breeding. She's a distant cousin to a dog I once owned a few years back, and to Jed, the precocious young prospect currenty in my kennel. So we're very close, you see, Susan and I, and Nickie needs some help. Injured in a freak accident while playing, she is completely paralyzed and her prognosis is a mystery.

On a public forum, Sheepdog-L, Susan shared this about Nickie: "My shining dream of running Nickie in big Open trials has melted. As I try to look forward, I know that I will thank her every time I walk to the post with my young dogs. And though the path before us is much more difficult and much less joyous than anything I could have imagined, my heart is filled only with gratitude for what we shared, for how I learned from her, and for the trust and devotion I still see in her beautiful eyes."

Heather Nadelman, has created a CafePress shop where cute items relating to our dogs can be purchased for Nickie's benefit. All proceeds go directly to pay her astronomical vet bills. If you are so inclined, please click on the link, and help out a friend. If you would prefer to make a donation directly to Susan, there is an informational link at the CafePress shop as well. Thanks in advance, everybody, for your generosity and compassion.

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