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Duncan


Liz P
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In 1994 I decided that I wanted a Border Collie. I had always wanted a medium to large dog that was smart and could be my partner in crime. My mother's aunt had owned a very special Border Collie named Duncan. I grew up hearing stories about the amazing dog who made her life whole. I decided that a Border Collie was the dog for me.

 

Duncan and Flyboy, skijoring in 2000

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I sent in a deposit on a pup from a litter of working bred Border Collies. They were born on Valentine's Day 1995. The breeder put the phone right in with the puppies so I could hear them crying. I will never forget how excited I was! Two months later I picked up my puppy at the airport. I had never met a Border Collie puppy, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. What I thought was a rather ugly little tri color emerged from the crate, looked up at me and decided I was his human for life.

 

Duncan in lead, fall 2003

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Duncan really was a funny looking pup. His head was too big for his body, his legs too long, he had funny brindle points instead of the clean black and white pattern I had imagined and he had one prick ear and one that looked like an airplane wing. He was not the perfect looking Border Collie I had imagined.

 

Oh, but he was so loyal! I didn't care what he looked like because I KNEW that no harm would ever come to me when I was with him. He let me lean on him while I hobbled home after dislocating my knee. He guarded our house from a man who broke in while my sister was home alone. He led me back to safety when I got lost while hiking in the mountains of VT. He got in between me and a man at the park who later tried to kill someone in those very woods a few years later. He comforted me when I was sad and shared my joy. When I got rejected from Cornell undergrad he ate the letter. He came with me to college and often attended class with me. When I got my acceptance letters to vet school he was there at my side. When I graduated with honors from SUNY Binghamton I had a photo of him glued on the top of my cap.

 

Hiking in the SUNY B Nature Preserve

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Duncan brought joy to other people's lives as well. He read people's emotions like a book, so I thought he would be a natural therapy dog. He made a child laugh and his mother cry. He convinced a woman with MS to save a bit of her dinner for him every week so she could reward him for doing tricks for her. He got a man who had not spoken to anyone in months to open up and talk with me. He made a man smile who had been unresponsive, and ignored by others, for a long time. Somehow he always knew what to do to make someone feel better.

 

On July 27, 2006 I took Duncan in to have blood drawn to make sure his thyroid replacement hormone dose was adequate and to have a pre dental exam. The veterinarian found a heart murmur. I left him at the hospital so that the cardiologist could see him that day when he had a free moment. At 5 pm the cardiologist told me that Duncan had a massive tumor in his heart and mets in his lungs, liver and spleen and would be lucky to survive a few weeks. On August 6th, 2006 Duncan crossed over to the Rainbow Bridge while I held him in my arms. He took his last breath looking lovingly into my eyes, just the way he did when we had met 11 years earlier.

 

I know my Duncan will always be watching over me; wherever I go and whatever I do my guardian angel is at my side.

 

July 2006

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Rest in peace my friend. You were one of a kind.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Untill today I did not want to read any of the posts in this section. Every one of them made me cry.

I certainly sounds like you also meant the world to him. What a loss and I am very sorry for you.

But like you, I don't feel that they think their job of watching out for us is ever done! How fortunate are we to have been honored to have such wonderul souls in our lives!

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  • 2 years later...

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