The "Heart" Dog

He comes along only once or twice in a lifetime - the "Heart Dog". He's the dog that finds his way into your best memories, and you can't help shedding a tear when you look at his picture. I've probably had more than my share of great dogs in my life. Growing up I was surrounded by all kinds of animals on our ranch, and we had some fantastic dogs, large and small. Through our years of raising collies, I've witnessed the births and deaths of some irreplaceable canine heroes. But, the dog that's on my heart today is Spider.

Born in the humblest of beginnings, Spider took his first breaths under the foundation of our old house. Not caring the least for the little room we had prepared for her, his mother, Blue Bergen, disappeared and hours later one of our kids heard the sounds of puppies somewhere under our foundation. Forming a chain outside the back of our house, we passed puppies out of the dark hole my husband had descended into to retrieve the new mother and her young.

As the puppies grew, our kids each picked a favorite giving them descriptive names like "Black Eye", "Big Boy" and "Biter". Despite their names, each puppy found a new home - including Biter (who later became our dear Spider.) Biter was adopted by a young family with two preschoolers and a new baby. A week or two later, I got a call that their new puppy had been keeping them up at night with his loud protests of being jailed in a crate in the kitchen, and during the day, he was nipping at their children's legs as they ran screaming away from him. So, they brought him back to our farm, and sure enough he was a little biter! It's not easy to find a home for a puppy that has been returned, and finding a home for an especially mouthy one is particularly difficult. So, Biter stayed with us, and this turned out to be one of the best blessings that ever happened!

(Visit us next week to learn how Biter became Spider - a dog who will forever be close to my heart. The photo was taken at 15 1/2 years of age.)