I’ve been lucky enough to have had many dogs in my life.
In my childhood, the first was a mix called Sandy and next was a Golden Retriever called Oscar.
When I started my own family and had a young child, we got two dogs the same day, Macbeth and Scone.
Macbeth was an extremely smart, high-energy Border Ccollie. We were very concerned about the safety of the neighbourhood when she was little as she exhibited strong herding tendencies which translated into nipping at small children and jumping 6′ fences to go on adventures. Now that she’s growm still jumps the fence (now 8′) but she’s much more acclimated to children and adults.
If you throw her tennis ball, she’s your best friend for life. If you’re considering getting a Border Collie, realize it’s really unfair to the dog to have less than 10 acres and a herd of sheep to keep it entertained. We love her, but I would choose another breed if I had to do it again.
Macbeth liked Germany because of the paths we took her on with our bikes. She also liked the horses, cows, sheep, goats and chickens in the neighbourhood. Shortly after we arrived in Hannover, Macbeth was diagnosed with Addison’s Disease. After a week in the hospital to get stabilized, she got 2 medications every day to maintain her blood levels. Typically with the illness, she had loss of appetite, significant weight loss, occasional lethargy, her fur was falling out, she got a lot of bladder infections, got the shakes and was not able to run and jump like she used to. Sadly, in a quest to explore her new neighbourhood, Macbeth escaped from our backyard in Edinburgh on June 13, 2001 and was struck and killed by a car on the busy road outside our neighbourhood. She had a difficult life with her Addison’s but she seemed not too bothered by the whole thing.
Scone was a happy-go-lucky, low-energy golden retriever. She’s got an almost-white coat, from her English bloodlines. She liked to eat, sleep and love anybody who will pet her. She’s afraid of most of the animals in the neighbourhood. Scone lived to a ripe old age.